July 28th, 2013 Luke 11:1-13

LUKE 11:1-13

¹Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." ²Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."

⁵And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' ⁷And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

***

There are a lot of ways to pray, and a lot of ways we are told not to pray. So when my former husband, Will’s old school, uber-Catholic, grandmother asked me to say grace at our first meal together, I freaked out.

Now let me tell you some back story. It was my first time meeting the family, which comes with its own intimidation, which I was feeling fully. This was intensified by having been warned some things by Will’s sister. One being, that their grandmother was the type of old fashioned, that didn’t think women should wear pants, only long skirts. I wondered what she thought of me wearing the pants in ministry as I studied to become a pastor, a male role in her Catholic Church. Yet, without even knowing me, she was open enough to ask me to pray grace around the breakfast table in her home.

 I must also tell you, as a pastor, being asked to say grace in someone’s else’s home is hard. It can feel like usurping the host’s place, like the guest walking in and sitting at the head of the table. Praying in someone else’s home can also be like being asked to talk politics in mixed company. A pastor has to balance the respect for beliefs of the household, and their own conscience’s obedience to God. The mealtime prayer in other people’s homes is a careful, and often cliche prayer. It is a prayer on which everyone can agree. ‘We are thankful to be fed, for the cook, we pray for those who have none, thank you for the hospitality, etc. Amen.’ I know how to this and many other types of prayer now, but there at the kitchen table with Will and his grandmother, everything I ever knew about prayer ran fleetingly away. I was like actress who had forgotten not only her lines, but the plot of the entire story.

I am not sure what I said. I don’t even think my grammar or context, much less theology, made any sense. I knew it was especially bad when Will, who normally was unfazed by religiosity, kidded me about it afterward.

So that night, I went to bed and I prepared. I prepared the perfect prayer in my head. It was eloquent, and gracious, and concise, and theologically correct, and everything else a mealtime prayer should be. I was not going to get caught paralyzed and unable to pray in front of Will’s grandmother again. Breakfast the next morning would be a triumph for women in pants, in ministry, and for my introduction to Will’s family. 

The next morning, I went downstairs prepared, prayer memorized, and ready to go.

We sat down, and I waited for my moment, and then Will’s grandmother prayed. “Bless us, O Lord! and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” 

I felt cheated, not only of my moment of glory and of the opportunity for redemption, but I felt cheated of a real prayer. She had asked me to pray, and then when it was her turn, she recited a a rote prayer, a memorized prayer someone else had given her to pray. 

I both thought, that is not fair, and that is so smart.

The third morning we all went Will’s mom’s house for breakfast. It was filled with Will’s extremely diverse family, all there to meet me, another intimidating situation.  We sat down, and unexpectedly, as if it was an afterthought, Will’s mom asked me to say grace. 

Will looked at me with sheer terror. I smiled back, and in front of Will’s entire family, including his grandmother, I said that perfect prayer, the one I had memorized two days before. 

Yes!

If the same situation happened again today, I am sure I would still be nervous meeting the family, but hopefully my prayer would go better, because I have learned a lot since then. You might be thinking that I learned to pray the right way; that like the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, that seminary teaches you all the prayer tricks. While I did learn some tricks and formulas, none of them would have helped me through that first breakfast prayer. 

What would have helped through would have been all the prayer rules have now I unlearned.

I had believed rules like:

You sit quietly. You bow your head. You close your eyes. You fold your hands in one of two ways. You need to focus. You don’t disturb God too much, but you also pray regularly. You do not pray for yourself. You don’t pray for material items. Your prayer must end in Christ’s name. etc. etc. and I am sure you can add your own.

Looking back, I realize, it was an unfortunate and sad way to pray. It was sad because it limited God to a judgmental authority. It limited communication with God to only prayers which followed all the rules, and I remind you, I have never been good at following all the rules. Therefore, the rules of prayer made me feel unable and unworthy to pray.

I imagine this is how the disciples felt in today’s scripture. John had taught others how to pray, and the disciples wanted to know that formula. So Jesus gave them one, he repeated what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer, which was an ancient Jewish prayer they would have known. 

