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I Kings 19:1-15 Isn't it amazing how many happy coincidences there seem to be in life. I think God works through those things we call coincidence, or luck, or whatever. It's one of God's best disguises. Just this past week at bible study on Monday morning we talked about the word, DUTY. It came up because of that very hard, some would say nasty, scripture passage where Jesus tells of a worker who slaves in the field all day, then must come in and get his master's supper before taking care of his own needs. And he never gets so much as a thank you. Here is Jesus telling us that this is the way of things. We do certain things because it is our job, our duty to do them. That led us into talking about how, when we do what is only our duty, many of us fall into the trap of feeling either self-pity or self-righteousness. When we wondered if that were true of us, we started brainstorming some of the things we've heard right here in church, things we've said ourselves, that let us know self-pity and self-righteousness are still problems when we're only doing what we're supposed to. Here is the list: I did jobs around the church for years; now I'm retired - I don't do that any more. Now it's someone else's turn. I'm on two committees and sing in the choir. What does he (she) do? I've been a good person all my life. I've done lots of good things. What did I do to deserve this pain in my life? I heard this from my own mother in the months before she passed away. She had taught Sunday School for years. She had put on innumerable church suppers because she was a dietitian and knew how to do it well, she had been a long-term deacon, and was made a deacon emeritus which both pleased and embarrassed her greatly, and she was always part of a women's circle. In the end she suffered from the cancer treatments, and she wondered what she had done to deserve her suffering. She became like Job, like Moses, like Jeremiah, and yes, like Elijah in this morning's reading. Just like so many of us do when the times get tough. I've done my duty and more, we say. Why is God punishing me? If ever there were a combination of self-pity and self-righteousness, it is poor old Elijah. This is the man who called down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel and dazzled the prophets of Baal and sent them all running. Did you listen to him and his whining? I've done my duty. I've done more than my duty. I've done everything God wanted. I've done more than anybody else. And I've hung in there longer than anyone. What do I get for it? A wicked queen who is scaring the wits out of me, chasing me all around the countryside, and declaring that it's either her or me. And she's got the means to see that it's me. I'm not doing this job any more. It's someone else's turn. I think I'll just go sit under a tree and wait to die. Does this sound at all familiar? It does to me! We used to have a saying when I was a kid, that I still use when I encounter today's Elijahs. Maybe you know it, too. "Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna go eat worms. Big fat juicy ones, little bitty skinny ones, O how the big ones squirm!" Yes, I know it's disgusting, but it makes the point. In the same way, we give each other pity parties, by counting to 3 and saying "awwwwwwwwww" in unison. I think you get the picture that Elijah's problem in universal. We all do that. But more to the point, what are we to do when we feel that everyone is against us, even God? That's the question! Well, let's look at Elijah some more. He tried to run away at first. Then he wanted to die. Then he fell into an exhausted sleep, like a little child after a screaming tantrum. When he woke up, it was time for a little self-care to get himself back together. He needed to eat and sleep some more in order to go on. He needed to receive rest and nourishment. Then he went on a journey. It was not a pointless wandering, it was a search for the roots of his faith. He traveled back to Horeb, or Sinai, where Moses met God and delivered the tablets of stone to the people. You see, Elijah needed to reconnect with God. So he went to the one place where he knew God had appeared; the place where Moses had seen God's back as God had passed by while Moses was in the cleft of the rock. He went back to a holy place where a holy encounter had occurred. Have you ever experienced a time like Elijah was going through in his head when you thought you'd lost God? I have. And what has brought me back more than once has been to tell my story about times past when God had been very present in my life. That is my way of going back to Horeb, of returning to my holy time and holy happening. In the telling of my own story, God and I got reconnected. Try it! The last baptism class had to do interviews of Christians they know and get them to talk about their faith journey. Without knowing for sure, I'd bet that each person interviewed came a little closer to God during the telling of their stories of faith. But back to Elijah. Elijah had also begun to do something else. He got out of the middle of all the hullabaloo and got quiet. In the translation we read today, it is called "sheer silence." Before, we have seen that translated as "the still, small voice." But I really like sheer silence. It is almost like finding a missing piece of prayer and faith in this day and age. Elijah was looking for God in the big things, the traditional things. Wind, earthquake and fire were things which signified the presence of God to folks in those days. Whenever you read about one of those things you say, uh oh, God is going to make an appearance. Remember the burning bush, the pillar of fire? But this time it was different. Elijah had had enough of the flamboyant. He needed something else to restore him. And in sheer silence he experience the presence of God. Just like Moses, he stood in the holy place, wrapped his mantle around him for God could not be looked at directly, and found what he needed. What was that? It was courage, and it was light for the next step of his way. Our Director of World Mission Support, Dr. Bob Roberts, used to tell a story about himself in which he admitted that he generally looked for God in big things - mountains, the ocean, giant redwoods. Then one day his secretary came into the office with the tiniest of flowers, a weed, really, and said, "Look at this! Look at how utterly perfect this little flower is. Can you believe it?" And suddenly he knew that he'd been missing something. God in small things, quiet things, unexpected things and places. I put it to you today that what we are missing more than anything else is the sheer silence which allows God to be present to us and to give us what we need. The psalm writer was right when he " waited on the Lord." He was also right when he talked about leading us beside still waters and through peaceful green pastures. All those quieting places that calm us and bring our inner noise to silence. When I was in Connecticut, my life seemed to get like Elijah's quite often. Then I would know it was time to go sit on a bench by the pond and let the stillness of the water still my soul so that I could find that sheer silence. For the first 15 or 20 minutes, all that would happen was that all the things I should be doing would pop into my head. Stress, stress and more stress. I learned as time went on to bring a pencil and paper, and just jot down all those things that were cluttering my mind and soul. Once they were written, I could forget about them. They would still be there on the paper later. Finally, I could get to a point of sheer silence, inside, and could actually make a little space for God. Some amazing things happen when you can invite, greet, and embrace sheer silence. I am here to tell you that God really does speak. Most of our prayers today are not talking to God, but talking at God. A conversation, a real relationship, goes in two directions. One speaks and the other listens. Then the other listens while the first one speaks. It's an exchange. So it is with prayer. Elijah had to be brought to his knees before he was ready to listen to God. But when he did, he got what he needed. He got strength, he got courage, and he got enough light for the next step of his journey of faith. And, he got another holy moment, another story to tell to remind him that God really was in his life and cared what became of him. Do you have times in your life when you feel you have done your duty, but it doesn't seem like enough? In other words, are there times when you feel sorry for yourself? Are there times when you feel that God should be rewarding you because you've done everything you're supposed to, yet it's not happening? Do you feel God is absent? I think we can all answer yes to those questions. Look to Elijah. Accept the care that people want to give, because they are God's angels in disguise. Let them minister to you and give you strength. Go back to a holy time and place and tell your story to renew your faith. God has acted in your life before. You can trust that God has not forsaken you and will act graciously again. Make time for sheer silence. It's a rare commodity today. But it is so necessary, even now, if God is to speak. Take time to listen to God. God has spoken before; God still speaks now. Our God is not silent. It's just that there is too much noise inside us. My soul waits for the Lord in silence. "Be still, and know that I am God." The little voice speaks loudest when we are quiet and listening. |
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