Be Still….

This is a time of stillness and I invite you to be still with me for just a moment. Whether you are sad about not being able to gather in person with loved ones and friends during the holiday season or you’re finding new ways to enjoy simpler celebrations, let’s allow ourselves a minute to adjust.

For the last nine months, we have endured a sort of forced stillness, like we’re frozen in anticipation of what might happen next. The pandemic has caused a tidal wave of grief and change that has or will impact nearly every person on the planet in one way or another. Anxiety is undeniably on the rise, and for good reasons. Our hurting world is in need of repair. Our spirits need to be nurtured in order to help make the world whole. Will you take a moment to be still with me?

I was reminded of this bible passage in our Soul Matters materials this month: Be still and know that I am God. ~ Psalm 46:10. The monthly theme of Stillness is fitting for this time of increased darkness and this well-known verse invites a deeper reflection into what it means to be still and ponder what we know.

Lectio Divina, a spiritual practice of “divine reading” is a way of encountering and meditating on a sacred text.  As Unitarian Universalists, drawing wisdom from unlimited sources, we can use this practice to consider any of our sources – be it bible verse, poem, or prose. Lectio Divina involves settling oneself into a quiet posture, reading a selected passage, and letting it sink in. The reader then thinks about how the verse applies to their life, opens their heart, and listens for the wisdom that comes.

Psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God, can be read one word at a time, adding a word with each pass and deepening the reflection as the sentence grows and blossoms. Beginning with the word BE.

BE. This word alone can be a command, an invitation, or a prayer. Repeating this word as a mantra can call us into a state of presence. Be. How does it feel to just be? Can we simply be or are we driven to constantly do? Do we have value in our quiet being or do we need to continuously produce, help, fix in order to feel our worth? What does it mean to exist in this extraordinary time of so much loss and suffering and how do we hold the dueling truths of our powerlessness and our agency in this moment? Discerning whatever it is we can and should be doing may only be possible if we are able to settle into our BE-ing.

Be STILL.

Stillness is a way of listening for where we are led. Stillness isn’t freezing in fear. It is a way to practice intentional and effective action. You don’t need to be sitting or lying down to be still. Many of us have discovered some hidden blessings in the absence of constant frenzy, but allowing stillness can be frightening. Being still can invite anxiety to seep into our thoughts. It can be helpful to set aside a fixed amount of time each day to give space to that anxiety. Set aside 10 minutes to contain your worries. Ring a bell or light a candle and then sit with the worries and fears you can do nothing about. Allow yourself to dwell on these for just 10 minutes. Then ring the bell and/or blow out the candle and go about your day. In creating that dedicated time for anxiety, it might help in letting go of what is out of our control. Be still.

Be still and KNOW.

There is knowledge within, among, and beyond us that comes from paying attention, asking questions and listening to our inner voice. But wisdom and insight can’t break through a constant whir of activity. We need to be still to allow room for our inner wisdom to emerge. Our fourth principle calls us to the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, which means we learn and grow in community, which holds us accountable to the truths we discover within as well as those found in books. Be still and know.

Be still and know that I AM.

You are a triumph because you are alive! This has been an impossible year and you are making it through it. You are. I am. We are together here, with a purpose. Our lives have meaning, verified by the simple fact that we exist. It can be easy to forget this. Be still and know that you are…that I am… that we are alive in this complex and beautiful, painful and magnificent world. For just this time, can you be still in that knowing?

Be still and know that I am GOD.

I may have lost some of you here. I know the word god is not useful for many in our congregation. But, hear me out, what if you were to exchange that word with something you do know? What word would you put in god’s place? What do you know? What are you sure of? What do you trust lives within you? Love? Truth? Wisdom? Justice? What if this collection of words, this sacred text, was a reminder that within you, within me, and between us there is something we can have faith in, something worth being still with, to listen to and learn from. Perhaps in our stillness, we may find a knowing that moves us out of our fear, isolation, loneliness, and immobility into a new, more steady way of being.

Several promising vaccines have been approved and are starting to be distributed. This is fantastic and encouraging news. This didn’t happen without a tremendous amount of focused, informed and intelligent work by countless caring people. And still, we need to wait. We need to continue to wear masks and protect the distance between us. But friends, we can be still. We can be still and know. We can be still and know that there is hope…truth…wisdom…love. Out of the stillness may we be moved to more fully engage in the work of nurturing the human spirit to help make the world whole.

Yours in faith and in service to our shared mission,

Rev. Eileen