If Elijah’s dramatic confrontation with 850 priests of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel was meant to be the high point in his prophetic ministry it certainly didn’t work out that way. No sooner had the priests been defeated–and killed in one of the Bible’s more significant mass murders–than Queen Jezebel vowed to get even. Elijah must have surmised that she meant business because he immediately high-tailed it out of town:

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

Elijah under the broom tree (unknown)

Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”

So much for the great and mighty prophet of God! We now glimpse a very different view of this “man of God” than we find anywhere else in First Kings. Elijah’s humanity is but the first memorable take-away from this week’s lectionary passage. Not that this new image negates all the other views of the prophet Elijah; perhaps it completes them. The biblical writer continues:

He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus…. –1 Kings 19:1-15a NRSV

There on the same mountain where Moses encountered God Elijah hid in a cave. Some of the Bible translations indicate that the voice that came to the prophet (“What are you doing here, Elijah?”) came from inside the cave. It would appear that God was already inside waiting for him to arrive. Still, Elijah didn’t quite catch the significance so the voice told him the Lord would be passing by outside, therefore he would need to stand by the entrance.

What happens next is a small replay of God’s expected manifestations. One would think that God would arrive in big, bold ways. This is, after all, the creator of the universe, so why not?

But the Lord was not in the mighty wind or the earthquake or even the fire. After all that, there came the sound of utter silence. Just think about that: What does “utter silence” sound like? Have you ever experienced it? If you live in the city or suburbs, imagine all the sounds of traffic, construction, maybe a police siren or a wailing firetruck or ambulance. There are trains and planes, and perhaps neighbors talking and children playing. In the countryside there’s birds and other animals, farm machinery, or maybe just the howling wind.

Can you imagine a day when you don’t encounter somebody wearing earbuds connected to an MP3 player or pass somebody with a Bluetooth device stuck in their earlobe–or just talking/texting with a smartphone. Does anybody ever really experience silence anymore?

Certainly the technology was radically different in Elijah’s time, but he still wasn’t used to utter silence. He wrapped his mantle around him and there at the cave entrance came a still, small voice piercing the silence. It wouldn’t need to be loud to overcome the lack of any other sound: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah must have realized at that moment that he wasn’t just running away from Queen Jezebel’s army. He actually was running away from God and his divinely appointed mission as God’s prophet.

This time the Voice whispered, “Go, return….”

Prophets are human beings, and so they are subject to all the failings the rest of us are. Like Elijah we might want God to show up in big, dramatic, powerful ways–so much so that everybody will be impressed. But, of course, it doesn’t work that way. Yes, God can be in the wind and the earthquake and the fire and amazing contests like the one Elijah had engaged in on Mount Carmel with 850 priests of Baal and Asherah. More likely, though, we’ll encounter a still, small voice that calls us to go, return, and engage the tasks and challenges to which we’ve been called as an individual disciple or maybe as a prophetic people.

Be open to the utter silence.

Related articles

• Following Elijah to the Mountain (ckisler.wordpress.com)
• Step Out in Faith (encouragementforeveryday.wordpress.com)
• A Soft Whisper (firstsouthernbaptistofcoalinga.wordpress.com)
• June 7, 2013 – silence (circleofhopedailyprayer2013.wordpress.com)
• 1 Kings 19:1-3a (aneternallylovedbandit.wordpress.com)

Bonus blog:: Churches Shouldn’t Be Think Tanks”

This will sound like a very non-21st-century idea: There are some things money can’t buy. Apparently, that was also a very non-9th-Century-BCE idea, as well. We quickly learn in this week’s OT lectionary reading that King Ahab didn’t get the memo, either:

Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. And Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.” Ahab went home resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, “I will not give you my ancestral inheritance.” He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat. –1 Kings 21:1-4 NRSV

This interesting tale within the longer story of the prophet Elijah will be completely baffling to those in our own day who still contend that everything can be bought; it’s just a question of finding the right price. The chief problem in transferring that concept to ancient Israel is that real estate was not something to be bought and sold. The underlying reason was that all of creation properly belongs to God and that we humans are, then, stewards of it. Furthermore, land in ancient Israel was considered a stewardship to be passed down within families from one generation to another.

