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The Sound of Sheer Silence

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9 August, 2026Pastor John Strelan

Proper 14A

Duthy Street.

 

Someone needs to teach Google Maps how to pronounce Duthy St. (it’s not Duh-thee, it’s Doo-thee!) But, that’s beside the point.

 

Duthy Street. Every workday between 8-8.30am and 5-5.30pm Doo-thee Street is transformed by the sound of progress, of productivity, of advancement, of achievement, of energy, of power, of modern life! I crack open my office window and hear it. Traffic noise. People busily, and importantly, going places. Often places so important that there is only one person in each car! Buses rumbling, motorcycles revving, the modified exhaust of that souped-up sports car popping, even electric cars aren’t silent, their tires hum on the asphalt. And, in all those vehicles radios are blaring, speaker phones are intruding, kids are arguing on the way to school, Google maps is pronouncing street names wrong. It’s the soundtrack of modern life as we all try to be somewhere.

 

But, Duthy Street at 10pm on any weeknight is a different story. I can stand in the middle of the road without a car in sight (and I occasionally do). I don’t have to be anywhere, I can just be. And, it’s quiet. So quiet. So quiet it’s profound. Even spiritual!  


~ Pastor John Strelan


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If you are unable to access spotify, 2026 sermon recordings can be found here

1 Kings 19:1-15a

The Lord appears to Elijah

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.’

3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’ 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

10 He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’

 11 The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

14 He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’

15 The Lord said to him, ‘Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus.

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What’s in a word?

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