I Kings 19:1-15a – The 5th Sunday of Ordinary time – for Sunday, June 23, 2013
“…I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.†(I Kings 19:10)
I rarely claim this, but I prefer the King James Version (KJV) to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) passage for reading, praying and thinking about I Kings 19. Here, the Bible described Elijah’s encounter on Mt. Horeb with the Lord in verse 12 . . .
The KJV—and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
The RVSV—and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
I know why. It’s for the same reason I prefer the KJV’s Psalm 23 to other translations or interpretations: a singular phrase. For the ubiquitous Psalm verse, the KJV’s, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .†inspires me more than the NRSV’s, “I walk through the darkest valley . . .†Why? Have I heard “the shadow of death†spoken in films or books that swept me away? Did the eager ears of my childhood first hear “shadow of death†and tucked the phrase into a central, accessible memory?
Or is it as simple as liking one phrase over another?
For me there’s a wide emotional gap between surviving a dark valley versus death’s shadow. In the hundreds of graveside services I’ve done, I believe the living sensed death’s long shadow covering every part of their being. My Dad’s devil’s dance with dementia seemed like life in a frightening, deathly shadow world far more than a trudge through a gloomy valley.
The feeling’s the same with Elijah when comparing “a still small voice†to “sheer silence.†Both describe what I long for in my relationship with the Holy . . . but while I may want the NRSV’s “sheer silence†in my life, I crave the KJV’s “still small voice.â€
The world is raucous. There’s 24/7 news and the clattering chatter of email, text, Skype, Facebook, Google plus, Instagram, phones at home and work (and in our pocket or purse). There are a score more whiz-bang ways of communicating I didn’t list and more ways of sharing-declaring-blaring not yet invented that will inevitably add to the thunder that undermines any “sheer silence†in our lives.
Oh, I can avoid all the fizzle and frazzle of the modern world by discarding or muting the electronic devices that own me, but I can’t avoid the rasp of everyone else’s talking, texting and opining.
Can I escape the noise anymore? Continue reading →