Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Soul Work is Subtle {Reflections}
Ever felt like your soul's on mute despite your best efforts to tune in? Imagine being in the beautiful San Juan Mountains of Colorado, ready to bask in divine revelation, only to feel... nothing. Join me, Ryan Braley, as I recount my humbling journey from frustration to enlightenment during a five-day retreat. Through the lens of my own thirst for life's highs—whether it's the buzz from coffee or the thrill of a water slide—I share how I wrestled with the silence and subtlety of true soul work.
In this episode, we explore the profound lesson that sometimes, the divine whispers rather than roars. Inspired by the biblical story of Elijah, I reflect on how slowing down and quieting our minds can reveal the subtle yet powerful presence of God in our lives. Listen in to discover how embracing stillness can unlock a deeper connection with your soul and the divine, even amidst the fast-paced chaos of daily life.
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what is up everybody? Hey, this is ryan braley. Hey, coming at you from mike's office, I call it the laboratory, the laboratory. Hey, I'm going to give you the entire idea of this podcast in like one sentence and you can tune out if you want to, or you can hear the whole thing, but here's the bottom line. I want to tell you hey, today you need to slow down, slow down, and also today you need to quiet down, slow down, and also today you need to quiet down. That's it. That's all I got. If you want to tune out, you can, but I got a couple of things else. I want to say, a couple other things I want to say in regard to that.
Speaker 1:So, if you know me, you know that my personality is like I like to feel all the things Like I love it. I like to feel life on level 10 if I can. I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I'm not jumping out of airplanes or wrestling alligators, but aside from that, I just love it. I love coffee, and I love coffee because of the feeling, the physical sensation it gives to me in the morning, when it's like I can just breathe in deep and it feels like I drank rocket fuel. I'm ready to go. I love to go to, like I love water parks. I love going down water slides, because I just feel like extra alive when I'm on a water slide. I don't know, and I love, I just love. I love fishing. I really enjoy being on the lake and catching fish and, like the, the struggle with the fish, and anyway, if you know me, I just I like to feel all the feels, and so I wanted to tell you a story.
Speaker 1:I was at this retreat last week. You probably heard about this on another podcast or, if you're at Central, you heard me talk about it. But I was in a retreat up in the mountains for five days, and we would do all kinds of things individually, on our own, and then we'd come back together as a group and, I think, unconsciously, I wanted to, right from the jump, experience the magic of God out in the wilderness in Colorado, in the Uncompahgre Forest, up in the San Juan Mountains, that part of the Rockies, and for the first two days, though, I felt nothing. I was flatlined, I felt vanilla, I felt nothing, and so we'd come back together, in our groups, we would talk about it and I remember sharing with our group. I'm like I don't feel anything. I've been engaging, I'm here, I'm doing all the things we're supposed to do, I'm going on all these wanders, I'm looking for God, I'm praying, I'm open, I'm quiet, whatever, but I feel nothing. And we were all kind of processing what that meant. And at our guide she was the guide for my small group she's like hey, ryan, just so you know, soul work is very subtle and that was kind of all she said and I was like huh, and then I began to realize, like soul work it is like working on the soul or experiencing God.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes these things can feel like big moments, like mountaintop experiences where the God is found in the thunder or the lightning or the fire and Moses comes down from the mountain his face is glowing. Yeah, that happens. But oftentimes soul work or prayer or encountering the divine can be very, very subtle. And here's the thing Many things in my life are not subtle. I love caffeine, I like to go 100 miles an hour, I even talk like that you probably gathered from these podcasts and sometimes those things can drown out my own soul work or my own encounters with God. I've learned, and so what's good for me to do? Well, to slow down or to quiet down.
Speaker 1:There's this wonderful story where Elijah, god, tells him hey, go up into this cave and I'll come by, I'll come hang out with you. I'm paraphrasing here. And so he does. He goes up to this cave and he thinks. Elijah thinks, oh, god will show up, like the gods often do in what they call theophanies, and most times in antiquity theophanies were like in the fire, in the storm, in the lightning, you know, in the great and glamorous, like you know just large things. God will show up there. And so all these things happen to Elijah. I think it's fire, but then it says that God wasn't found in the fire. There's an earthquake, but God wasn't found in the earthquake. Or there's a storm and God was not found in the storm. And then it says he does eventually encounter God, but in the earthquake. Or there's a storm and God was not found in the storm, and then it says he does eventually encounter God, but in the Hebrew the word could be rendered God. Elijah finds God in the sheer silence, which is fascinating. Isn't silence just silence? How can you put an adjective in front of silence? I mean, silence is silence, but he says, or in the text, the Hebrew says, something like the sheer silence, because oftentimes soul work is subtle. So here's also what I've learned Many of us have these addictions, things that we go to for life that can't really give us life, or we have these vacancies, these holes in our lives, our souls, our hearts, that we try to fill with all kinds of things other than God.
Speaker 1:And so I don't know what your addiction is, but your addiction could be something like working too much, or alcohol, or certainly drugs. Those are ones that are kind of easy to sort of spot. It could be gossip, I don't know what your thing is, but many times these things produce a large experience in our lives. They sort of feel like they're big and heavy and weighty, and they tend, because they're so big and heavy and weighty, they tend to drown out the subtle soul work, which is why it's hard to do soul work or like encounter the God in the sheer silence. If you're drinking too much, do you know what I mean? Or if you're constantly working out at the gym, or whatever your attachment or addiction is, it's hard to often experience God in the sheer silence because the experiences those things produce are much louder. And so this is why oftentimes addictions or attachments can be dangerous because it can drown out the subtlety of soul work or encountering the divine.
Speaker 1:So today, like I said, slow down and quiet down and I would also add, put aside those addictions or attachments, even just for a couple of moments. If you can today, set them down and try to look for God in the sheer silence, in the boredom, in the blasé, in the vanilla, in the flatness of your experience, and don't try to run away or escape from that. Lean into it and search for God. All right, I love you guys, peace out. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8.30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clcelkriverorg. Peace.
