(Un)Mute Yourself, Day 23
I Samuel 1:13 | Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was muted.
The Rev. Tamika Jancewicz is the Associate Pastor at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ellicott City, Maryland. And she is the co-founder and co-host of For Collard Girls, which is a journey, a conversation, and podcast, that shares the unique, bold, and beautiful narrative of BIPOC women who are in spaces in the church, in the community, and in the world. For Collard Girls are writers, activists. creatives, and religious leaders. Tamika is also the mother of her two amazing, creative children, Nya (13) and Arion (11), who teach her every day how to be authentically human and graciously loving.
One of the gifts out of this whole debacle we call 2020 is the many innovative ways we’ve tried to stay connected.
At my church we started midday prayers every day since March.
We go live on Facebook, so it’s not interactive like on Zoom.
It’s been a way to keep us grounded in some capacity and to check in with each other.
And it has been a very humbling experience. Along with not always knowing what to share and say on some of the harder days this year, I have certainly forgotten to unmute myself and prayed almost the entire prayer while people are commenting “we can’t hear you.”
And because I usually close my eyes or look away, I don’t see their comments until I’m just about done…
But no matter how it goes, or how embarrassed I might be, there has always been a moment where I felt G-d was truly listening to the depth of our hearts.
This is how Hannah comes to G-d–from the depths of her heart, with all of her pain and sorrow, and she cannot utter a sound. #muted
And I’d like to offer that Hannah’s prayer was everything it needed to be, even if Eli made his assumptions about her (he thought she was drunk…)
And I’d also like to offer a prayer today for you during those times you cannot utter a sound. Don’t worry you don’t even have to actually say it, you can take whatever posture you need and a deep breath, and when you let out your sigh think…
G-d, you know.
My words escape me.
But you know.
Ok…maybe take like three full breaths. Amen.
