"A Time to Speak" - Proverbs 16: 24

Beloveds we live in a noisy world at a difficult time in history. Last week, you may have heard about the hearing held before our Senate Judiciary Committee for the next nominee to the Supreme Court of these United States of America. This Women’s History month a nominee of impeccable character and outstanding intellect Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson spent 2 days in examination and questioning. And if there was any doubt that harsh words alone can cut to the quick or seek to injure or seek to harm all Americans and folks from around the world can go back and observe the tone and tenor of that hearing. By contrast, the story is told of a Puerto Rican woman who was learning to speak English

The Pause of the Puerto Rican Woman

She didn’t speak a word of English, so she told her Pastor through an interpreter, “I want to do something forGod , please.”

“I don’t know what you can do,” the Pastor answered.

“Please, let me do something,” she said in Spanish.

“Okay. I’ll put you on a School bus that brings kids back and forth to Sunday School. Ride a different bus every week and just love the kids.”

So every week she rode a different bus—we have fifty of them—and loved the children. She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap, and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: “I love you. Jesus loves you.” After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. “I don’t want to change buses anymore. I want to stay on this one bus,” she said.

The boy didn’t speak. He came to Sunday school every week with his sister and sat on the woman’s lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday school and all the way home, “I love you and Jesus loves you.” One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, “I—I love you, too.” Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug.

That was 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon. At 6:30 that night, the boy was found dead in a garbage bag under a fire escape. His mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash.

“I love you and Jesus loves you.” Those were some of the last words he heard in his short life—from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English.

The Pause of Jesus in Matthew 15: 22 -28

Jesus showed us self affirmation & it's positive value when he said, "I am the Light of the world." St. Matthew recorded the story of Jesus and his visit to Tyre and Sidon and it was there He met a Caananite woman & in that encounter we see Jesus face the challenge of casting out a demon. The lesson for us this morning is how Jesus made it to the miracle moment in the text. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a “time to be silent and a time to speak.” Listen again for how Jesus uses silence and a pregnant pause before speaking....there’s a wondrous wait in the text.....

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. (JESUS PAUSED/STOPPED WITH A PERIOD OF SILENCE) And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

The blessing in the text is that we see Jesus move from silence, to opposition from the disciples.....We see Jesus employ and use the pause and silence to prepare, to gather himself and ultimately speak, speak words of life, encouragement and strength. He spoke to the woman lovingly and His time with her was time well spent....

Holy Pauses Between Times of Silence & Times to Speak

It is verse 7 of chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes that contrasts so beautifully this movement of life in the spirit of God, “a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” Neither time should be underestimated. Both times have a place in God’s economy. Both times have their own way of giving us strength, of experiencing God’s wisdom and grace......Near the end of his life, Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined with the Dalai Lama and began a journey of discovering lasting happiness in a changing world.

They settled on the title, “The Book of Joy”....And joy is what we aim for during the Lenten season, beloveds, the joy of Easter that awaits us in mid-April, the joy of Easter that we carry into the rest of the year and rest of our lives......

Desmond Tutu said, "We are fragile creatures, and it if from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy."

Before the interviews of each man could take place, they wanted to learn what people around the world thought about how we can discover our own joys....Before the 2 great spiritual leaders were consulted there was a pause to hear from real folks, living in the real world and they found the most asked question from real people was not about how we can discover our own joy, Amen? The most asked question was, “How could we possibly live with joy in a world filled with so much suffering?

Even the interviews of these two powerful spiritual leaders could take place until Bishop Tutu paused in his own bout of suffering in a second fight and his final fight with prostate cancer........

Silence and pauses in our noisy world don’t make us weaker, beloveds, they can make us stronger…AMEN?

Lent as a Holy Pause & Embracing Our Pause so Our Speaking Matters

In one of my lenten devotional texts for this season I came across a beautiful reflection on the time for silence that so often precedes our time to speak....It is poetic prose that encourages us in this season this way:

Be silent, be still, alone, empty before your God....say nothing, ask nothing, be silent be still, let your God look upon you. That is all God knows, understands, loves you with an enormous love....God only wants to look upon you with love, be quiet, be still, be....

Let your God Love You.....

What if we could breathe in God’s love, each time before words are spoken?

What if God’s love could keep informing every conversation where hate and otherwise hurtful speech takes over?

What if God’s love helped us see the sacred, document the Divine, and manage to find the majesty God’s seeking to show us day by day?

It is then, perhaps, that we can appreciate the beauty of Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesians that says:

Ephesians 4: 29

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Conclusion: Speak Life/Love/Longevity

Proverbs 16:24 ESV

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

In ancient Israel, there was a certain elegance to honey, it was considered an luxury, a treat, something special, something sweet. It was also, though, used for medicinal purposes to help folks get well and stay well. Amen? So when gracious words were compared as, “sweetness to the soul and health to the body,” it quite literally was just that.

AND WHAT WAS TRUE FOR ANCIENT ISRAEL IS STILL TRUE FOR US TODAY, BELOVEDS

The negativity in our thoughts and words is killing us in our world today.

WHEN WE SPEAK WORDS OF POSITIVITY, WE SPEAK WORDS OF LIFE.....WHEN WE SPEAK LOVING WORDS WITH LOVING THOUGHTS BEHIND THEM WE ARE GIVING HEALTH TO THE BODY…TO THE BODIES OF THOSE WE’RE SPEAKING WITH AS WELL AS OURSELVES AS WE SPEAK THEM....AMEN?? WHEN WE COME FROM A PLACE WHERE WE’VE PAUSED IN DEEP SILENCE......PAUSED TO CONSIDER THE GREAT LOVE GOD HAS FOR US FIRST....WE’RE GIVEN GIFTS BEYOND MEASURE TO SHARE LIFE, TO SHARE LONGEVITY, TO SHARE LIVES LIVED WITH LOVE