SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

(Meditation for the Last Sunday after Epiphany)

 

Sssshhhh!

Be silent.

Sssshhhh!

Be silent.

Sssshhhh!

Don’t tell.

Sssshhhh!

In the “transfiguration” of Elijah we see Elisha tell others to be silent when they ask if he knows what is coming.  In the transfiguration of Jesus we see Jesus tell Peter, James, and John not to tell others what happened on that holy mountain.

Think about it.  How many times have you heard someone share their faith in a vocal way that seemed condemning only to see them later do or say something that seemed to contradict their words?  How many times have you seen someone claim to believe in a loving God acting hatefully to another?  How often have you been hurt in the “name” of God or the church?

It is striking that in both of these biblical stories those who are witness to a mighty act of God are told to not speak.  There is something there.   

What would happen instead of talking about our faith, our relationship with Christ, our connection to the church, we lived the Gospel?   

What if our actions were the testimony those around us “heard?” 

What if instead of talking about the Great Commission we lived it?  

What if we silently became the hands and feet of Christ EVERYWHERE we go? 

The Gospel isn’t about words.  It is about action. It is about love.  It is radical.  It is what we are called to live not just talk about.

"Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ's compassion must look out on the world.
Yours are the feet with which
He is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which
He is to bless us now."

~St. Teresa of Avila