Perhaps the rule followers among the disciples, and the people like Will’s grandmother, would have felt relief after this prescription. Yet, Jesus didn’t leave prayer only as simple formula. Jesus didn’t leave prayer merely as a rote, memorized, often repeated, eyes closed, head bowed, hands folded, directive. Jesus opened up what prayer was, and who God was, and whom the disciples were to God.

And that’s what one of my friends at seminary did for me. She told me that when she prayed, she laid down on the floor, with her arms wide open, and spoke to God of her heart's desires. 

I tried it and I tried many other ways, until finally, I found out I pray best looking out a window. I focus on a leaf, or an expanse of sky, or sunlight on a patch of grass, and out loud I pray. I pray to God, “Help me to be a word to your people, let this not be about me, but about you, and what you would have me say.” 

Other times, just walking around I say little thank you prayers, or God your awesome prayers, or Lord help me prayers. Sometimes I sing a waking song, or a lullaby, to God. Sometimes I cry my prayers. Other times, while I run, and my body is busy, my heart and my head have a conversation with God. In the past, I have journaled, finding its slowness allows God to speak back through nudges of thoughts I could not have come up with on my own. These myriad ways of praying speak to me of God’s boundlessness, of God’s creativity, and welcoming acceptance, of God’s desire to hear God’s people.

I think this what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples. He said to them, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” From the confines of a simple formula, such a The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus opened up prayer to also be in the asking, the searching, and the knocking, in the hands above our heads, in the songs from our lips, and words scratched into a journal. That there is no way too ordinary, nor extraordinary to seek God, and there is no way of looking for God that is unacceptable.

 Jesus also tells them that prayer is not only the disciples reaching to God, but God reaching out to them; that God is giving, helping them find, and opening doors. This speaks of a God who is constantly responding, through the ordinary and extraordinary. This speaks of a God for whom no prayer is outside of God’s yearning to give. There even a silent prayer that beckons God’s response to give.

Jesus likens God to a parent who wants to give to their children. Jesus says, “¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?... how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" I think this parental image of God seeking to provide for God’s children with gifts is helpful, and I want you to notice that God does not return the child who asks for a fish a fish, God does not return the child who asks for an egg, an egg. Instead God responds by giving the Holy Spirit, who feeds the children of God beyond a loaf of bread, beyond a fish, and an egg.

Today we will come to table. It will be set with bread and juice, but it will also be a gift of the Holy Spirit. A gift from God, a gift beyond rules, beyond bounds, a gift to us. Let it be our prayer to God, and let us feel God’s response to us this day, and always, and in all ways. Amen.

July 14th 2013 Guest Preacher Luke Rembold

The Good Samaritan. You know, I smile thinking about this, just a few weeks after Vacation Bible School, where the Good Samaritan was the Bible story one of the days. I stood up front at the end of the day, and prompted the kids: “Who did we learn to serve today?” The kids answered with an exuberant, “Neighbors!” And I said, “And who is our neighbor?” Jubilantly, they replied, “Everyone!”

And we've all heard that part of the Gospel, right? This was difficult for the disciples to get their heads around, with their biases and prejudices against different local populations. Samaritans were the bad guys. Levites, priests, these are supposed to be the good guys. Yet the good guys behaved...I don't know, cowardly seems strong, but I think they behaved like cowards. They turned tail and ran. They willfully closed their eyes to the plight of another human being. They made up excuses as to why they shouldn't help. Can't you picture it? “Oh, I bet that guy in the ditch only got there because he was mixed up in alcohol or drugs.” Assuming the worst in another human being. That is cowardice. Only this Samaritan, the guy that wasn't supposed to help, goes out of his way to help this man he doesn't know. Bravery. And Jesus' point is clear. The expert of the law, who asked the question, correctly identifies the neighbor. “The one who showed mercy.” Jesus' challenge comes through: “Go and do likewise.”

