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Worship Service begins at 10:30 AM
Third & Adams Street, PO Box 9774, Moscow, Idaho USA | (208) 882-3715

Waiting Still and Quiet - November 28, 2021

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11Have you ever played hide and seek?
Do you remember what it’s like when you try to find the very best hiding spot?
Was it such a good hiding spot that it took a long time for someone to find you?

As fun as it is to find that really good hiding spot it sure can be hard to wait for those friends to find you. To be the last one found requires us to learn to be very still and very quiet while we wait.

So this morning I want us to practice being still and being quiet while we learn to wait and to listen.

If you are younger than 12 and are willing to do so, please stand up where you are and remain standing for a minute. If you do not meet that

age requirement or do not want to stand then I ask the rest of us to participate where you are seated.

First, if you are standing, shake your arms and legs a bit to get the stiffness out. Become real loose and relaxed. It is hard to be still if you have all that extra stiffness or energy inside.

Now. . . stand up tall, or sit up tall and straight. And be very still. Take a deep breath in, and then slowly let it out. Breathe again, but try to be very still while you do that.

Pay attention to your hands and feet and your legs and arms. Are you very still? Really, really still? Ok. Good.

Now, let’s think about sound for a minute. Everyone in the room.

What is the sound that water makes when it slowly moves in a stream or river? For just a moment I want you to make that sound. Maybe start with a fast-running stream or river. Make the sound just gently from your seat. Everyone here.

Can you imagine the stream running? If you closed your eyes can you see it? Now, slow that water down. Just barely a trickle, like a very small, slow stream, even just a bit of water running down the yard after a gentle rain. What is the sound just a little bit of water makes?

Now, imagine that water, barely moving across your yard, or out in a forest or meadow. Can you hear the sound as the water seeps into the earth, how the grassroots are drinking that water, really quietly. Keep making that sound.

Let’s change from water to starlight. In the night on a clear night, what do you think the sound of a star twinkling might be? Now, what if that star explodes a million miles from where you are standing. What do you think that sounds like where the star is? And what do you think you might hear a million miles away?

Come back to earth again, to the very center of the earth where it is very hot and possibly there is a fire in the core of the earth. What do you think that fire sounds like?

Now, one more sound to hear. The sound of a single snowflake falling to the ground, or falling on your hand or even your nose. What is the sound of that snowflake?

Thank you for making these sounds together today. You may be seated if you are still standing.

Remember the game of hide and seek? How I reminded us that sometimes we hide by being very still and very quiet? This time before Christmas that we call Advent in the church is a bit like that game of hide and seek. To be really good at hiding, and even at seeking, we need to learn to wait. And when we learn to wait we try to be very still, and very quiet.

I think one of the best ways I have ever been able to be friends with God is when I become very still and very quiet. And I move very slowly to try to find God in the best hiding places. When I was very little I saw God in the clouds in the sky from my backyard. And one night I was a little bit afraid when I woke up in the middle of the night but God whispered to me — to listen in the dark and I heard my brother sleeping as he breathed — slow and quiet. And I relaxed and went right back to sleep.

Now when I try to find God I wait quietly and I stay very still and I hear God in the wind in the trees. Or I feel God in the soft dirt or green grass.

During these days between now and Christmas, I want each of us here to find some way to be very quiet and very still every day. Wait, for as long as you can, and listen to all the ways God will show you that God is there waiting for you and loving you.

So will you once again, become very, very still. I’ll wait just a minute while we become still.

Now, become very, very quiet. And listen to the words of this blessing: May you grow still enough to hear the small noises earth makes in preparing for the long sleep of winter, so that you may grow calm and grounded deep within.

May you grow still enough to hear the trickling water seeping into the ground, so that your soul may be softened and healed, and guided in its flow.

May you grow still enough to hear the splintering of starlight in the winter sky and the roar at earth’s fiery core.

May you grow still enough to hear the stir of a single snowflake in the air, so that your inner silence may turn into hushed expectation.1

May you grow still enough to hear God say, I love you, forever and ever.

Amen.

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Sunday morning parking at the church is available in the high school parking lot on Third Street across from the church and in the city lots west of the church. These lots are available only on Sunday mornings. A small lot for handicapped parking is available just off of Adams Street on the north side of the church, with an accessible entrance directly into the sanctuary. A lift operates between the Fellowship Hall (3rd Street level) and the Sanctuary. William Sound System Receivers and Headsets are available to assist with hearing problems.

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The First United Methodist Church of Moscow, Idaho takes as our mission to be the body of Jesus Christ, ministering to a community which draws strength from its diversity. Our mission centers on the worship of God, expressed through varied forms of prayer, preaching, music, and ritual.  See more...

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