All Saints Sunday, 1
Kings 19:1-8
Here's where we find
Elijah. He
has gotten to the point where he is so afraid, so panicked, so broken down that
he runs away to the wilderness, lies down under a tree, and wants to die.
I know many people who have been in this place... And maybe, all of us have had this experience in some way, if we are willing to tell the stories. Often, we’re not willing because despair isolates.
This was a hard week. Several lost loved ones recently or remembered them… that grief rises again right at this time of year as we move through All Saints and Day of the Dead… and much as we try to laugh at death, we’re also afraid.
On Monday, we received word (as congregations of the Saint Paul Area Synod) that the ministry of Shobi's Table is going to pause. Pastor Margaret will lead worship on Thursdays through the rest of November and then will end her work as mission developer in that ministry. We don't know what the future will be for this ministry, and for Pastor Margaret and her children, but at the moment, it looks like an ending, a deep grief, an uncertain future, and all this as she marks her 5th anniversary of ordination.
On Tuesday, pastors and deacons, interns and retirees from Minneapolis and Saint Paul synods joined together to celebrate 500 years of reforming and to look to the future together, but some didn't feel like celebrating because of the hard news and other recent deaths of congregations.
On Wednesday and then Thursday, it got even closer to home. I received messages that our new musician Kathryn is not able to continue to job-share as we had hoped... Another disappointment for many of us who had hoped this would be a beautiful new thing for Kathryn and for us.
And each of you, personally and collectively, you have had your own deep disappointments, your own griefs, your own times in the wilderness this week... and so we arrive, with Elijah, in the wilderness.
It’s tempting to run away in wilderness times, and certainly we all have stories of those who have holed up in isolation when the worst wilderness time has come their way. Many of us have stories of walking with others through mental illness, depression, major health crises, death and tragedy, times when all safety nets seem to be gone. Or maybe we've experienced those times personally, directly, persistently, with or without others walking with us.
Elijah, in his moment of wishing he could die, has a messenger who brings him bread, not once but repeatedly. Like the best kind of grandma, this messenger says, "eat." You're never gonna make the long journey ahead without sustaining food. So finally, he eats and then he goes the whole way to Mount Sinai. He gets there and continues hiding in a cave.
In the cave God comes to Elijah to call him out of his fear. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
There is wind, earthquake, fire (all those things we call “acts of God”) and then there is a sound of sheer silence. When all the noise has stopped, Elijah ventures out and again, God tries to call Elijah out of his fear. “What are you doing here Elijah? Don’t you know that I am God and I am with you?”
Elijah repeats exactly the same complaints, the same fears he said in the cave...
But then, God gives Elijah an action plan.
Here's what you're going to do Elijah, you're going to return and continue your prophetic work and then you're going to start mentoring another, Elisha, and one day, he'll take up this work.
Somehow, this word from God works. Somehow, the task at hand brings him out of his fear and despair enough to go on living… and he finds his work is not completely done… and he grasps God’s call to begin mentoring those who will come after him, and that both makes a way for them and helps Elijah to know the work is not all on him. It is just not true that he is the only one left, like he thinks in his lowest moments. So what about for you? What about for us?
There is not one of us who has not been in the wilderness. You are not alone there. And in fact, so many of you have been the angels in the wilderness… bringing something to eat to the one who is in the place of feeling defeated by life. That's an angelic task that many of you carry out... You bring bread (literally and metaphorically), gluten free if needed!
Whether we are the bread givers or the ones who need that sustaining food, we are not alone. The tasks of being a church who shares bread, who shares God's word boldly, who attempts to reform the world, is not all on us or even on our generation... There are so many who have come before us and so many who will come after us.
However, there are some times when we are so stuck in grief that we need an action plan.
I know many people who have been in this place... And maybe, all of us have had this experience in some way, if we are willing to tell the stories. Often, we’re not willing because despair isolates.
