KEEPING AND BREAKING SILENCE

I just attended a Bridge Builder event for the church I work for. For the last hour of this event, people were given a chance to speak their minds to the group. This wasn't a conversation; just a chance to say your piece with no debate, judgment or even answered questions. Some people spoke things that have been needing to be said for years. I was honored to be there and witness this example of how to live in community and faith while tension exists between  you. I was struck at the power that of breaking the silence.

Beginning the conversation after years of silence is hard, heavy, scary...and carries hope. My heart is filled with all the above and all of the below...all that is, all that isn't, all that shines, all that darkens. And in the middle a small wave of tears is forming...threatening to break through the walls. Silence can heal and silence can poison. 

There is tension in me as I discern even on a personal level, when is the time to keep silence and when is the time to break silence and speak the hard truth in kindness. There is discomfort in this space. I wonder in some cases if I'm doing the right thing by keeping silence. I wonder in others if I stepped over reasonable boundaries by speaking too much. My preference is to speak, to get things out there but not everyone feels the same about that. Not everyone is ready at the same time for the conversation.


Silence can be a nice breath of air between life and our souls, between togetherness and solitude. Silence can also create a void, a separation between us. May love bring all of us together again. 

EPHPHATHA!

Ephphatha Be opened! Let your light shine! Let there be light! Be healed!

Jesus uses the passive imperative. Haha! :o)  Passive imperative is almost an oxymoron. Imperative implies action…it is a command…non-negotiable. Do it! Just do it! Passive implies inactivity and by association laziness. In our culture a passive person is a victim, or someone who just chooses by not choosing and then lets things happen to them. Passive implies that there are forces outside of us that make things happen. In American English, passive is so non-active that it is corrected when we use it in our essays for class. My computer will automatically remind me that I am using the passive tense.

So the other day I was in church and the scripture passage was from Mark, telling about Jesus healing the deaf man who also couldn’t speak. As he touches the man’s ears and tongue, he states, “Ephphatha,” (be opened). I was so curious about the inclusion of this word in the scripture. Why did the Greek writer insert this Hebrew word in?  So I looked it up. I kept looking until I found the origin.  Ephphatha is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew and Aramaic. But the meaning is still within it. It is passive imperative. It took me a little while to get it actually. What does that mean? Passive imperative? And then it hit me. Jesus is asking the man to let it happen, to allow the healing to happen. He’s not  saying “I heal you,” or “Heal!” He is saying, “be healed.”

Recently, something happened that made me question my ability to be a good friend. The more I thought about it, the darker I got. I kept going back to this little girl who thinks she is never going to be good enough for anyone. As I shared my struggle with a couple of friends, I started to hear this passive imperative from them too. Essentially, they were saying, “Let us love you. Let your light shine. Allow yourself to be loved.” And no one said it but I also heard the word patience. Be patient. Let it happen.

Then I was talking with a pastor friend about ephphatha. He said that God used the same passive imperative to bring creation into being. It wasn’t a non-negotiable command. It was an invitation for the light to come. Let there be light. Let there be morning. Let there be night. And the light came. And it was good. And in the new testament, Jesus invites us to let our light shine. My friend are asking that too.

So my challenge this week is ephphatha…be opened. This means I have to take the word “try” out of my sentence for now. I’m not going to try. I’m going to allow myself to be opened….be opened to everything and anything….be opened to healing within me and healing within my friend….healing for all of us. Be opened to possibilities and hope, love and peace. Be opened. Let it happen. And it will happen. And it is good.

 Be opened! Let your light shine! Let there be light! Be healed!

Only LOVE!

God loves, I live...
I love, I live...
God leads, I follow...

It's as simple as this:  Only Love!