Naboth wasn’t being unreasonably stubborn when his next-door neighbor Ahab ordered him to sell his vineyard so that Ahab could have another vegetable garden. That land was a sacred trust handed down to him from his father and his father before that–all the way back to when the twelve tribes of Jacob/Israel settled in the land promised centuries before to their ancestor Abraham.

Ahab, it should be noted, was weak-willed, self-centered, spoiled, often depressed, and quite possibly passive-aggressive. And so when Naboth said “No,” Ahab retreated to his bedroom to pout, refusing to eat. At that point Queen Jezebel, a Phoenician by birth and a major advocate of the fertility god Baal, entered the story:

His wife Jezebel came to him and said, “Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?” He said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, “Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it’; but he answered, “I will not give you my vineyard.’ ” His wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. She wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, “You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out, and stone him to death.” The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. Just as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him; and the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city, and stoned him to death. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.” As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. –1 Kings 21:5-16 NRSV

First of all, the obvious comment about King Ahab: What a weazel!

Maybe back in Jezebel’s homeland the understanding was that all land was the property of the king, who doled out “ownership”–or at least stewardship–of the land according to his whims. But that still doesn’t excuse Queen Jezebel first of all from ignoring Iraelite law and custom, undergirded as they were by theological realities. That would be bad enough on its own but then she hatches a vile plot to get Naboth stoned to death so that in the end Ahab can take position of his vineyard without even having to buy it. That’s just one awful crime heaped on another and then compounded with more. At this point the prophet Elijah, Ahab’s old nemesis, enters the picture:

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. You shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: Have you killed, and also taken possession?” You shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.” Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, I will bring disaster on you…. –1 Kings 21:17-21a NRSV

Elijah certainly didn’t mince words, accusing Ahab of selling himself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Can there be a worse accusation than that?

The worship theme my denomination has chosen to accompany the lectionary readings this week is “Make Responsible Choices.” Certainly the choices made by Ahab and Jezebel were anything but responsible–and make no mistake, they were both equally guilty of the charges brought by Elijah. Just because Ahab was a silent partner in the murder conspiracy against Naboth doesn’t lessen his reponsibility.

Think about all the individuals, groups, nations, and corporations today who feign innocence but in the end reap hefty rewards from unjust actions against those who “got in the way,” who stood for principles and justice–and were sacrificed nonetheless. Just because we remain quiet or contend we’re at least at arm’s length away from injustice doesn’t mean we, too, haven’t sold ourselves to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Maybe we even try to explain it all away by saying those folks are, regrettably, “collateral damage.” Such a pity. Too bad. But life goes on. The survival of the fittest and all.

At times Ahab and Jezebel come across almost as caricatures. But they can just as easily become a mirror to life in the 21st-century world we inhabit. When that mirror is held up, what and whom do we see?

Related articles

• Ahab (shireasblog.wordpress.com)
• Jezebel (hephzibahhouseofprayer.wordpress.com)
• 1 Kings 18:41-44 (aneternallylovedbandit.wordpress.com)
• 6/9/2013 Respond in Faith (richbrownforewords.wordpress.com)

Bonus blog: “Privacy Isn’t What It Used to Be.”

It would seem that the amazing and dramatic stories found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures are tailor-made for our 21st-century sensibilities. Last week’s lectionary passage from First Kings in which the prophet Elijah takes on hundreds of priests of Baal sounds almost like a ready-made Hollywood script. And this week’s passage, which precedes that encounter (even though it follows it in the lectionary cycle), makes for a heartbreaking tear-jerker that ends well with a most heartwarming conclusion. As any regular Bible-reader might suspect, however, there’s much more beneath the narrative.

