Todays Scripture Passage: Isaiah 53:7-9
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
9 They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah prophesies the most powerful silence in history. Jesus, facing the greatest evil the world has ever known– goes silent. Henri Nouwen said, “Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.”
Yesterday was a day full of so many words. We heard so many stories of horrible violence, accompanied with strategies and plans to bring justice and mercy. Yesterday was a day of so much pain, power and so much hope.
But today we are silent. We are listening. Try the 3 G practice with us.
Give up – words for at least an hour.
Give in – to the silence that heals
Give out – a life that emerges from deep listening.
That is all,
Scott and Clare