This is the weekly companion to the weekend’s message, made to spend time with all week. It follows a simple five-part rhythm: a recap of what we heard, the central thought and scripture, a practice for the week, daily scripture and reflection, and a closing prayer.
Recap
Pastor Rhonda opened by pointing back at the last three weekend messages. The Way of Work asked who we are really performing for. The Way of Rest asked what gets revealed when we finally stop performing. The Way of Being Known asked what happens when we stop managing what other people see. All three were circling the same question: what are we still hiding, and who are we hiding it from? Silence asks the most exposed version: what happens when we stop hiding from God?
The difficulty is that we are not good at quiet. In 2014, researchers at the University of Virginia left people alone in a room with nothing to do but think, and one button that would give them an electric shock they had all said they would pay to avoid. Two thirds of the men and a quarter of the women pressed it rather than sit there. We would rather be anywhere, doing anything, than alone with our thoughts in the presence of God.
Pastor Rhonda gave three reasons to practice silence rather than admire it. Because God is not only in the spectacle. Elijah found Him in a whisper, after the wind and earthquake and fire. Because the moment things go well is the moment we skip it, which is exactly when Jesus left the crowd and went out before dawn. And because silence is not fuel for a more productive week. Silence is the rhythm that returns us to being creatures rather than machines.
Central Thought & Scripture
“The LORD said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” (1 Kings 19:11-12, NIV)
You cannot miss an earthquake. You can absolutely miss a whisper. Silence is how we make room to hear one.
Practice for the Week
Silence here means a practice rather than the absence of sound. It is choosing, for a set time, to stop filling every gap with noise and self-management and simply to be present to God without an agenda. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), where the Hebrew behind “be still” carries the sense of letting go, of releasing your grip on managing the moment. Christians have done this on purpose for thousands of years, from the desert fathers and mothers who left the noise of the fourth-century city to hear God more clearly.
Practice Lectio Divina, Latin for sacred reading. Ten to fifteen minutes a day. The six daily Scriptures below were chosen to be used this way, one each day, or you can pick a short Gospel story of your own. Walk it through four movements. Silence fills the spaces between the readings.
● Read. Read the passage slowly and notice what catches your attention.
● Reflect. Read it again. Sit with that word or phrase and let it turn over in you.
● Respond. Read it once more, then tell God what is rising in you: gratitude, a question, a confession, whatever it is.
● Rest. Stop talking and stay, the way you would sit with someone you love without needing to fill the silence.
There is no wrong way to do this and nothing to report back. If your mind wanders, and it will, gently come back.
Daily Scripture & Reflection
Each day, use the practice above. Bring your journal and a pen. Begin with a few quiet moments to become aware of God’s presence and invite the Holy Spirit to guide you. When you have finished the four movements, read the reflection question and jot down your answer, no need to be elaborate, just a quick note, along with anything else that came to you. Look back over what you wrote. Does anything stand out? Does anything call for action? Thank God for being with you and speaking to you, then close with the Lord’s Prayer. All of this fits in about 10 to 15 minutes.
Day 1: 1 Kings 19:3-9
Elijah had just called down fire from heaven in front of a nation. One chapter later he is under a bush asking God to end his life, and God’s first move is not a rebuke but bread and sleep, twice. Where have you been treating exhaustion as a purely spiritual problem?
Day 2: 1 Kings 19:11-13
The wind tore the mountain apart, the earthquake came, the fire came, and God was in none of them. He came in something the Hebrew calls thin, a sound you could sleep through. Nobody misses an earthquake. What might you be missing because you have been waiting for God to show up at the volume He used last time?
Day 3: 1 Kings 19:14-18
God asks Elijah the same question twice and gets the same answer both times, including the part that was never true: I am the only one left. Seven thousand had never bowed to Baal, and he could not see one of them. Silence did not remove Jezebel from the world. What it removed was the story Elijah had been rehearsing in the noise of his own fear. What story have you never said out loud to God?
Day 4: Mark 1:32-35
The whole town was at the door. Every metric we would use said stay, expand, ride the momentum. Jesus got up while it was still dark and left for a solitary place, and Luke tells us this was His pattern rather than a one-time retreat. When something is finally going well for you, what is the first thing you let go of?
Day 5: Psalm 139:1-6
God is not waiting on new information about you. He knows the word before it reaches your tongue. Silence is uncomfortable not because He might find something out, but because it takes away our ability to manage what He sees. What would you rather He not look at directly, even though He already has?
Day 6: Luke 10:38-42
Martha was not doing anything wrong. She was doing something good, quickly, for Jesus, and it was making her miserable. Mary sat and did nothing that would have shown up on Martha’s list, and Jesus called it the one thing needed. What would have to wait an hour for you to sit down?
Prayer
Father, You are not only in the fire and the earthquake. You spoke to a worn out prophet in a whisper, and You are speaking still. Forgive me for the noise I choose, and for how much easier I find it to stay busy than to be still with You. You have known me completely since before I had words, so there is nothing left for me to manage in front of You. Teach me to want You more than I want the distraction. I come to You through Your Son, who left the crowd at the door and went out before dawn to be with You in the quiet. By Your Spirit, settle me this week until I can see what is really there, and keep me in the room when I do. In Jesus’ name, amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (traditional)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