Before we go to the text, a bit of background: Elijah had brought a message from God to King Ahab that a drought was to descend on Israel and regions roundabout. This was to be a direct affront to the supposed power of the Phoenician fertility god Baal, whose worship was actively promoted by Ahab’s Phoenician-born wife, Queen Jezebel. The gauntlet had been thrown down, as it were, and we pick up the story as Elijah is sent to another Phoenician woman–a poor, widowed mother of a young son. While Ahab and Jezebel would most likely escape the dire effects of a regional drought, those at the other end of the economic and political scale would not.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Rembrandt’s depiction of Elijah raising the widow’s son

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” –1 Kings 17:8-24 NRSV

The temptation for us, naturally, is to go straight to the several miraculous elements in this story (baking bread for multiple days with ingredients that should not have been possible in actuality; and the much more dramatic bringing back to life of the widow’s son by Elijah’s actions calling upon God for restoration). Granted, that would make a good movie, or at least a TV miniseries on cable. It’s tempting, as well, to conclude that if only we have enough faith then we can replicate Elijah’s great deeds.

Instead, let’s avoid all those easy temptations.

True, we are all called to be faithful, to live lives in harmony with God’s purposes. Therein lies a key to this and other Elijah stories: It’s all about God!

It is God (and certainly not Baal) who controls creation, who is the author and source of all life. And it is to that Divine Author that allegiance is owed. Once we stray from that basic truth we start getting into a whole lot of trouble. When we dwell on what is actually minutiae (say, the apparent impossibility of feeding Elijah from an almost bare cupboard or the resuscitation of a dead child) we miss the greater truths that can be discerned in God’s Word.

I can hear the rebuttal: But that takes all the majesty and wonder and miraculousness (and the fun?) out of it!

Maybe. Yet that begs this question: Is this biblical story there just to impress us with spectacle or to help us develop and grow as faithful disciples of the One who calls us to serve?

Related articles

• Pentecost Day message: listen to the Holy Spirit and obey (kzlam36.wordpress.com)
• Power Prayer Insanity (igniting1passion.wordpress.com)
• 1 Kings 18:41-44 (aneternallylovedbandit.wordpress.com)
• Provision (shireasblog.wordpress.com)

Bonus blog: “Stop Telling Me What Is Anti-Christian”

Important Announcement from Isaac’s Press: Price reductions on What Was Paul Thinking? in honor of the third anniversary of its publication. More information available here.

For the next several months the Revised Common Lectionary focuses on major Hebrew prophets in its selections from the Old Testament (aka “Hebrew Scriptures”), beginning with a multi-week examination of Elijah. He’s a pretty good one to start with, if for no other reason than it shows that just because you don’t have your own “named book” in the OT, you can still be regarded as a major prophet.

This week’s passage from First Kings isn’t the earliest reference to Elijah (and over the next few weeks there will be earlier and later stories about Elijah) but it is certainly the best known: his dramatic confrontation with 450 priests of Baal (along with 400 priests of Baal’s female consort Asherah) on Mount Carmel. The writer of First Kings sets the stage:

So [King] Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty. Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!” Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response. –1 Kings 18:20-29 NRSV

Apparently Elijah had a bit of a sarcastic streak in him, considering the way he mocked the unsuccessful efforts of the Baal priests. But, of course, the point of this story has nothing to do with religious tolerance and ecumenical diversity. The prophet of Yahweh is concerned that Israel’s one, true, and only God is no longer regarded as such by the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so Elijah answered, not with theological arguments or sectarian debating points. No, this prophet got to work. And, boy, did he do some heavy lifting–literally!

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me”; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down; Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”; with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time, so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water. At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” –1 KIngs 18:30-37 NRSV

This must have been quite the sight. Hundreds of Baal priests dancing, singing, even ritually cutting themselves in an effort to show the power of their god, who they claimed controlled nature. And what was the result? “…there was no voice, no answer, and no response.”

Presumably, Elijah would have been pretty tired out after lifting those 12 heavy stones to build an altar, piling up a huge amount of timbers for a bonfire, and carving a bull! He at least had others drench the entire site with water three times, which under ordinary circumstances would ensure that fire would be an impossibility. Anyway, no singing, no dancing, no cutting himself. Just praying. But look at what prayer brought:

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.” –1 Kings 18:38-39 NRSV

This might appear to be a whole lot of trouble to prove a point, but Elijah felt he needed to make it. There should be no room in Israel, he contended, for divided loyalty. Glorify God–and only God!