Yet, despite the fact that this is one of the best-known stories in the Bible, I stand here today and I'm still just not sure we've got it. Or, I’m not sure we’ve got ALL of it. I think we’re starting to see the man, and help the man on the side of the road, but at some point don’t we need to ask if we need to make the road safer? How do we move from privileged charity to justice? I mean, pick your issue. Me? I have. I've spent years during high school, college and after struggling to identify which neighbor needed me the most. Homeless folks in McMinnville? Victims of foreclosure and shady banking practices in Philadelphia? Families in Mexico desperate for a home? Countless people in Palestine, Rwanda, Congo, or India, cast down by society solely based on past quarrels and struggles? Migrants, or maybe I should just say HUMAN BEINGS, dying on the US-Mexico border? Individuals unable to gain basic rights because of their sexual orientation? Or our elderly neighbors, living next door to us in abject poverty and filth, scared of losing their independence if they ask for help? Which one of these neighbors do I go to? And what about those other neighbors? Will anyone help them? Will anyone work against the systems that put them on the side of the road in need of help?

And what about us as a church? We have expanded our mission programming to include the Open Door program, to include the Backpack program, and as a congregation we are active in food banks, mentoring programs, and volunteering throughout the community. But where are the neighbors that we are passing by? Where are we scared to act bravely? And how do we move past charity work and into justice work, striving to change the systems that create these inequalities?

I've struggled with my lack of focus on these issues. I've written about it, I've prayed about it, asking God to take away this curse for me of seeing too much, focusing too little. I've watched friends of singular passions achieve great success in serving their neighbors, starting non-profits in various sectors, working with NGOs in foreign countries, entering into the ranks of the employed in education or business, changing lives. I wanted that simplicity. I knew I wanted to help people. But if I chose just one of these things, how could I keep from looking over my shoulder at the next one? Which one mattered most?

I came back to this church, to this job, because I believe the people that best see “neighbors” are the youth. Of this church. Of many churches. Not in churches. But the youth seem to understand something, grasp something that maybe we all once had, but no longer do. I wrote a poem while I was in Newport about it:

Hello!

His clear, exuberant voice greeted me as soon as I rounded the corner
his blonde, curlish locks barely visible
above the front of his stroller

Hello!

The face of his father greeted me differently
with
distrust
worry
fear

and I can't help but pause
and contemplate
a world of youth
void of the curse of life experience
and pain

a world
where each stranger you meet
brings hope
joy.
new possibilities.
the world is created new through the eyes of the young.

I came to this job, with these kids, 5 of which I get to accompany to Indiana this week, because the youth are the ones who are willing to challenge our notion of “neighbor.” Youth carry few of the biases and prejudices we've accumulated in our years of individual baggage. They see possibilities anywhere and everywhere, friends to be made instead of foes to defeat. The hyper-competitive world we live in has not yet corrupted the spirit of cooperation and collaboration. I need that encouragement. But more importantly, the world needs that. We, as a church need that.

You see, the opportunity to work with youth is where I see all of these issues of “neighbor” colliding. Working to educate and expand the world for youth is a task that combines all the topics I mentioned above. Any part I can play to help cultivate an awareness for the size, beauty, and diversity of the world these youth are growing up in is a task I will gladly and willingly take on. And yes, that carries a bit of homelessness. That carries some questions of equality struggles. That carries some economic conversations. What is justice? Who is our neighbor? The youth will tell us—if we are willing to listen. 

These kids (and a couple very lucky adults) are leaving for a week at Triennium they'll be talking about for days, months,  even years to come. My challenge, as youth director here, and I think our challenge as a church, is to not belittle or dismiss the revelations these youth come back with. This isn't a time to relate their experience to your own life, “Oh yes, I've done something like that.” This isn't a time to project our own failures and attempts on them, “Oh, we've tried that. It didn't work.”

Too often I've found myself thinking the same thing. In my time in Newport and here, working with youth, I find myself clinging to my experience in youth group, my vision of how things should be done. It is difficult to let go of my past, my own incredibly positive experiences, enough to let the youth develop their own, on their terms. And I don't think the answer is forgetting our own history, or how we did things. But we do need to allow the freedom for a new future, a future envisioned by the eyes of the children, the youth.

