In the Whisper
With Riette de Jager
We’re entering into what feels like the 75th week of lockdown and I’m having my usual Earl Grey as I sit to reflect on what’s been going on. At least we still have tea, I note as I take another sip and it’s funny how small comforts have taken precedence now. In a world of the big and the bold, the grand and the gigantic, we’re stopping now and longing for life’s little things.
Living in London, I find I am missing sitting on the tube, rather standing - no room on the Piccadilly line during rush hour, brushing shoulders with strangers, all coming and going. Appointments, meetings and activities, I’d often stare out wondering about these people on their way living their own life, just as complicated and full of colour as mine, sad I’d never know why the man who got off at Holborn was wearing a top hat. And yet now, the highlight of my week was having a conversation with the man who delivers my groceries, he told me my name is a type of french pâte and I should try it but only if I have sourdough. It’s the joy in the small, the normal, the connection with others.
It’s the moment when you hang up from a Facetime or when the WiFi drops and you find yourself in the silence, in the stillness of now. The longing and reflection sets in. And yet, that’s where God is. I think of God being with us in the big and the small but especially now more than ever in everything.
When Elijah was on his solo journey, in 1 Kings 19 fleeing from Jezebel, God meets him in the silence of now.
“And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.”
God speaks to us and meets us where we are, miracles are still happening and community is being strengthened. What has been built has been tested and brought to new life and I see that in the relationships in churches all over the world. Like the wise man, the foundations have been built on the rock and the storms have come but we continue.
The eerie silence of a once vibrant city, leaves echoes of memories as I walk through now deserted central London. Though there are pop up promises - in neighbourly relationships being built, communities being strengthened and organisations are banding together whilst we are apart.
As restrictions are lifting and I see friends and family returning to picnics in the park back in Australia where I call home, I become wary as I stare forlorn into indefinite weeks of continued separation from friends and the prospect of normality slips further away. Yet, I take comfort in the promises that God will be with me in the whisper.
I am grateful to be serving with C3 and continuing to build community. So I encourage you today to continue the practices of appreciating the small and blissfully mundane interactions and your relationships with one another.
It cannot have been in vain.
And when the time comes, celebrate hugs, group gatherings and every sense - the smell of barista made coffee, the sound of families laughing in the park, the comfort of hugging your Mother, the taste of Italian food from your favourite restaurant and the sight of anything not on a screen.
Photo Credit: Lucy Mason - Going Home Broke
While we can’t meet all together just yet, join us as we continue to build community this month at C3 London at 10:00 at C3 London Online.