Holy Boredom

Rather than the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, Benedictines take vows of stability, conversion of life, and obedience, and the call to remain in the cell is a call to stability.  (Actually, you can probably see all three vows in the call to the cell, but I want to talk about stability.)

In our modern culture, we are used to constant stimulation and excitement.  Boredom is the enemy -- we are terrified of it.  This spills over into the spiritual life, and there is the danger of always being on the lookout for the next spiritual "high".  I myself certainly spent my twenties and much of my thirties in this quest for the next spiritual "high", for that magic bullet that would transform my spiritual life.  The right denomination, or congregation, or liturgy.

But, in reality, there is a "holy boredom" that we must experience if we are ever to experience authentic spiritual maturity.  Prayer will be boring much of the time -- at least if we're doing it right.  We show our love for God most clearly when we pray even though we don't feel like it -- and when we do that task that we would really rather not do, but know we should.  We must commit ourselves to the mundane, the ordinary, the plain, even the uncomfortable.  And that is found in a commitment to one's daily life.

Go to the Desert -- See a Burning Bush -- God Will Call You by Name

Exodus 3:1-15King James Version (KJV)

3 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

As Christians, we are called to go out into the desert to meet God.  Moses shows us what that looks like in his encounter with God in the burning bush.  When we look at the burning bush, we learn the signs to recognize our own encounters with God.

You might say, "Why do I need to go to the desert?  God is omnipresent – can't I hear the voice of God somewhere else?"  Of course, God is omnipotent.  Of course God can speak to us anywhere.  The question is, rather, where can we hear God?

Moses had quite a life before he went to the desert. He was born at a time when Jewish boys were supposed to be killed as soon as they were born.  He was not – he was hidden in a basket in the river, and the Pharaoh's daughter found him, and he was raised in palaces, raised to be powerful. But he felt the oppression of his people, and decided to do something about it.  When an Egyptian was fighting with an Israelite, Moses intervened, and killed the Egyptian. The trouble is that word got out, and Moses feared for his life.  So, broken and scared, he retreated to the desert, and took a job as a shepherd, and married.

And then one day, as he was out with his flock, the unimaginable happened – he saw a scrub bush burning – but rather than being consumed in a few minutes, it kept burning!  Curious, Moses approached.  And God spoke to him.  God called him by name.  "Moses, Moses!"  Moses answered, "Here I am."  Then God called Moses to take off his sandals, because the ground he stood on was holy ground.  Yes – the hot desert sand, filled with scrub brush, was holy ground.  And then God gave Moses a task – to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage – out of Egypt – into the Promised Land.  In Hebrew, Egypt, "Mitzrayim", means "narrow places" – and many Jews, as they observe Passover, reflect on what the narrow places in their lives are, and how God leads them from the narrow places into redemption.  And then God tells Moses the most sacred name of God – "I will be what I will be" – a name that reveals God as the source of all existence.

And so it is with us.

In our daily lives, we are inundated with lots of voices.  The voices of our friends and family.  The voices of our boss, our coworkers, our customers.  The voices of the media.  The voices inside of us – criticizing ourselves, worrying, wanting.  Yes, God is speaking – but how can we hear the voice of God over the noise that constantly surrounds us?

So we're called to go out into the desert, where the external voices are silenced. We go out into the emptiness, the dryness, the quiet – where we can hear the Spirit move, blowing as the wind. Of course, just because the external voices are silenced doesn’t mean the internal ones are silenced.  The early desert fathers and mothers in the Christian tradition went into the desert, and spent the time fighting demons.  Jesus went into the desert and was tempted by Satan for forty days. 

But the demons aren't the only ones there.  So is God.

And God will come to us, in the most unlikely of ways.  In burning dry brush, which seems like an act of destruction, God speaks to us – and brings forth life in abundance.

God calls us by name – when we are in the desert, retreating from our mistakes (maybe not as bad as Moses killing a man, but still bad), fighting our demons – that is when the Creator of the Universe comes to us and calls us by name. 

And we're called to remove our sandals – our defenses against the desert sand and the creatures – snakes, scorpions, thorns – that inhabit it – because only then can we be vulnerable to God, and open ourselves to the transforming power of God.

And at that moment, when God calls us by name, and we respond, the desert becomes holy ground.  Not the magnificent temple or cathedral, not the palace with its soft carpets – the desert.  Because all is stripped away, and we are free to face God with our mistakes, our demons – and our openness, and our possibilities.

And it is that moment that God calls us to our mission – a mission of liberation, of redemption, of bringing people from slavery, bondage, narrow places – into the promised land of freedom and abundance and the joy of serving God in a community of the redeemed.  And in committing to that mission, God reveals to us the sacred name of God.

Let us go to the desert.  Let us keep our eyes open for the burning bush. And let us be prepared for God to call us by name, give us our mission, and make known to us the sacred name of God.