April 6, 2025
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
“Inner Silence"
by Rev. Trip Porch
April 6, 2025 Based on1 Kings 19:1-13
There are rooms in the world where silence is studied.
They’re called anechoic chambers—Giant rooms with sound dampening foam pyramids on the walls, ceiling and floors. Spaces specifically designed to absorb sound so completely that they’re considered some of the quietest places on Earth. No echo. No outside noise. Just silence.
Many people imagine that in a room like that, they’d finally find peace. A total hush. But the experience is often the opposite.
When someone enters one of these chambers and stays long enough—often just a few minutes—something strange happens. They start to hear a noise they can’t quite place. A quiet but persistent sound pulsing beneath the silence.
And it turns out... the sound is them. The sound is their own body working. The subtle hum of their circulatory system. The thump of their heartbeat. The blood moving throughout the body. In the absence of all the noise they are used to hearing in the world, what they start to hear is their own life.
It’s both unsettling and beautiful. It reminds us that there are things always happening within us—quiet truths, deep pulses, unspoken movements—that we don’t hear until the rest of the world quiets down, or unless we learn how to tune it out and listen.
It’s a strange gift to realize: sometimes, we need silence …not so that we hear nothing,
but to be able to listen to what’s already there.
That’s where we find Elijah today.
Elijah is not in an anechoic chamber. He’s not studying silence in a lab. He’s running for his life.
There’s a lot that happens before this scene in our scripture; Elijah is a prophet who has been trying to live faithfully and do what God wills. He’s lives in the northern kingdom of Israel—. And things up north have gotten… complicated. King Ahab is on the throne, and he’s married to an outsider Queen named Jezebel, a foreign leader who has brought with her the worship of Baal, a Canaanite storm god. Under their reign, the worship of Israel’s God—Yahweh—has been pushed to the margins, and prophets like Elijah have become fugitives.
But Elijah continues to fight for people to follow Israel’s God, in fact he plans a showdown between the prophets who follow Baal and Yahweh’s prophets where many prophets are killed which infuriates Jezebel. And she sends word that Elijah is a dead man. So Elijah runs. Afraid, exhausted, alone, he escapes into the wilderness not knowing what else to do and He lies down exhausted and distraught under a broom tree and prays to die.
This is what burnout looks like, friends. Not just physical exhaustion, but spiritual depletion. Elijah has poured everything out for God and now finds himself empty, afraid, unsure of what to do next.
So he runs further. To Horeb, the mountain of God.
And there—after collapsing under a bush, being fed by angels, and journeying forty days and nights—he finds a cave. A shelter, a place to hide. To rest. To wait.
Maybe a space to listen.
You get the sense Elijah is expecting something dramatic. He’s seen God act with power before—maybe that’s what he’s hoping for again.
And things like what he’s seen before do happen.
First, a mighty wind rips through the mountains. But God is not in the wind.
Then an earthquake shakes the ground beneath him. But God is not in the earthquake.
Then fire—raging through.
But God is not in the fire.
And then… a sound.
Not thunderous. Not forceful. In Hebrew, it’s a strange phrase:
"a still small voice", how we’ve often heard it
or sometimes translated,
"the sound of sheer silence.”
Its a translation of just two words
are something akin to “Thin” or “Low”
And then a word you could translate to Whisper, or silence, or calm.
After all the catastrophe and calamity and natural disaster where Elijah has looked for God, Elijah hears a thin low silence… That’s where God is.
Not in the noise. Not in chaos, but in the whisper. In the hush. In the kind of silence where the only thing you can hear is the sound of your own heart.
Let’s be honest—our lives are full of noise.
Not just the literal noise: the dings of our phones, the voices on TV, the endless scroll of opinions and headlines.
But the inner noise, too:
The voice of fear telling us we’re not safe.
The voice of anxiety whispering we’re not enough.
The voice of comparison always measuring us against someone else.
The voice of expectation demanding we do more, be more, prove ourselves.
And in the middle of all that noise, we sometimes cry out like Elijah: “God, where are you? What do I do next?”
And maybe… just maybe… God is already speaking.
But the volume of our own voices is too loud to hear it.
Lent is a season that invites us into the wilderness.
Not to escape, but to listen.
What if—like Elijah—we allowed ourselves to get quiet enough to hear the whisper?
To hush our anxious inner monologue.
To turn down the noise of the world.
To stop explaining and justifying and running.
To rest in the quiet long enough to realize that God’s voice is not always booming from heaven—but murmuring somewhere in the stillness, calling us by name.
It might sound like your own heartbeat.
It might feel like your own breath.
It might rise up as a truth that’s been pulsing deep in your soul all along.
In those anechoic chambers, people discover that silence is not empty. It’s full of things they never noticed before.
