Be Still

Have you ever watched a movie or TV show and found yourself in tears over a song that was playing in the background?

That happened to me a few years ago on Abby’s last NCIS episode. The final montage was sad enough with her departure from the show, but the song that played with the montage is what really got me.

The thing is—I’m not exactly sure how it fit with her departure. The song, “Be Still” by The Fray, seems to me to be a song that assures us of God’s presence in our lives. Abby’s character was a Christian; the actress who played her is a Christian. Maybe she selected the song as a quiet and final expression of her faith? Maybe the song is somehow how she wanted us to remember her?

Regardless, the song made an impression on me that night…and then again last Thursday after I wrote my note “Scattered Thoughts.” As I drove home that night, “Be Still,” came on my playlist and I immediately knew that it was supposed to be part of my sermon. It wasn’t until late Saturday night, though, that all of the parts of the sermon finally fit together. Here is how it all played out:

A few weeks ago, sitting right here at Pleasant Memory, I heard God’s voice as clearly as I’ve ever heard it. “Be still, Deanna, Be still.”

*insert Be Still and Know*

Restless and distracted, I made myself sit up straight and put both feet firmly on the ground. “Be still,” I heard, more loudly, “Be still.”

*insert Be Still and Know*

Finally, with my body and spirit settled, I was able to hear the message God had for me that day. The next day, I wrote:

*insert 9.9.19 note…Yet just as I love my little space cadets who cannot sit still, God loves God’s humans who, too, struggle to be still. And just as I try to be patient with my Kindergarten students as they mature in their abilities to do school and learn, God is patient with us as we mature in our faith…*

Be still, congregation. Be still.

*insert Be Still My Soul*

Last Thursday, when I sat down to write my weekly blog post, I couldn’t help but notice just how restless and distracted I had once again become. When I tried to write, all that emerged was a jumbled mess...and, yet, at the end, a clear message emerged:

Be still and know that I am God.
Breathe.
Be still...

*insert Be Still, The Fray*

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
--Psalm 46*

Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nUuBjz4Vhc