There will always a tension there, between tradition and emergence, between new ideas and the way it has been. But I want to implore us to explore those differences. Too often I think we refuse to engage simply because we know we might disagree. And so, youth dismiss adults (“their ideas are old-fashioned”) and adults dismiss youth (“we've tried that, it didn't work. They'll change their mind when they get older”). The fact of the matter is, wisdom abounds in both groups, but pride prevents us from seeing it.

“With age, comes wisdom.” That's the common phrase. But Jesus tells us that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must be like children. Perhaps this is the time to acknowledge the wisdom and insight these youth, all of these youth, have into the eyes and heart of Jesus. They see the neighbor on the side of the road to Jericho. Can we let them teach us how to see?

July 7th, 2017 Guest Preacher Jim Kauth

 July 7th, 2017  Guest Preacher Jim Kauth

Why did God give us the Bible? The reason God’s Word was given to us can be summed up in these three Scriptural readings.

a. The Bible is a story a story of covenants, a story about God’s people and how

    we will respond to God gifts. Jeremiah 31:31-36

b. The Bible is a story about God’s people and how we will treat each other and

    the world. Galatians 6:1-10

c. The Bible is a story about God’s people and how we will interact with the

    world. Luke 10:1-9, 16-20  

Jeremiah 31:31-36 (God’s Word translation)

The Bible is a story about how God’s people will respond to God gifts, a story of covenants.

There are two types of Covenants, conditional and unconditional. 

A conditional covenant is an agreement that is binding on both parties for its fulfillment. Both parties agree to fulfill certain conditions. If either party fails to meet their responsibilities, the covenant is broken and neither party has to fulfill the expectations of the covenant.

An unconditional or unilateral covenant is an agreement between two parties, but only one of the two parties has to do something. Nothing contractually is required of the other party.

The Adamic Covenant

a.       The Adamic Covenant is a conditional covenant in two parts, the Edenic half and the Grace and Redemption half.

In the Edenic Covenant, God promises Adam life and blessings, but that promise is conditional upon Adam’s obedience to God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

b.      As a result of Adam’s sin we then have the second half of God’s covenant,

God’s covenant of Grace-Redemption. God curses Satan saying, “The seed a woman would crush the Serpent’s head”. This curse is our assurance that one born of a woman would be wounded in the process of destroying Satan. Some call this assurance the “Proto-Gospel”.

The Abrahamic covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant is an unconditional Covenant

1.       The promise of Land

2.       The promise of descendants

3. The promise of blessing and redemption

The Mosaic covenant

This is a conditional l covenant. If Israel is obedient, then God will bless them, but if they disobey, then God will punish them. The Mosaic Covenant is especially significant because in it God promises to make Israel “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” the promise of redemption.

The Davidic covenant

The Davidic Covenant is an unconditional covenant made between God and David through which God promises David and Israel that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would come from the lineage of David and the tribe of Judah and would establish a kingdom that would endure forever.

And finally, The Messiahanic covenant

The fulfillment of God’s promise told to Satan

                                Is the Messiahanic Covenant a conditional or unconditional covenant?

Whew, a lot of covenants, God change God’s mind a lot!

No, it wasn’t God who kept changing their mind! God is the one person in this story that has not changed, nor ever will change! We are the ones who change, sometimes we grow in understanding, and then, for whatever reason, we choose to forget all we learned. WE turn our backs on God. Yet all the while God is forgiving us, teaching us, growing us, and loving us.

Let me explain how God’s Messiahanic covenant works. God tells us what God will give and do for us and why God chooses to do so, then tells us how we will respond to God’s gracious gifts.

It’s laid out pretty clear in Jeremiah,

·         The Law would be written upon our hearts, not on tables of stone,

·         We will respond to God’s Will from inward love rather than outward compulsion.

·         God will send the sacred Lamb of God as savior; we will have our sins forgiven.