Maybe the same is true of the silence of God.
It’s not absence. It’s presence we haven’t learned to hear yet.
But it takes practice listening to a voice so low thin that we could miss it.
It takes intentionality to quiet not just the noise around us—but also the noise within us.
So may we learn to hush.
May we find our own quiet caves to retreat to
—not to give up, but to listen.
And may we begin to notice the whisper of God,
speaking just loud enough to be heard by those who dare to be still.
And as the well-worn words from Ecclesiastes reminds us: There’s a season for everything
and a time for every matter under the heavens:
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
Grounded in silence, we know when it’s time to speak… to speak up and speak out… but that’s next week
For now, I want to invite you to the mountain top with Elijah, for a moment of silence… to listen to the thin low whisper of God who is still speaking now… May we listen, may we trust, may we follow, Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Whisper a Prayer” arr. Sharon Wilson
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Weary travelers, seeking rest for your souls, Come!
All: We come to the mountain, hoping to hear God’s voice.
One: Not in the wind, not in the fire, not in the earthquake—
All: But in the sound of sheer silence, God speaks.
One: Let us quiet our hearts and listen.
All: Let us worship God
*HYMN 21 “Many and Great , O God, Are Thy Works” LACQUIPARLE
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Ann Hitzhusen
Listening God, we confess that too often the world is too loud to hear you. We let the chatter dominate our attention and get overwhelmed by worry, distraction, and constant striving. We talk more than we listen, act more than we pray, and seek answers before seeking your presence. Forgive us. In this quiet moment, help us to slow down, breathe deeply, and make space for your gentle whisper. Teach us to trust that in the silence we will find you speaking…
Silent prayer is offered…
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PARDON 626 “As the Deer” AS THE DEER
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “Adoration” Florence Price
The Columbus Cultural Orchestra
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Sharon Renkes
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE 1 Kings 19:1-13 The Voice
When Ahab arrived in Jezreel, he told Jezebel about everything that had taken place. He told her how Elijah had executed all the prophets of Baal with a sword, and she became furious. Jezebel sent an urgent message to Elijah, saying: “May the gods kill me and worse, if I haven’t killed you the way you killed their priests by this time tomorrow. Your end is near, Elijah.
Terrified, Elijah quickly ran for his life. He traveled the length of Israel in one day and finally arrived at Beersheba, the southern point of God’s territory, which is in Judah. When he arrived, he instructed his servant to remain there while he sought solitude. He journeyed into the desert for one day and then decided to rest beneath the limbs of a broom tree. There, Elijah prayed “I’m finished, Eternal One. Please end my life here and now, even though I have failed, and I am no better than my ancestors.”
He then laid himself down under the broom tree and entered into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, a heavenly messenger came and touched him and gave him instructions: “Get up and eat. Your journey ahead is great, and you need plenty of nourishment.”
Elijah got up, discovered food and water and he ate. His body felt strong again, and he journeyed for 40 more days and 40 more nights to Horeb, God’s mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. When he arrived at Horeb, he walked into a cave and rested for the night. He heard a voice, “Why are you here, Elijah? What is it that you desire?”
Elijah replied: As you know, all my passion has been devoted to the Eternal One, the God of heavenly armies. The Israelites have abandoned Your covenant with them, they have torn down every single one of Your altars, and they have executed by the sword all those who prophesy in Your name. I am the last remaining prophet, and they now seek to execute me as well.
God spoke: Leave this cave and go stand on the mountainside in My presence.
The Eternal passed by him. The mighty wind separated the mountains and crumbled every stone before the Eternal. This was not a divine wind, for the Eternal was not within this wind. After the wind passed through, an earthquake shook the earth. This was not a divine quake, for the Eternal was not within this earthquake. After the earthquake was over, there was a fire. This was not a divine fire, for the Eternal was not within this fire.
After the fire died out, there was nothing but the sound of a calm breeze. And through this breeze a gentle, quiet voice entered into Elijah’s ears. He covered his face with his cloak and went to the mouth of the cave. Suddenly, Elijah was surprised.
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
SILENT REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 410 “God Is Calling Through the Whisper” W ŻLOBIE LEŻY
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “Here’s One” arr. Mark Hayes
The Chancel Choir with Ella Bryan, Oboe
COMMUNION
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
SHARING OF BREAD AND CUP 507 “Come to the Table of Grace” TABLE OF GRACE
*PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Gracious God, when we are hungry, you feed us. When we are in need of hope and direction, you speak. In the hush of this holy meal, you have provided peace for our hearts. Send us now into the world—renewed, restored, and ready to listen for your voice in all things. Amen.
*HYMN 291 “Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness” SPIRIT
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE & BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
The Columbus Cultural Orchestra
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452