Grace, peace, and
mercy are yours from the Triune God. Amen.
The
Book of Isaiah is an amazing piece of religious literature. It is a huge
66-chapter book and uses both prose and poetry to tell the story of the peoples’
life with God and the unrelenting insistence that the foundation of that life
is God’s commitment to Jerusalem. The Book of Isaiah is part of the Hebrew
Scriptures, but the writers of the New Testament gospels often quote the prophet
Isaiah, so it is also an important piece of literature for us as Christians.
Scholars
have determined that Isaiah can be broken into three sections: chapters 1-39
were written in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, chapters
40-55 concern the Babylonian exile, and chapters 56-66 were written in the
postexilic period of Judah. As you read through the book, you can see the shift
in writers because of the shift in literary style.
Today’s
reading comes in the middle of that third section, where the community has just
come out of exile, and they have lost vision and focus. They are looking for
the extravagant promises that God made to God’s exiled people. Earlier in the
book of Isaiah, God promised to build up the barren and forsaken city of
Jerusalem with foundations of sapphires, ruby towers, gates and walls of
precious jewels. God promised to bring the exiled people home and promised them
the richest of feasts. However, the reality people returned to was far from
glorious. The land seemed to them like a desert. when the exiles returned, it
was all they could do to secure homesteads for themselves and try to grow crops
to feed their families. Times were difficult, and people were hungry.
Jerusalem
seemed forsaken, bereft of God’s sustaining presence. But as we begin chapter
62 today, there is a proclamation of God’s radical hope and the rebuilding of God’s
community. Unlike the silence of God, often understood as God’s anger,
abandonment, or disinterest, Isaiah 62:1 opens with the words “For Zion’s sake
I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,” declaring an
end to the time of silence.
Silence
is a double-edged sword. It can be equally beautiful and comforting, and
dangerous and scary. There are moments in life where being silent or sitting in
quiet can be important. In church liturgy, there are various periods of silence
strategically placed throughout a worship service so that a person has time to
reflect on what has been said, to meditate and pray, and to open their heart to
God.
Sitting
in a silent vigil next to a dying friend’s bed can be quite powerful, for both
people. While it may take time to acclimate yourself to simply sitting in
silence with another person (plenty of people find silent pauses
uncomfortable), allowing for that quiet to permeate the room can bring moments
of reflection, meditation, and prayer similar to those found in a worship
service.
Jonathan Bartels, a registered nurse in the US, created the Medical Pause. This event is a moment of silence taken by medical staff and friends and family of the patient immediately after death. This sacred moment of silence “allows individuals to personalize their practice while not imposing onto others and is a means of honouring a person’s last rite of passage.”
These
silent moments are precious, beautiful, and comforting. They break up our busy
lives, give us time to hear our own thoughts, and they can reconnect us to God.
These golden moments can be tranquil and healing and are sometimes so rare that
when they do happen, one needs to take hold of them and cherish them.
However,
silence has a dark side to it, as well. While there are times in our lives when
silence is required, an imposed silence has a very different feeling. When a
silence is imposed, it means there is a voice that has been silenced. Perhaps
someone is making decisions for another person without consulting with them.
Perhaps a voice is silenced by passive aggressive comments. More than likely,
this imposed silence means that not all voices are being heard. Who is it that
we are listening to and who is it we are silencing?
Being
unable to tell your story could mean life or death. A person being abused,
especially a woman being sexually abused, is often silenced by dismissing
comments or outright declarations of denial by others. The abusee’s voice gets
lost in the noise generated to protect the abuser.
A
transgender person living stealth will be in constant fear that their secret
will be discovered. It only takes one slip of the tongue or one tiny rumour to
destroy a person’s life and possibly cause death, whether by their own hand or
another’s. These are only two examples of people are being silenced in one way
or another. The only thing worse than voices being silenced are the bystanders
who remain silent.
Desmond
Tutu is attributed with the quote, “If you are neutral in situations of
injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” and Martin Luther King,
Jr said, “In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the
silence of our friends.” By silencing your own voice in situations of abuse or
intolerance, you are encouraging harassment, bullying, dismissal, and
humiliation. Whose voice is being labelled as more important? Who is it that is
being silenced?
We
need to break the silence and change the course of history. Breaking the
silence can change laws and as a result change a person’s life. Maybe even save
a life. It brings to mind Simon and Garfunkel’s song “Sound of Silence”,
particularly this verse:
“And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never
shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence”
We
have become accustomed to the evil around us, desensitized to the point that we
no longer raise our voices against cruelty and injustice. No longer do we dare
“disturb the sound of silence.” Instead, it’s become easier to turn the other
cheek and allow the voices around us to be silenced. If we ignore a problem, it
will simply go away, right?
Clinical
Pastoral Care students are taught that a silent listener is important for
voices to be heard. That is what we need to be today – silent listeners. Space
needs to be given to all the voices who have been silenced over the years. To
do this, we need to shed our indifference and stand beside those who have been
silenced, historically and presently. What would happen if we stood up for
others? Poet and activist Audre Loudre once proclaimed that our silence will
not save us.
God
in the Old Testament, and especially in today’s passage from Isaiah, only sides
with the oppressed, the marginalized, and those who do not have power. As we
witness often in the Hebrew Bible, God is the God of the poor, afflicted, and
the marginalized. For those who experience rejection because of their
social-political identities, excommunication due to their gender identities, or
marginalization and discrimination of any form, God promises that they have a
place in God’s plan and that God will never abandon them but, rather, will find
delight in them, seek them out, and call them “holy people.”
We
can no longer be bystanders as victims of harassment, abuse, and violence are
placated with half-promises and told to keep silent about events that have
unfolded. We can longer be indifferent as death tolls rise from murder and
suicide, or as laws are written that bring an end to a person’s right to live.
It is long past the time for silent voices to be given the space they need to
speak up against cruelty and injustice. It is time for those of us who have a
voice, to speak up for those who have been silenced. It could mean the
difference between life and death.
Amen.
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