This story doesn’t end here, although the lectionary cuts it off at verse 39. The rest of the story begins with Elijah directing the people to seize the hundreds of Baal prophets and kill them. (This should remind us that all parts of the Bible are not appropriate bedtime reading before tucking our little children in for the night.) This, not unexpectedly, would infuriate Ahab’s Queen Jezebel, a Phoenician who actively encouraged Baal worship in Israel. But we’ll deal with those repercussions (for Elijah, Ahab, Jezebel, and Israel) in subsequent weeks. Maybe the chief takeaway from this week’s lectionary passage is not about a big, dramatic contest. After all, Elijah wasn’t trying to prove himself a true and mighty prophet to the people. His focus throughout was on God, to whom all glory and honor should be given.

Related articles

• Elijah and Elisha (searchingscriptures.wordpress.com)
• 1 Kings 18:25-26 (aneternallylovedbandit.wordpress.com)
• Pentecost Day message: listen to the Holy Spirit and obey (kzlam36.wordpress.com)
• Who Is The Trouble Maker? Evans Olang (magnifyhisword.wordpress.com)
• 1 Kings 18:31-35 (aneternallylovedbandit.wordpress.com)
• The Lord – He is God (forhappythoughts.wordpress.com)
• Pity Party in a Box (fggam.org)

This week’s bonus article: “The Death of a Church and the Rise of Something New,” by Sheri Ellwood

My Trinity Sunday blog from a couple years ago (with Year A lectionary scriptures):

Genesis 1:1—2:4a/1:3—2:4a IV; Psalm 8; 2 Corinthians 13:11–13; Matthew 28:16–20

In many Christian churches this coming Sunday is celebrated as “Trinity Sunday.” Here’s a good way to set the tone, with a video of James Weldon Johnson’s “Creation”:

The whole idea of the Trinitarian God is often baffling, somewhat contradictory, and eventually gets around to a mysterious equation: 3 = 1 and 1 = 3. That shouldn’t be so surprising; after all, can we ever know who, what, or where God is–or where/when God came from?

This is tough on people who demand rational explanations for everything. But throughout scripture we get hints and clues here and there about the nature and “person” (and personality) of God. Typically, what we learn about God comes in the context of a relationship with creation and, in particular, humankind.

The lectionary passage from Matthew offers us one of those glimpses:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” –Matthew 28:16-20 NRSV

Note, in particular, the promise at the end: And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. God, in Jesus Christ, intends to maintain and uphold the divine end of the relationship. That we can count on. God loves us and wants the best possible life–an abundant life–for us. What a promise of joy and hope! The question becomes, though: Can God, in Jesus Christ, depend on us?

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams offers this understanding:

Grace, for the Christian believer, is a transformation that depends in large part on knowing yourself to be seen in a certain way: as significant, as wanted. The whole story of creation, incarnation, and our incorporation into the fellowship of Christ’s body tell us that God desires us, as if we were God, as if we were that unconditional response to God’s giving that God’s self makes in the life of the Trinity. We are created so that we may be caught up in this; so that we may grow into the wholehearted love of God by learning that God loves us as God loves God. The life of the Christian community has as its rationale – if not invariably its practical reality – the task of teaching us this: so ordering our relations that human beings may see themselves as desired, as occasion as of joy.

We human beings have a tough time believing God can care so much. The psalmist was more than just curious about this, too: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:3-5)

On the other hand, who among us has ever (even secretly) concurred with Job:

What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, visit them every morning, test them every moment? Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle? –Job 7:17-19

Yes, God in Jesus Christ desires to be with us (whether we choose it or not, apparently).

