Mother Bonnie’s Weekly Reflection

06/16/2020

Silence represents the essential Mystery we call God. We can understand silence as the subtraction of all that is not God, until we’re left with nothing we could offer a name for. This silence is God’s ineffable Truth, numinous, and unspeakable.

-Br. Nicholas Bartoli

Society of Saint John the Evangelist

I’ve shared in the past that one of the daily online reflections I enjoy is Brother, Give us a Word, from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist. This week I was particularly struck by Br. Nicholas’ offering: “Silence represents the essential Mystery we call God.”

Silence. There are many definitions of silence: the absence or suppression of sound; the state of abstaining from speech; a moment of respectful quiet. One definition particularly resonates with me  — an expanded sense of listening. In this definition, I sense a Holy Listening, that striving for openness combined with an act of purposefully letting go of distractions of thought and sound. It’s in this Holy Silence that we can connect to God, for we can perceive the nudging of the Spirit and begin to lean into the possibilities of Jesus’ Way of Love.

It’s so easy to get lost in the whirlwind of noise surrounding us, the divisiveness and violence and conflict. But God is with us in today’s noise. And if we allow it, God will help us move beyond the noise and crack the silence open, providing us the space to just be.

That time when we allow ourselves to just be with God in the silence is Sabbath time. It’s the time when we can hear with an inner ear the Spirit nudging us to be brave enough to ask, “Lord, what would you have me do in this time and this place? What would you have me do in this time of divisiveness and recognition of the suffering from the sin of racism?”

We, the people of God, must do more: more to understand what our brothers and sisters of color experience, as they are acutely aware of racism every day; more to recognize our complicity, even if inadvertent, in a culture of white supremacy; more to dismantle the systemic oppression that causes such suffering; more to advocate and dismantle the systems, policies, and practices that reinforce violence and brutality.

I realize many of us may be tired of the protest, the noise, and the disruption about racism. We may long for the peace we perceive we had before this time of the dual pandemics of virus and spirit. But even longing for our “past peace” is a sign of systemic racism, for while those of us in the majority have enjoyed peace, life has never been like that for our brothers and sisters of color.

I was reminded of that lack of peace at this past Saturday’s Unity in Community peaceful protest march down Watson Boulevard. One of the speakers shared at the City Hall rally that the Rev. Dr. Rutha Jackson, head of the Houston County NAACP, had participated in the peaceful demonstrations with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. And here she is in 2020 — over 50 years later — still engaged in protests for justice and an end to oppression for people of color.

Am I tired of the discord? Of course. But what about the daily discord our African American neighbors have lived with for the past 50+ years? The past 400 years? I can only begin to understand the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, a Civil Rights activist, who said in 1964, “I’m sick and tired, of being sick and tired.”

We can, in Christ, do more. As Christ-followers, we too are called to help change the world and usher in God’s Kingdom by striving for justice and peace and respecting the dignity of every human being. We too are called to walk in Jesus’ way of love.

And we begin in the silence, asking “Lord, what you have me do?”

We can act to help those in need. This past week, Mary Christian and Buddy Parks joined me at a Mobile Food Pantry at First Christian Church in Hawkinsville, and we, with 20+ other volunteers, joined together in the silence of prayer before providing food for 170 families in one of the southernmost locations in Houston County. And so many in our community do assist in our food pantry each week, through labor and resources. Together we can make a difference in our community.

We can listen. At the Unity rally, I was inspired by our community leaders, young activists, and our local police chiefs who all spoke of our need to vote, to work together for the common good, and actively work to dismantle the racism and systematic oppression that does surrounds us.

And we can learn from other voices, knowing that learning can be so easy these days, with so many resources available virtually. We don’t even have to leave our homes! We can virtually join in webinars and Zoom calls and listen to podcasts. Our youth have been invited to join a Zoom call on Allyship for God’s people, learning what it can mean to be an advocate. I’ll be offering a Zoom book study in July on Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Please know you can call me at any time about resources.

Find the time for silence, for God is with us, inviting us, encouraging us, and nudging us. God speaks to us in the silence, for this is not the silence of complicity or inaction, but the silence of purpose. Our Loving God invites us to open our hearts and minds if we’re willing to humbly listen . . . and the Spirit will lead us to see God’s image in all God’s children and guide us to compassionately care for ALL our neighbors.

Blessings,

Mother Bonnie+

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

P.S. I know many are wondering when we can return to All Saints and what things will look like. Know that while we await guidance from the diocese, we are leaning into both times of prayer and preparing our facilities for the future. Watch for an email from Darlene Meloche, our Sr. Warden, and me later this week, with updates about what has been happening at All Saints in this time of waiting.