·         Everyone under this covenant will enter into a new relationship with God, we will know the Lord personally through Jesus Christ.

Looking back we can see as the people of God grew in understanding God would grow their covenant giving all of us security, freedom to continue to grow and our reason for living.

Is the Messiahanic Covenant a conditional or unconditional covenant?

Galatians 6:1-10 (God’s Word translation)

The Bible is a story about how God’s people will treat each other and the world.

How do we treat

A fellow Christian who has sinned:

·         A Christian should restore a brother or sister to a right relationship with God and thus their community. The task of restoration is not to be undertaken by fledglings in the faith but by those who walk by the Spirit and who are mature in the faith

A fellow Christian who is burdened:

·         A Christian lends a helping hand with heavy loads this can apply to all burdens but in this context has special reference to the heavy and oppressive weight of temptation and spiritual failure.

Our Pastor-Teacher:

·         One responsibility of each believer is to shoulder the financial support of the pastor-teachers in the church. This concept of voluntary giving to provide for the Lord’s servants was revolutionary since Jews were taxed for the support of their priests and Gentiles paid fees, made vows, etc., to sustain their religious support. The admonition is clear that as a teacher shares the good things of the Word of God, a believer is to reciprocate by sharing all good things with our Teaching Elders.

Ourselves:

·         God’s rule, a person reaps what he sows, is immutable. Each sower decides what their harvest will be. If a person sows to please his sinful nature, that is, selfishly indulges in their own desires not God’s desires, that person will reap a harvest that will fade into oblivion. On the other hand if a person supports the Lord’s work, sows to please the Spirit, and promotes his or her own spiritual growth that person will reap a harvest that will last forever.

·         But Christians may become discouraged with spiritual sowing because the harvest is often long in coming. Do not become weary or give up because God guarantees the harvest will be completed. The reaping will come at God’s proper time, which may be only in part in our lifetime and in full in the life to come at the judgment seat of Christ.

The World

·         Jesus fed the 5,000, both saved and unsaved participated, so the benevolence of Christians should not be restricted, just understand that believers are the harvest workers and as such have priority. Family needs are met first, then those of our neighbors. Paul speaks clearly about Christian social responsibility, but it should be noted that it is addressed to individual believers.

Luke 10:1-9, 16-20 my paraphrased

The Bible is a story about how God’s people will interact with the world.

God sent Jesus, Jesus sends us.

At the beginning of Luke chapter 10,

·         Jesus tells the disciples to go out in pairs, not by themselves, there is a connection with sending the disciples out in pairs and what Mathew 18, verse 19 says “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

·         Jesus says there’s a lot of work to do, ask the “Lord who gives this Harvest” for workers to help in this harvest,” meaning invite people to be an active part of ministry and of our community of faith for the person you invite may be the “harvest worker” God is sending.

·         Travel light, no extra burdens, don’t visit on the way, telling us to keep our focus on what is important, what is urgent, what God is sending us out to do.

·         When you arrive at a community, find a family that will share in your peace, that is, a family who will be tolerant and open to hear what you have to say

·         Take your meals there, share in the traditions of the family you are staying with, this way you may also learn the community’s culture and traditions

·         Eat what is set before you, when you preach the “Good News” preach it through your budding relationships with the people in the community, it’s hard to be a stranger at a meal

·         “Heal the sick”, work at those things that show obvious and present benefits for this community while you are preaching about the less obvious and long-term benefits of God’s Way

·         “The Kingdom of God is near you”, make it clear that God is gifting this community because of God Love for us, that’s how the “Kingdom of God” works

Now understand, the focus of the church is not as an agency for social work and rehabilitation, though we, as Christians are charged to minister in this way as we are able and have opportunity.

The focus of the Church is to spread “The Good News” the kingdom of God is at our doorstep right NOW! We are call to be the face and hands of Jesus, to be the voice and presence of Jesus, to be a light to the world for the sake of the world. We are called to preach, always preach, and if necessary, use words.

