Sermon / Story from Sunday, June 26, 2016

Reading:  2 Kings 2:1-14

This is a story of Elijah.  But it's not really a story of Elijah.  It's a story of what Elijah was able to do, say and be in spite of being Elijah.  Because of a mantle he wore.

It really is about the mantle, because Elijah as Elijah was just Elijah.

There was some good about him, like in all of us.  Like the way he loved God and the stories of God and what he could learn of the ways of God in the world.  Like the way he kept in touch with the news of the day, and of how things were going in the kingdom.  Like how he really wanted to do right and for things to be right.  Like how he was not afraid to say and do what he thought was right and needed.

But there was also some bad about him, like in all of us.  Like his temper, and how violent he could be.  Like his ego, and how sometimes he was really full of himself.  Like his tendency towards manic-depressive disorder.  Like his pride, and self-importance, and how sometimes it seemed to him that it was "all up to him" -- maybe he was obsessive-compulsive as well as manic-depressive.  Like all of us, he had his issues.

And if the story were just about him, we probably wouldn't remember it and still be telling it today.  Like us, he would have come, made his little ripple, and then been gone.

But there was that mantle -- the mantle that Elijah wore.

It was an animal skin.  Not anything human-made.  It was from the wilderness.  Not anything tame.  It was big -- big enough to cover him, bigger than you might imagine, big enough to protect him when need be.  Big enough to cover his faults and foibles.  And it was something he was given.  Not something he made.  Or made up.  Or chose.  Or even earned or deserved.  It was something he was given.

And that he was willing to receive, and to wear.

And when Elijah wore it -- when he put it on, he really was protected.  And covered.  And he was empowered, somehow made bigger and other than just himself.  

When he put on the mantle, he was drawn into something bigger than himself.  Something other than himself.  Which was also, at the same time, somehow really the better part of himself.

Wearing the mantle was like wearing a uniform.  It connected Elijah with a story and a meaning and a history bigger than just his little life, and made his life part of that story all rolled up into his one life.  And the story he was made to be part of, and that became him when he wore the mantle, was a story for the good of the world.

With the mantle on him, and as he made it his own and began to live into it, Elijah was able to do great things.  He was able to say important, truthful things.  He was able to be someone who made a difference.  Who made the world a better place for his being there.  Who brought some light into the darkness of his time.  Who helped the story the mantle made him part of, not to be forgotten, but to be remembered and told over again.

I wonder if the mantle is still around today?

I wonder who might be wearing it today?

I wonder how we might receive it, and wear it ourselves?