334 SE Tecumseh Road  P.O. Box 5  Tecumseh, Kansas 66542  (785) 379-5005  Fax - (785) 379-5061

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Keeping silent before God Habakkuk 2:18-20 It was a thirty minute walk up that steep mountain leading to a remote Guatemala community. The dusty path meandered through many small farm plots on which corn crops, fruit trees, watermelon and cantaloupes were all intermingled. The path went past tiny mud-brick structures, with dirt floors, homes to families which lived off the small hand-tilled farm plots, raising their many children. Our work team’s destination was a little Methodist church at the top of that steep path. Exhausted from the climb, we plopped down in the church. Soon my attention went to some hand-painted pictures on the walls, depicting open bibles. One of those open bibles had this verse from Habakkuk: The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. (Of course - it was in Spanish!)  Brightly colored paper streamers decorated the ceiling, and a primitively painted yet very striking mural with a lake, trees and mountains took up the entire wall behind the pulpit. Vibrantly blue, rough wooden benches served as pews. During our stay, the holy temple also served as the storage facility for cement bags, sand, wooden beams, sheets of corrugated tin. Things seemed chaotic at times. Our  team led a mini-vacation bible school for sixty children, construction meetings were held, lunches were prepared and eaten by locals and visitors all blended together, and worship – yes, even worship took place. And all took place in God’s holy temple. The name and the presence of God was lifted up in song, in prayer, in reading of scripture and in the proclamation of the word. From time to time, turkeys or other farm creatures would wander into God’s holy temple, and usually one of the kids delighted in chasing them away with great laughter. And yet - nothing seemed to get in the way of God’s presence, God’s word, God’s work. It was all so simple, so down to earth – or so it seemed to me. In the simplicity of the surroundings and the rush of activity, I experienced an inner peace. I was removed from false idols, including those things which my silver and my gold can purchase. Such idols serve only to separate us from God. For the local people, life was (and is) often difficult, and no doubt they envied their American guests who have such ample goods - homes, automobiles, closets full of clothing. And yet I and others on my work team similarly experienced envy. That envy was directed at the sense of community, the simple act and the great pleasure of being together in communal fellowship. Together in God’s holy temple, we largely overcame cultural and language obstacles. Amid the sounds of numerous small children playing, construction work, small groups meeting and laughing, women cooking and serving, animals curiously entering – amid all of that godly chaos, there was a silence. It was the kind of silence during which one actually hears and feels the breath of God, present in God’s holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him!   – Pastor Piet – October 21, 2007