                 “Remember, the great victory is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and God’s presence with you. The achievement is not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the reason for rejoicing, the only reason to rejoice”. (Luke 10:20)

June 30th, 2013 2 KINGS 2:1-2, 6-14

2 KINGS 2:1-2, 6-14  

¹Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ²Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

⁶Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. ⁷Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." ¹⁰He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not."

¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

***

            When we last encountered Elijah, he was telling the Lord that he was the only believer left. The Lord corrected Elijah, that instead, there were 7,000 believers left, and that Elijah was to anoint a new prophet Elisha.  Its easy sometimes to think that we are the only ones left to do the work of the Lord. This hubris is Elijah’s weakness throughout the scripture, and I get it.

            I will be gone for almost three weeks with vacation, continuing education, and service to the denomination, and there is a way in which I struggle to pass the torch even just briefly. Jim and Luke will preach sermons that aren’t the way I would preach them. A friend of mine said, “Katy, it would be funny to hear your sermons preached by a man.”  Jim and Luke will do faithful and relevant preaching, but it won’t sound like me, and therefore it takes a little bit of my loosening control. This control, or responsibility of being Minister of the Word and Sacrament means, I have preached all but one Sunday for the last seven months. We have followed Advent, and Epiphany, Lent and Eastertide, all the way to Pentecost and Ordinary Time. In this Ordinary Time we have dug into Kings for the last four weeks. Kings continues in the lectionary while I am gone, but we’re stopping now, because at least I had enough sense not to ask Jim and Luke to preach it. I like Elijah have thrown the mantle over the new prophets, yet even when you’ve named your successors, it can be hard to give up control.

            In our scripture today. Elijah and Elisha are walking together. Elijah feels called to go to three different places and prophesy, but he doesn’t yet feel called to let Elisha go in his place. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel,” But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." Elisha knows that as long as the Lord is living, and as long as Elijah is alive, Elisha must be near to take over the prophets place when he dies. Elijah attempting to cast Elisha off happens twice more when Elijah goes to Jericho and Jordan.

            Likewise, I have tried to remain in the loop, even as I travel across the country.  I will not be here if someone dies, or gets very sick. Keith and Laura Hudson in LaGrande are on call for emergencies, yet as competent as they are, I have also asked that if someone goes to the hospital or dies, that folks call me, so I can phone them as the pastor. This is part of being a minister, that you are always on call for emergencies, as if the church was your own family. Yet more so, my prayers have been for you to be alright, and Keith and Laura not to be needed. It is always a good prayer, that folks stay healthy, but it might say more about my need to be needed. Elijah is at that stage. He could easily turn over the reigns, but he is not yet ready.

            In what reads like a final proof of power, echoing Moses, Elijah parts the Jordan River with his mantle, the same cloth that anointed Elisha. Elijah wanted to prove his power, before giving up his power. Do you know people like this, who are trying so desperately to prove their worth instead of letting go? It is usually the people who have been in the same role for years and years, perhaps decades. They have power because the system revolves around them, but nothing creative or new has evolved. Those outside, tip toe around if not stagnate, waiting for the powerful to die, because the assumption is they will never give up control in their lifetime. Elijah and Elisha are like this, and luckily for them the dynamic of waiting for the powerful to die is out in the open.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." I wonder if Elisha was sickened by Elijah’s hubris and unrelenting hold over power. Elijah assumes that Elisha wants something of his. As if, after Elijah is gone, Elisha will not have the power to do anything himself, that the whole system will fail without Elijah. There are churches like this, and ways every church is like this, ways we are like this. Sometimes, we hold on so closely to the way things have been that we are uncomfortable to giving up control to the Spirit in our midst.

