Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-14 … and Reflections
Instead of reading the Scripture in one piece, then offering a single, whole sermon from it, the reading will be offered in pieces, with a few breaks in it, for thoughts and questions that come from it, or in reflection upon it. And maybe this in its own way is in keeping with how the truth comes to us in life – not all at once and in one piece, but step by step and bit by bit.
So, we jump into the story …
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”
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Let’s stop here, before we go any further.
This is an exceptional story! It’s a biggie in the pantheon of stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s about Elijah – the greatest prophet Israel ever knew, and Elisha his protégé.
Elijah was sent by God at a particularly critical time in their history and in their life as God’s distinctive people in the world, called to live out God’s way of humility and compassion, of peace and justice, and of serving the well-being of all. And in the way he carried out his calling, Elijah and the stories about him became almost mythic in nature.
Elijah, for instance, was the one who stood up to the king and queen and 500 prophets of Baal, and not only survived, but won the day.
Elijah was the one whom the necessarily-silent minority of true God-followers among the people, looked up to for hope and encouragement.
Elijah, at his end, was taken to heaven in a chariot of God, without tasting natural death.
Elijah is the one for whom Jewish families ever since set a place at the Passover table, in anticipation of his return to be among them.
Because Elijah is the one who will come again at the end, to set things right, to sum up all history, and to bring God’s good will for all life and all people on Earth to its perfection and completion.
Elijah is a larger-than-life servant of God, and this is a special, extraordinary story. One of a kind.
Or … is it? Or might we also feel, or say there are elijahs around us, and even among us all the time? Maybe shadows and echoes of Elijah.
People – deeply faithful souls, men and women who bring God’s good will for others to fruition and to expression in their time, by their faithful service, and by the gifts, the strength, the creativity that God gives them. In every age, and every place on Earth -- including our own, are there not elijahs to look up to, and to draw inspiration from?
Yesterday, there was a gathering in our sanctuary to celebrate the life of Betty Bridgman. Was she not such a servant of God? Such a holy and dedicated women raised up, and used for the good of others? In her own way, a prophet of God’s love being lived into the life of the world – in China, in Africa, and at the end, here among us? An elijah?
And are there others? Other elijahs whose lives and whose faithful service and witness you’ve read of, heard of, and been inspired by? Maybe even that you’ve known?
Let’s get back to the story.
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But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel…
Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho…
Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.
Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak – his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
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There’s something to note here. This is a story of Elijah, the great prophet. And it’s a story of Elisha, his ready and willing protégé. Someone eager to see and learn, and to grow into the way of his master. Into his holiness and his constancy of witness to God. Into the way he makes a difference for good, and for the well-being of others wherever he is.
It reminds of what I heard, while preparing for the celebration of Betty Bridgman’s life, from younger cousins about their childhood experience of her, and its effect on their lives. She was older than them, and a distant member of their family – someone they heard about living in Africa, and using her skills and her life to do good things for others there. She came home every 3 or 4 years on furlough, but, even then they didn’t really get to see her or get to know her, because she was out on speaking tours.
But the stories, the spirit, and the family-feeling of connection to her life of selfless service, helped shape their view of themselves, of the family they were part of together, and of being open to God’s call to serve the well-being of others in their own way, their own situations, and with their own gifts and opportunities. Elishas to her elijah.
And haven’t we all been shaped by people like that – models and examples of faith and of faithful living who inspire us to want our lives to be good and holy as well? Just think of your own history, your family’s story, people you’ve come to know along the way, maybe some of the people here at Fifty – maybe some who are here today. Just look around … and think, too, of some not here – either just not here today, or gone from us…
Who have you been inspired by along the way – either long ago, or more recently? Who have you wanted and aspired to be like?
And how have you gone about being an elisha to their elijah – staying close, not letting them out of your sight, not letting them out of your heart and mind, until you too begin to inherit a measure – your own measure – maybe even a double measure of their spirit?
Let’s go back to the story…
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As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
*
The mantle of the prophet was something worn by the prophet as sign and symbol of their being somehow anointed, appointed and authorized by God to speak God’s truth into the world, to live out God’s love for all in ways that no one could miss, to call others to live together in new ways and as God desires.
A question, though: was the mantle Elijah wore, just his? Did he see it as a personal possession? His achievement? His crowning glory? His claim to fame?
Or … was it God’s mantle? One that was bigger than Elijah and his life story? One that preceded Elijah, and was worn by others before him? That was given to Elijah to wear in his time and his circumstances, until it would not be his time any more? And it would then pass to someone else – in this case, Elisha, to be used by him, in his way, and in his new and different circumstances?
Which means that when Elisha picks it, it’s not for the sake of having a relic of his departed master. Not as a memento to hang on the wall. Not as an heirloom to put away for safekeeping, and to bring out just on special occasions.
No, it’s something to pick up and use as his master did. To open up a way through the chaos and fluid mess of his day. To create a path to new life for people around him who are looking for a new way.
And to use in new ways even beyond that – ways Elijah would never have guessed, or would have needed to think of, as he – Elisha, now carries on step by step, day by day, challenge by challenge, year by year in the ever-evolving revealing of God’s good will at work in the world.
When Elisha picks up the fallen mantle, no doubt he is looking back at what was. But even more, he is looking ahead to what shall be, and what shall need to be.
Which makes me wonder – if churches, congregations, communities of faith have a mantle given to them, put upon them, draped around their shoulders by God. To identify them as God’s people. To give them strength in bearing witness to God’s love for others around them. And to help them know what their task, their life, and their purpose really is.
In the first years of thus church’s founding, over 200 years ago, was a mantle of Christian witness and service given by God, that that first generation lived out in their own time and way? And then each generation after, as it fell from one, was it picked up by the next – and each time did it have a slightly different pattern woven into it, a new kind of call, a new way needed to be living out God’s love for the world?
Until here we are today, facing a new day again as we begin to regather after being separated and isolated by the pandemic. And is the mantle still here – in some ways the same mantle that’s always been here, and has been this church’s strength … and in other ways, a mantle with a few new things woven into it, embedded into its pattern, suited for what God needs us and calls us, to be doing today.
For the past year, our church Council has been stewing, discussing, praying and discerning about this – looking at what kind of mantle, with what kind of pattern, God has for us right now as a church. And they’ve discovered five things – five directions and areas of attention for our time and energy that we are called and suited for – that God and the community around us need us to put into practice over the next few years:
· Nurturing faith
· Seeking truth and reconciliation with the First Nations
· Caring for the elderly
· Feeding people’s needs
· Strengthening the fabric of community for others and among ourselves
There they are. Five directions in which to focus our time and energy. Five things that help us know who we are. That help us know what we are about.
And that raise the question of whether we are ready and willing to pick up the mantle God has for us, and to bring it to life?
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