Related articles

• Trinity Sunday, May 26 (st-matthews-uc.org)
• Watching for the morning of May 26 (watchingforthemorning.wordpress.com)
• Lectionary Sermon for Trinity Sunday, Year C, 26 May 2013 on John 16: 12 – 15 (billpeddie.wordpress.com)
• Trinity Sunday 26.5.13 John 16. 12-15 (preachersfriend.wordpress.com)
• Trinity! Anticipating Sunday, May 26, 2013 (worshipcircle.wordpress.com)
• All Israel Will Be Saved, Romans 11 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)

Here’s my Pentecost Sunday blog from a couple years ago:

I finally got my small vegetable garden planted last week. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that, at least to myself. My dad would not have approved waiting so long into the growing season–after Memorial Day, for heaven’s sake! Even though he died way back in 1982, I can’t help but think about him just about every time I dig a hole and plant something in the ground.

It’s one of those simple facets of life: Dad was a gardener, so am I (and, I might add, my son has been known to get his hands dirty with plants, too). Dad wasn’t a fisherman, and it’s only in the past year that I’ve taken up fly fishing. It’s not a major pastime for me, at least not yet, but there’s potential.

Anyway, as the trees in my backyard and in the adjoining neighbors’ yards have grown, my unshaded garden space has become a bit more limited. And so now there’s just two raised beds I use for vegetables. There’s room for cherry tomatoes and regular-sized ones, along with a couple trellises for cucumbers and butternut squash. I suppose I could grow more, but we’re sometimes gone a week or two at a time in the summer. With western Missouri’s scorching heat, that makes it a challenge to find methods to keep everything watered.

With such a limited array of vegetables I’ve found it to be extremely important to rotate the tomatoes, in particular, from one raised bed to the other summer after summer. Leaving them in the same place opens the garden up to diseases hiding in the soil as well as depletion of particular soil nutrients. For the same reason, farmers with hundreds or thousands of acres to plant each year rotate corn, soybeans, and wheat. Monocultures (the prime example that comes to mind are russet-potato farmers in Idaho; russets make for the very best french fries, though,and our fast-food nation must be served) require more and heavier treatments of chemicals to fight pests and diseases. The down side, of course, is a crop filled with chemicals that may have who-knows-what kind of side effects. The soil itself becomes ever more deadly.

The church, however, was never intended to be a monoculture (yet admittedly it is still the most segregated place in America on Sunday mornings). Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians continues to be an important and challenging word to us today:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. -1 Corinthians 12:4-13 NRSV

Apparently the Corinthians not only took to heart Paul’s earlier teachings about the gifts of the Spirit but went way beyond by thinking there was a distinct pecking order of importance with those gifts. Each individual, it seems, considered his or her own gift to be the most important; those of the other folks, less so.

Paul’s central point is that while there is a diversity of gifts, all of them come from the same source: the Holy Spirit. Focus, therefore, on the source not on the individual expression. Keep in mind always that it’s the Spirit that comes first; the individual offerings of gifts flow out from the Spirit.

All of this, of course, originated on that first Day of Pentecost, arguably regarded as the birthday of the church. Fifty days after Easter the earliest believers were gathered together when everything started happening at once: mighty winds blowing, tongues of fire hanging over people’s heads, and the mysterious sounds of multiple languages spoken by Galileans, with interpretations of those tongues offered in turn.

What would it be like to show up at church on Sunday, every Sunday (or even any Sunday), and experience that kind of commotion? Granted, it’s a far cry from the (dare I say it) sometimes downright boring worship experiences I’ve been a part of at various times in my life. I’m as much to blame for that as anybody else. Anyway, would we really want that kind of amazing, baffling, and erratic behavior going on in our church sanctuaries? Isn’t that sort of thing what those crazy Pentecostals do in their worship services? Well, yes and no.

My purpose here is not to dissect and judge “holy rollers” but to raise a simple question: If we’re really a people of the Spirit, how come our worship experiences are so often dull and ordinary? Not all the gifts of the Spirit are exuberant, showy ones. The Spirit speaks just as effectively and powerfully in a “still, small voice.”

But what would we do if, instead of the same old monocultural worship this Sunday, the Holy Spirit showed up in power and abundance to amaze us?

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• Welcome to the Family — A Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost Sunday (bobcornwall.com)

This week it appears just about everybody is in bondage or servitude to somebody or something else:

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

The arrest of Paul. An early 20th-century Bible illustration.