When the Worship Committee and I offered intinction during the Holy Seasons some people were uncomfortable with the temporary change. I’ll admit it wasn’t an easy switch. We stumbled and bumbled along until months later we were finally able to flow through the ritual. Yet, for others, even in our stumbling and bumbling, intinction was the first time in our church that they felt the sacred during communion, that they experienced the holy, the ritual of coming together before the Lord. This is what is so wonderful and promising about the Spirit, it doesn’t stick to one way of doing things; it has infinite ways of reaching us. It doesn’t have the boundaries that we put on it. It is more often found when we unbind our view, and open ourselves to a boundless God beyond our imagination. As elders, and deacons, and ministers we vow to serve with imagination. It is a vow to be open and to look beyond our boundaries, and to find the Spirit in ways we don’t expect. A Spirit who looks different today but is just as much alive. I often hear so much worry about churches dying, and our nation no longer being a Christian Nation. Our churches will never look like they did in the 50’s, nor will our nation, but the Holy Spirit has not lessened. It is still active, but maybe we haven’t been open enough to see the places it is alive and thriving. The future isn’t about going back to the way things were, it’s about creating something new that never was before, something just as faithful, just as holy, but so very different. This is what Elisa knows when he asks for his one wish. He doesn’t wish for the same successes of Elijah, nor the same ministry, he asks for the same Spirit.

Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." Elisha wants not double the churches, not double the members, not double the size of the youth group, but double the Spirit. It is the most faithful thing he can ask for, yet Elijah is not ready to give up control. Elijah responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." Elijah puts a stipulation on this inheritance of Spirit. Not only must Elijah die before Elisha can take control, but Elisha must also get his double share of Spirit from witnessing the Lord. At least this Elijah got this right, that the Spirit comes from witnessing what the Lord is doing right then. That is what it means to be a prophet.

As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" Elisha was naming the place the Spirit was alive in front of him. This is how he received a double amount of Spirit.

When Elisha could no longer see Elijah, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. It is okay to grieve what once was; it is okay to grieve churches dying; membership subsiding, and youth groups not providing the core of a youth’s raising. Elisha grieved Elijah too, it was the end of what was. But then Elisha moved on; he picked up the mantle, and went and sought the Lord. What we need to grieve in order to move on? What former things do we need to grieve in order to seek the Lord anew?

Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" The first thing Elisha did as Elijah’s successor was to ask, “Where is the Lord.” To be a prophet is to look for and witness to the Lord. Where have we seen the Lord? Where is the Spirit blowing through our life? Where is God right before us? Where is Jesus thriving the world today?

When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. In this final sentence of our scripture, I want you to notice something. Elisha turned around from the way Elijah had been going and went back over the Jordan. He set off in a new direction.

If Elisha didn’t turn around, and the Spirit didn’t lead him a new direction, he would not have crowned a different king, altering the course of history. If our elders and deacons always remained elders we would not see the gifts of different people in different ministries, which I witnessed just this week. If Elisha had stayed the same as Elijah, and the Spirit stayed the same, Elisha would have remained a solitary prophet, instead of having other prophets join him, which I think he learned from Elijah trying so hard to hold on to power. If Elisha stayed the same, and if the Spirit stayed the same, then ministry would only come from me. You’d have me preaching Kings for the next month, instead of Jim preaching the Great Commission and Luke who was so inspired his sermon’s already done. If Elisha had stayed the same, and the Spirit stayed the same, his prophesy would only be for believers instead of to the secular world also. If Elisha stayed the same, and the Spirit stayed the same churches of the fifties would grow and grow but we’d never get to have a 1001 Worshiping Communities a PCUSA Ministry that seeks to create worship in coffee shops, and mountain sides, and biker bars, we would not have ministries like Open Door and Backpack which preach the gospel without even using words. Friends, Brothers, Sisters, let us have faith that the Spirit is in control, and let us seek to be open to the Spirit constantly creating anew.

So I wonder, of what do we as individuals resist giving up control? What do we each have to grieve that once was? Where is the Lord in each of our midsts? And how is the Spirit sending each of us in new direction? Over what do we as a church resist giving up control? What do we as a church have to grieve that once was? Where is the Lord in our midst? How is the Spirit sending us in a new direction? It makes sense that I leave us with enough questions to ponder until I come back. But I realize, that sometimes it takes an Elijah leaving, for Elisha to show us a new way. So while I am away, and perhaps out of the way, I invite us to experience the Spirit anew, and tell each other about it when I come home.