The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
June 20, 2010
Vol. 13 no. 24
One more kick at Elijah, a gentler one than in previous weeks. The Lectionary usually skips the nasty affair of his slaying of the prophets of Ba‘al. In its aftermath, Elijah is on the run from Jezebel and Ahab, and then in the strangest manner and the most unlikely time, he runs into God.
This time his encounter with God is literal, sort of. Literally he was in the presence of the Lord God, but obviously Elijah and the scribe who eventually wrote it all down for our benefit were never able to describe the meeting in anywhere close to clear language. An infinite God is not describable, because we identify people and things by their limits. Even the expression used here to hint at the presence of God is translated in many ways - “a still small voice,” “a gentle and quiet whisper,” “a sound of sheer silence.” About all one can say for sure, maybe, is that God is not loud. You have to listen carefully - in between the spaces.
This seems intentionally difficult, but it is part of an ancient understanding that when human beings try to pin God down to a few characteristics we have missed the point of God. If we try to describe God, the result is something much less. Eastern Christianity has used “apophatic” or “negative theology” to approach the delicate issue of affirming the nature and existence of God. This way of thinking denies any positive images of God - God is not “this” or “that” because that narrows down who God is. Many faiths ban images of the divinity as misleading and being prejudiced towards a certain kind of god that really isn’t God.
All this prepares Elijah to catch a glimpse of the back side of God - surely not the best angle - and for us to listen attentively for the sound of sheer silence in between all the other noises.
Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan