Season of Courage: Listening to the Prophets
1 Kings 19: 1-15a
1 Kings 19: 1-15a
It’s true that things were never easy for God’s prophets. That’s why no one wanted the job.
God asked them to do impossible things and even success over false prophets led to retaliation and the promise of death. So Elijah is out in the wilderness, wishing he was dead.
Still, there God meets Elijah. An angel brings bread and drink to sustain him.
When he falls asleep again in despair, the angel wakes him for more nourishment and this time, it’s enough. It sets him on his path again. Forty days and his journey is complete. He arrives at Sinai (in Greek), Horeb (in Hebrew)… the mountain of God, the place where Moses met God way back when…And there, God asks Elijah, “Elijah, why are you here?”
God wonders, Why are you here? We wonder too, why are we here?
On Wednesday, June 19th, I gathered with a few others to watch Emanuel, a powerful documentary about the day when 21-year-old white supremacist entered the historic and important Emanuel A.M.E. church, attended Bible study with a loving, small group of faithful Black Christians and then as they bowed their heads to pray began to shoot and kill them. As he killed them, he told them that he had to kill them because they were Black and it was his intention to incite a race war. He purposefully did not kill one of the survivors, telling her she could tell the story.
However, just 48 hours after these 9 tragic deaths, horrific for that congregation, for the city of Charleston and the whole nation, some relatives of those who died attended his bond hearing. They were coached to say nothing but they found themselves telling him and the world that they forgave him for what he did. “This was a radical act that almost no one saw coming. It wasn’t something the relatives of the victims had discussed ahead of time. In that moment, their hearts were moved, their spirits convicted to speak forgiveness—a profound evocation of scripture and its call for Christians.”[1]
“The willingness to forgive that many of the relatives of the victims displayed does not negate the anger they felt toward Roof, [especially since] he showed no outward remorse for his actions. And the film documents how other relatives of the victims weren’t willing to forgive, some of them still declining to do so—which is understandable. Anger is not contradictory to forgiveness… [especially when we notice] the way he was treated by police [he was treated gently & they bought him Burger King]—which was certainly different than if he had been a young black shooter—[especially when we consider] the racism that these families [and families right here in Saint Paul] still live among… Anger can be an important source of courage and a catalyst for change when channeled…”
But the more to the story that happened is that forgiveness and anger worked powerfully for good in the aftermath of this horrific, violent act. The people of Charleston came together in new and powerful ways in that moment and instead of inciting a race war, the people’s response created new opportunities for coming together to stand against white supremacy.
As we left the theater on Wednesday, a day that in many states is recognized as Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, movie watchers were hugging and crying. There was clearly more than one group attending from their churches and someone said, “Let’s make the coming together that happened in Charleston happen here!” Spontaneously a circle formed, Black and white hands, people of all ages joining together in prayer and a call for God to use us to mend the deep racism still present in our country and in our own community, in the hallway of the AMC theater in Rosedale. It was a reminder that as we gather we must re-commit ourselves, over and over again, to find ways to build meaningful relationships and cherish one another.
On Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, in God’s dwelling place, God asks Elijah, “Why are you here?” And Elijah says he’s afraid to die. He’s afraid he’s the only true good person left. He feels utterly alone.
In a way, that’s ironic since in the wilderness, he wished to die.
Now, he’s afraid to die. But God doesn’t mock him for the fears that make both of those true at once. God must sense his deep fear, his deep inability to trust God, even after the show of God’s power in the face of false prophets, even after the sustaining food and drink along the way… somehow, Elijah (one of the greatest of prophets) does not or cannot see God… and so God wants to show him.
On the mountain, Elijah experiences God not in a storm or earthquake or in any show of force but in sheer silence. The silence doesn’t change Elijah. When God asks him again, Why are you here? Elijah answers with the very same words. He has not changed a bit. But God’s last word from the mountain for Elijah is that when he goes back, he will pass on the responsibility of being God’s prophet to another. Elijah has never been the only faithful and obedient prophet, he has never been alone.
God wonders, Why are you here? Why are we here?
It’s true that things are never easy for God’s people… we’re surrounded by strong winds of change. Fears of all kinds shake us up. We read and hear and experience things every day that get us burning mad. If it’s felt like you’re out in the wilderness these days, wishing you were dead or afraid to die, you’re not alone…
Still, there in wilderness God meets us. God’s messengers bring us bread and drink to sustain us. When we fall asleep again in despair, we’re awakened again and get nourished so that we can make it through the whole journey, however challenging.
And then, along the way, as we make our way into God’s places, we find that God appears not in a show of force as we might expect but within a stranger, within us.
Why are we here?
To listen for God, to gain courage, to have our hearts and minds expanded, to renew our commitment to neighbors, to remember we have never been alone
God makes this invitation today—I want you to see me.