This was a hard week. Several lost loved ones recently or remembered them… that grief rises again right at this time of year as we move through All Saints and Day of the Dead… and much as we try to laugh at death, we’re also afraid.
On Monday, we received word (as congregations of the Saint Paul Area Synod) that the ministry of Shobi's Table is going to pause. Pastor Margaret will lead worship on Thursdays through the rest of November and then will end her work as mission developer in that ministry. We don't know what the future will be for this ministry, and for Pastor Margaret and her children, but at the moment, it looks like an ending, a deep grief, an uncertain future, and all this as she marks her 5th anniversary of ordination.
On Tuesday, pastors and deacons, interns and retirees from Minneapolis and Saint Paul synods joined together to celebrate 500 years of reforming and to look to the future together, but some didn't feel like celebrating because of the hard news and other recent deaths of congregations.
On Wednesday and then Thursday, it got even closer to home. I received messages that our new musician Kathryn is not able to continue to job-share as we had hoped... Another disappointment for many of us who had hoped this would be a beautiful new thing for Kathryn and for us.
And each of you, personally and collectively, you have had your own deep disappointments, your own griefs, your own times in the wilderness this week... and so we arrive, with Elijah, in the wilderness.
It’s tempting to run away in wilderness times, and certainly we all have stories of those who have holed up in isolation when the worst wilderness time has come their way. Many of us have stories of walking with others through mental illness, depression, major health crises, death and tragedy, times when all safety nets seem to be gone. Or maybe we've experienced those times personally, directly, persistently, with or without others walking with us.
Elijah, in his moment of wishing he could die, has a messenger who brings him bread, not once but repeatedly. Like the best kind of grandma, this messenger says, "eat." You're never gonna make the long journey ahead without sustaining food. So finally, he eats and then he goes the whole way to Mount Sinai. He gets there and continues hiding in a cave.
In the cave God comes to Elijah to call him out of his fear. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
There is wind, earthquake, fire (all those things we call “acts of God”) and then there is a sound of sheer silence. When all the noise has stopped, Elijah ventures out and again, God tries to call Elijah out of his fear. “What are you doing here Elijah? Don’t you know that I am God and I am with you?”
Elijah repeats exactly the same complaints, the same fears he said in the cave...
But then, God gives Elijah an action plan.
Here's what you're going to do Elijah, you're going to return and continue your prophetic work and then you're going to start mentoring another, Elisha, and one day, he'll take up this work.
Somehow, this word from God works. Somehow, the task at hand brings him out of his fear and despair enough to go on living… and he finds his work is not completely done… and he grasps God’s call to begin mentoring those who will come after him, and that both makes a way for them and helps Elijah to know the work is not all on him. It is just not true that he is the only one left, like he thinks in his lowest moments. So what about for you? What about for us?
There is not one of us who has not been in the wilderness. You are not alone there. And in fact, so many of you have been the angels in the wilderness… bringing something to eat to the one who is in the place of feeling defeated by life. That's an angelic task that many of you carry out... You bring bread (literally and metaphorically), gluten free if needed!
Whether we are the bread givers or the ones who need that sustaining food, we are not alone. The tasks of being a church who shares bread, who shares God's word boldly, who attempts to reform the world, is not all on us or even on our generation... There are so many who have come before us and so many who will come after us.
However, there are some times when we are so stuck in grief that we need an action plan.
Maybe we
unexpectedly lost the next generation. Maybe we’re pretty sure that we’ll never
live up to the memories we have of the previous generations. Maybe we’re
feeling like we’re bearing all this alone, like the future of God’s work is all
on us and we don’t have what we need to keep going…
This is when God meets us, under the tree and points out… here is Christ, the Tree of Life. Here is bread to sustain you. You are not alone—I am with you always with deep love to give you courage. And in fact, here is your new commission. Go where I send you. You have all you need to do what I’m calling you to do. Show up. Danielle Shroyer, a pastor and teacher, puts it this way: “Most of life is showing up, which, don’t get me wrong, is hard enough to do. It’s plenty. But when we move into life with a willingness to be present, we’re often surprised at the energy of life that meets us there… Are you just sitting there? Good. God is there, with blessing in hand [for you]. It’s that easy.”[1]
Remember, Elijah wanted to die. But God's work in and through Elijah was not done yet.
