Abstract
It is worth reflecting on the silence of the divine service, a silence that is not at all vague but rather defined by human emptiness and divine fullness. Where does it come from? How does it come about? It is not a matter of an undefined encounter with the simultaneously repulsive and yet alluring supernatural—the fascinosum and the tremendum—but rather initially a speechlessness inflicted by ourselves. The great call narrative of the prophet Isaiah speaks of this. In the face of the majesty of the Holy One of Israel, Isaiah must lament, "Woe is me! For I am lost" (Isa. 6:5)! But it can also be translated, "Woe is me! I am reduced to silence!" In the recognition of his sin and the sin of his people, the prophet has been left speechless—this speech that has been abused with "unclean lips," the speaking that misses our purpose, that perverts our dealings with things, that serves our self-assertion over the Creator as well as the vain and empty chatter and lies. There needs to be a painful purification of lips with a burning coal, so that "your guilt has departed, and your sin is blotted out" (Isa. 6:7).
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