When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.” –Acts 16:16-36 NRSV

Let’s start with the obvious–the young woman possessed with “a spirit of divination” (or demon?) of some sort. On the surface it might appear that she was doing Paul and Silas a bit of a favor by not only drawing attention to their missionary work but by loudly announcing, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”

We can’t be entirely sure whether Paul simply grew weary of her cries or whether it was the content of her message that annoyed him (she proclaimed that Paul offered “a way” not “the way” of salvation) but he, in the end, decided to cast out the spirit within her. However, that didn’t go over too well with her owners. who suddenly faced a loss of income.

And so they dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace and before magistrates. Notice, however, that they didn’t mention their loss of livelihood as the reason for their dismay. No, they vehemently pointed out these foreigners who were different and strange had disturbed the public peace: “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”

Apparently it was as true in first-century Asia Minor as it is in our 21st-century world: There’s nothing quite like blaming society’s problems on “the other” to really rile folks up. And if our lectionary passage ended right there, we could derive a worthwhile understanding of what the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to do in such situations.

But the writer of Acts goes on to tell us how Paul and Silas were thrown in prison, how an earthquake through the night unshackled not only the two missionaries but every other prisoner, as well. But, remarkably, neither the missionaries nor any of the others escaped. Instead they sang songs praising God. This was a fortunate turn of events for the jailer, who under Roman law would have been required to commit suicide if any of his prisoners had escaped.

Long story short–the jailer became a believer and, subsequently, a gracious host to the missionaries. By the end of this story the magistrates sent word for the pair to be released from jail and to go in peace.

In becoming a “believer” the jailer most likely did not experience his own version of a “come to Jesus” moment by agreeing to a set of doctrines and theological positions. Keep in mind that, unlike the ancient Greek language, modern-day English has no verb form of the word “faith.” As awkward as it sounds coming off our lips, what that jailer did was “to faith” the message of salvation shared with him by Paul and Silas.

It is that same call “to faith” the gospel today to which we 21st-century folks are challenged. Our bondage or enslavement or servitude may be quite different from the “spirit-possessed” diviner or Paul’s fellow jailhouse occupants, but it can be just as real if not more so.

Related articles

• Acts, Chapter 16, part three with On the Sabbath (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
• A Philippian Prison Experience — Meditation on Luke 16:16-34 (bobcornwall.com)
• Cause A Disturbance (pastorandrewsblog.wordpress.com)
• Good Christians don’t whine about suffering, Pope says (catholicnewsagency.com)
• “Paul’s missionary journeys” (altruistico.wordpress.com)
• Have you taken a risky stand for your faith? (oliverbernardbrown.wordpress.com)
• Today’s Bible Reading (acts 16:22-34) (prayers4reparation.wordpress.com)

It’s sometimes tempting in the church to think that if only we follow the right steps, do all the right things, and generally keep on doing it over and over again until we get it right, the church can’t help but be a huge success. Of course, life–and church life, in particular–doesn’t quite work that way.

In Acts chapter 16 we find Paul, along with his companion Timothy, engaged in missionary work. But they keep running into one dead end after another. Let’s pick up the action about three verses before this week’s lectionary passage:

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us. –Acts 16:6-15 NRSV

Paul tried to go to several places–Phyrgia and Galatia (where the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach) as well as Mysia and Bithynia (where the Spirit of Jesus “did not allow them”)–before ending up in Troas. There Paul had a vision at night in which a Macedonian man pleaded with him to cross over to Macedonia. They traveled through a couple more towns before ending up in Philippi.

Before proceeding any further, we shouldn’t overlook the importance of this place. Philippi was not just a leading city in the district of Macedonia; it was a Roman colony. There the trappings of the mighty Roman Empire were evident on practically every corner. No doubt those other towns and cities included people who could have greatly benefited by hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. But it appears that God wanted Paul and Timothy to engage in their missionary work in one of the empire’s strongholds.

Now, it doesn’t make sense if the gospel is confined to personal morality and salvation. But just as Jesus himself went out of his way to confront the Roman authorities, so too should two of the risen Christ’s leading emissaries. There in a place where the common (and critically important) statement, “Caesar is lord!” is required by law to be uttered by all residents, Paul aimed his message: “Christ is Lord!”

