Where's the Chocolate?

When I was studying music history in college, my imagination was caught by the early concept of the music of the spheres or musica universalis (music of the universe). It was thought that the movement of the planets and stars created their own music. It was more a spiritual and even mathematical concept than one of sound, but it has long fascinated musicians to think of what sound might be heard in space.

Now while some musicians have taken the math involved in the orbits and turned it into music, any science fiction nerd will tell you that there is no noise in space. It makes for great drama in movies to hear the big deep rumbles of a huge space ship going across the screen, but there is no atmosphere in space so there is no transmission of sound. However, before you think that knowledge destroys all imagination, scientists have now discovered the chemical (ethyl formate) in dust clouds in the Milky Way that smells like rum and tastes like raspberries! So space might taste good even though it is quiet.

So often, we are so busy making our own noise that we don't hear what is happening around us. I was reminded of that when I began serving in rural north central Kansas.

My first night in the house in Axtell was so quiet and dark. The parsonage (house for the pastor) was across the field next to the church in open country. As I turned off the television and the lights on my way up to bed, I became aware of the darkness and the quiet. That quiet seemed immense until I laid in bed and quit making my own noise. Then I became aware of the sounds of croaking frogs and rasping bugs, the wind in the trees, and the hoots of the great horned owls that nested in the yard. In the months that followed, I also heard neighboring cattle, coyotes, woodpeckers, and many other birds and forms of wild-life. The silence wasn't silent.

When Jesus enters Jerusalem (what is now observed as Palm Sunday or the procession of palms), not everyone is happy to hear the people cry out their hosannas and praises. Some of the religious leaders in the crowd ask Jesus to make the people stop. Jesus responds that if the people were quiet, "the stones would shout out". (Luke 19:40)

It is not always possible to get away from the noises that people make: traffic on even distant roads, the fan of the refrigerator or furnace, even the low hum of lights and electronics or the sound of our own breath. However, I invite you to the refreshing discipline of going to a quiet place (outside if possible), settling yourself in a position you can comfortably keep, and breathing deep and slow. At first the silence might be overwhelming but as you continue, you will begin to hear the sounds around you. The world is never silent. As you hear the sounds of God's creation around you, breathe deep and rest in the grace of God. Read Isaiah 44:21-23.