Wilderness is a human experience, everyone has had one, is in one, or will have one... Turns out that even churches can die, meaningful mission experiments can fail... In times of deep grief and disappointment, grief seems endless and permanent, but God is responsive to people in the wilderness.
God's response to death is Resurrection. Normally, I like to think that God gives us choice, but there are also times when God simply brings resurrection. Like a family member exercising tough love, God says, You're going to get up out of bed, you're going to take your meds, you’re going to come to church, you're going to go out on Tuesday and vote for the good of your community… or whatever steps God might have to move us to health.
This is when God meets us, under the tree and points out… here is Christ, the Tree of Life. Here is bread to sustain you. You are not alone—I am with you always with deep love to give you courage. And in fact, here is your new commission. Go where I send you. You have all you need to do what I’m calling you to do. Show up. Danielle Shroyer, a pastor and teacher, puts it this way: “Most of life is showing up, which, don’t get me wrong, is hard enough to do. It’s plenty. But when we move into life with a willingness to be present, we’re often surprised at the energy of life that meets us there… Are you just sitting there? Good. God is there, with blessing in hand [for you]. It’s that easy.”[1]
Remember, Elijah wanted to die. But God's work in and through Elijah was not done yet.
Wilderness is a human experience, everyone has had one, is in one, or will have one... Turns out that even churches can die, meaningful mission experiments can fail... In times of deep grief and disappointment, grief seems endless and permanent, but God is responsive to people in the wilderness.
God's response to death is Resurrection. Normally, I like to think that God gives us choice, but there are also times when God simply brings resurrection. Like a family member exercising tough love, God says, You're going to get up out of bed, you're going to take your meds, you’re going to come to church, you're going to go out on Tuesday and vote for the good of your community… or whatever steps God might have to move us to health.
“We do not find our
grounding in our own actions but in the love of God”… and then at the very same
time, “If we wait until we get it right or get our acts together, we will never
begin at all.”[2]
Ready or not, God says, here's what you're going to do together... You're going to re-do those kitchens with the money I've given you, you're going to support the youth and those who have experienced disasters, you're going to make that phone call to that person who's disappeared, you're going to bring some bread to someone who needs that life-sustaining meal. Or whatever it is that God is telling you personally and us together to do…
So take heart: you are not alone when you lose your way [and
neither are they]. God remains with you, and you are surrounded by every other
human who also struggles with feelings of despair, shame, humiliation,
depression, and fear. [If] you have lost your sense of blessing multiple times…
these feelings are to be expected and accepted. You do not have to be “good at”
receiving blessing… Dare to believe that you are God’s treasured beloved.
Because that…is [exactly] and always what you are.[3]
Because of Christ,
the Tree of Life, planted in the wilderness, there is amazing potential for new
life springing from death... We've all had moments to glimpse that God-given
reality, too. So
when we wish we could just lay down and rest from our labors underneath that
Tree of Life in the wilderness, maybe it’s time to do it. Sometimes we do need
a big quiet Sabbath space before we can emerge from hiding. But also expect
that God will find you there and revive you, and sustain you for the journey,
and in the midst of chaos or silence, God will call you (and us together) to renew
our work of proclaiming God's word (through our lives and actions) in a new season.
I wonder if this is why at the Seder and other Jewish celebrations, there is always a chair open for Elijah... So that he (and we) know that we are never alone. The saints are our witness—God has made a promise to be here with us, and God is sticking with it.
I wonder if this is why at the Seder and other Jewish celebrations, there is always a chair open for Elijah... So that he (and we) know that we are never alone. The saints are our witness—God has made a promise to be here with us, and God is sticking with it.