Oh yes, and that Macedonian man in the dream who had pleaded with Paul to come and preach the gospel? It turned out that their most important convert was a woman. Yet this was no ordinary woman. Lydia was a businesswoman engaged in the trade of dying cloth purple. Because only the most important and wealthy patrons could have access to purple cloth, it can reasonably be assumed Lydia was probably quite well off financially. From Paul’s perspective, Lydia was an ideal “first convert” in Philippi. That city became the site of one of Paul’s most important church plants.

According to the lectionary, we’re still in the season of Easter, even if this year’s joyous Easter Sunday celebrations already seem like a distant memory. But the “spirit of Easter” permeates the missionary work of Paul and Timothy in Philippi where they, too, confront Roman authorities. And as the risen Jesus encountered individuals on the road to Emmaus and gave them new hope and encouragement, so too does Paul give new hope and encouragement to a woman who would become a cornerstone of the missionary work in Macedonia.

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Would you invite to your house an observant Jew whose diet is according to strict kosher laws and then offer him or her a meal including items such as shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, and honey-baked ham? Of course you wouldn’t, unless you intentionally want to offend. The dietary laws recorded primarily in Leviticus strictly prohibit eating pork and seafood with a shell.

With that in mind, let’s turn to this week’s lectionary passage from the book of Acts:

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” –Acts 11:1-18 NRSV

Peter was an observant Jew, and he was criticized for eating with Gentiles who had believed the gospel message of Jesus. Those men were uncircumcised and considered ritually unclean by circumcised Jews. And it was assumed Peter had shared a “gentile” (non-kosher) meal with them, although that’s actually an assumption on our part. Merely sharing a meal was, in itself, bad enough and if Peter had consumed non-kosher food would have added insult to injury.

The details of associating with Gentiles merely provide the pretext for what’s most important here: With this passage in Acts, the gospel-writer Luke offers a key moment in the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ. This message is not just for the Jews but for Gentiles, as well. Shocking, to say the least.

Of course, it’s not simply a case of Peter giving this issue some thought and proceeding according to what he felt would be a good idea. No, the key part of this passage is a vision in which a heavenly voice (the Holy Spirit?) tells Peter what God wants him to do and why. In the end Peter’s critics are silenced once they accept that God’s love extends beyond the Jews to the Gentiles, indeed to all the world.

This past weekend I served as a delegate to my denomination’s USA National Conference, the first time such a gathering has taken place. Its purpose was to consider recommendations to the top leadership groups of the worldwide church regarding three questions related to individuals in same-sex/gender relationships (admittedly an awkward term, but it’s the one that was used). Should the church (a) extend the sacrament of marriage to such couples in U.S. states where it is legal; (b) create a covenant ceremony similar to marriage for such couples in U.S. states where it is not legal; and (c) open ordination to priesthood to individuals who have same-sex/gender orientation and are either living in a long-term, committed relationship or celibate? [Just a side note: the celibacy clause currently also applies to unmarried heterosexuals, too.]

Photo by Jude Vickery

It was a remarkable experience, perhaps one of the finest and most memorable spiritual experiences of my life. Instead of following normal legislative practices (such as Robert’s Rules of Order, etc.) the 1,500 delegates engaged in a structured discernment process that included a lot of listening, with repeated attempts to understand why people hold the positions they do. We used little, hand-held electronic voting devices. We engaged in guided spiritual direction. We had frequent “Moments of Blessing,” which involved instrumental and vocal music, meditation, prayer, videos, and a “play” in which five delegates who had expressed differing perspectives on an issue sat around a table and broke bread and shared grapes. The conference used the metaphor of an aspen grove, whose root system is actually one large “organism” even though it looks above ground like a forest of individual trees, to express the idea of community.

The purpose was to listen, to try to understand, to be sensitive, to envision what might happen next in the church, and, finally, to take a vote. For the conference to make a recommendation required at least a 67 percent vote. Each of the three proposals easily surpassed that level.

There was no outward celebrating or angry denunciations after the voting was completed. A few delegates did quietly leave the conference chamber at that point, however. We were all quite aware that there is a sizable minority in the church that, for various reasons, will not or cannot go along with the recommendations. Some, maybe quite a few of them will end up leaving the church; most likely, a few congregations will eventually be closed.

“How could God allow such things in the church,” it was expressed, “when passages of scripture are clear regarding the divine origins of marriage?” “Is this not the doctrine of man and not of God?”

Certainly my denomination, Community of Christ, is far from the first Christian group to deal with this hot-button issue. The conference we just held was not only the direct result of three years of planning but many, many years of passionate individuals pressing church leadership to engage the issues. I’m told there were official observers from other Christian organizations. If nothing else, it appears that guided spiritual discernment offers a better path for dealing with these issues than legislative bodies engaged in back-and-forth debate.

About 30 years ago my denomination extended priesthood ordination to women, by using the then-accepted and common method of legislation. That moment served as a flash point for a wide range of conservative dissent and unrest in the church. Thousands of members ended up leaving the denomination. Families were divided, some congregations were closed permanently.

Having served previously as bi-vocational pastor of my congregation I still maintain a pastoral sensitivity and know how deeply these issues run within my own congregation as well as others. And so I was conflicted, knowing the sadness and pain of some folks I hold dear to my heart as well as having a testimony this is the right thing for the church to do. The conference was a remarkable example of living out the idea of being a prophetic people. And it was very hard work!

Peter’s vision as recorded in Acts 11 is helpful to us some 2,000 years later. First of all, God can and will do a “new thing” from time to time. Second, it reinforces how I read and understand scripture: to view the individual parts within the lens of what I believe is the overall theme and purpose–That God is and will always be faithful to God’s promises to bless the earth and everything and everyone in it.

There are some challenging days ahead for my denomination and my congregation. There are also some incredible opportunities and expansion of ministry as an open and affirming community. But no matter what lies ahead, may we respond as did those early disciples to whom Peter shared his vision: Praise God!

Related articles

• Acts, Chapter fifteen part two, Go up to Jerusalem. (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
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We stay in the book of Acts this week for our primary lectionary reading. Acts is not always a place where some Christians are comfortable, perhaps because it describes situations within the emerging Christian fellowship quite different from what we ordinarily experience today. Our focus scripture bears this out:

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner. –Acts 9:36-43 NRSV

Even though Jesus had told his closest disciples they eventually would do even greater acts of ministry than had he, this passage may make us squirm a bit. You mean, we perhaps wonder, that Jesus should be taken literally at his word about all that?

Yes, maybe we should. But even if we take this story as metaphor (and that’s also an appropriate way to read ancient scripture) it’s pretty powerful stuff. Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, brought a woman back from the dead–just like Jesus had done with Lazarus!

This past week I’ve been a delegate at my denomination’s World Conference, which is held once every three years at our international headquarters in Independence, Missouri. There’s been some pageantry, with the display of dozens of flags of nations where the church is located (we may be relatively small in number, but we have a fairly broad presence in the world). I’ve sung powerful and moving hymns along with 5,000 or so of my fellow church members, accompanied by two of the great pipe organs in the USA, as well as numerous gifted musicians. And, yes, I’ve sat through lengthy legislative sessions, at times interesting and at others times far less so.

We witnessed together ordinations of leading officers of the church and heard prophetic words of counsel from our prophet-president. Of course, we’ve all greeted old friends we haven’t seen in quite some time and made a few new ones, as well. It’s been quite different from what I ordinarily experience on a typical Sunday morning or in “normal” congregational life. For those who’ve come from small, isolated congregations in North America or villages and cities on every other continent, it’s been quite the culture-shock and religion-shock experience, I’m sure.

In light of all that, though, I keep coming back to this passage in Acts, which raises this question: Have we domesticated the church, or has the church domesticated us? Either way it’s an uncomfortable question but one that calls for an answer as we all attempt to live out our discipleship in the early years of the 21st century. What if, either literally or metaphorically, we were experiencing in our discipleship what Peter and his contemporaries were experiencing in theirs?

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