Life with Passion

April 5, 2022 Palm/Passion Sunday Luke 22-23 Life with Passion Year C Opening Song Welcome Blessing of the Palms (Do not PRINT) Bless these parade palms, O God of Celebration. May they remind us of the simple joys of living. May we remember the excitement that comes with following Christ. Bless these protest palms, O God of Justice. May they remind us that Empire is not a thing of the past. May they make us bold and brave to stand up against injustice. Bless these funeral palms, O God of Comfort. May they remind us of the road that lies ahead. May they encourage us in times of grief and pain. We give you thanks for the parade, the protest, the processional. Guide our steps through this holiest of weeks as we cry out together "Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna!" Amen. ~ written by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood, Pastor, First Congregational United Church of Christ in Manhattan, Kansas. Call to Worship The story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, tells us that after his celebrated arrival. He went into the Temple and looked around at everything. As we gather here for worship today may it be with a sense that Jesus has walked in too and is looking around. May our eyes be open to see Him, may our hearts be ready to be seen by Him, may our worship be worthy of His presence, and may we be transformed so that we see the world through His eyes. Amen. (Ann Sidell) Responsive Reading Psalm 118:1-2,19-29 UMH 839 Song of Praise God of Grace and God of Glory UMH 577 Prayer of Confession (Luke 19) Lord Jesus, we are a fickle people, quick to turn away. We are quick to flock to you when all is well, but we are prone to scatter when there is opposition or criticism. Too often we have kept silent before you, afraid to proclaim your praise. It is easy to join the crowd as you ride triumphantly into Jerusalem— singing our joys and expectations, dancing our hopes and dreams. It is far more difficult to stand by you as the crowd cries for your crucifixion. Forgive our weakness when we turn away. Strengthen us for the journey ahead as we relive your suffering and death, that we might stay beside you to the end. Give us the courage to shout our hosannas, not only today, but each and every day. Amen. (Bryan Schneider-Thomas) Words of Assurance (Psalm 118) The Lord is our strength and might. Jesus is our salvation. In Jesus our sins are forgiven. In Jesus our cries are answered, our salvation is at hand. Blessed be the name of the Lord. (Bryan Schneider-Thomas) Scripture Luke 23:1-9 Sermon Life with Passion 1. If you look in the dictionary- there are 2 definitions to the word passion. strong and barely controllable emotion. "a man of impetuous passion" 2. the suffering and death of Jesus. "meditations on the Passion of Christ" From Oxford Languages Today is Palm Passion Sunday. In the 50’s and 60’s (way before my time) these used to be two different Sundays. In the 70’s the catholic church changed it, and so did other churches that follow the liturgical calendar of seasons. Rarely, do I do a palm Sunday sermon, because usually, I want everyone to relive the passion story in preparation for Easter. This year I felt that I had to preach this sermon. I know that some of your have heard of Rob Bell. Our Sunday School class has at least talked about looking at some of Rob Bell’s videos. He is a now former pastor who filmed a series about 20 years ago now, where he would explain Christianity in everyday terms. His series NOOMA is very popular. He continues to write and record audio books. His latest, which came out about a month ago is called “Handling your Fire – Passion, burnout, routines and resilience. This is a series of six sessions that talk about clergy and other Christians being burned out in their calling. After listening to the second session on passion – I knew that I had to share it with you, I don’t know if he meant it for palm Sunday – but it fits perfectly. His message shutters our traditional understanding of thinking about passion and prepares us for Easter new life. According to Bell, Jesus has a passion for the conditions of the people that he encountered along the countryside in the year long travel to Jerusalem. As he witnessed the poor conditions for himself, he knew that he had to go to the capital Jerusalem and to address the political powers that be. He knew that it would kill him. Power does all that it can to eliminate threats. They executed him as a enemy of the state – the status quo. But it was a death that made all of the difference in the world. Bell calls Jesus’ act his good gift to the world. Eucharist literally means good character, good act, or good gift. Jesus didn’t fight power with guns, threats, or even with power. He fought with love, his good character. He gave himself not just for a better more caring government, but for a better spirit in the world – a spirit of giving and generosity. I will have to talk more fully about Rob Bells audio book at some other time. But basically, he uses the term eucharist – not just to talk about Jesus, but to also talk about his followers, including us – the body of Christ. We are all called to give ourselves to make the world a better place. We are all people of passion in the first definition. There is something inside of each of us – that we love to do. That something brings us joy. It may be something that we do so much or so passionately that we are worn out sometimes. We get tired, but it is a good tired. When we are down, this is the thing that makes us feel better. It is the thing that brings us true joy. It is the thing that bubbles up from our deep center. Our deep center is where God lives inside of us. But you know life does not always does not always encourage us to live in our deep center, or to even spend too much time there. As we get older, we are told there are more important things in life. Life is not about us. If we live in our truth for too long, we will be crucified. Jesus followed his passion, knowing that he would suffer, and yet he seemed to know it was for a greater good for himself and others. Our common understanding of the passion story is that Jesus suffered for our sins. So during holy week we are supposed to feel guilt, shame and sorrow. We are supposed to wallow in our sins all in the name of reliving the passion. Bell points out that as Jesus followed his passion for the healing of the world – he was well aware that there were evil heartless people in the world. And yet fear of suffering was not enough to stop him. Good Friday was just one story in a year long ministry. He knew there would be pain, but it would not be the final word. Suffering was not the price of sin. It was not a necessary evil to experience the good. For Bell, suffering is a part of the life that we live on this earth. Whether we are in touch with the God in our center, or we never open a bible in our life – our lives are full of problems. No matter who we are, something is going to happen in life. For some of us, suffering is all that there is. It stops us from acting. All we can see is darkness in the world beyond. For others, we get up, we live, we trust the unknown, we move forward on spite of our suffering. Suffering is a condition, not a life sentence. The difference is passion – a determination to move through to our destiny. Jesus passion was healing a broken world. That passion was his gift to the world. That gift, the eucharist, was he whole life. He knew that his joy was beyond the cross. As Bell talks about his own fall from grace, he talks about eucharist living, eucharist giving, eucharist gauge and eucharistic rhythm. Eucharistic living is listening to that deep inner voice that tells us what brings us true joy. Eucharistic giving is giving out of our deep inner joy and not out of our suffering. Eucharistic gauge – is the ability to realize when we are empty and depleted inside. It is not just giving, but also receiving. We as Christians are always encouraged to give, but we are reluctant to receive. We forget that we have two different hands, and giving and receiving are not one act, it is two. We get to the point that we don’t realize that we don’t have anything to give. Burnout is feeling guilty to receive. Eucharistic rhythm is knowing when you are empty inside. Acknowleging that you are tired, knowing what fills your spirit. Working and resting in rhythm, giving and receiving in joy. Bell says that Jesus knew eucharistic rhythm very well. He poured out his life, emptying himself in order to restore the system and others. But it was not an obligation. I thought this was an important message for passion Sunday. I think we are all suffering in some way. We watch others around us suffer. We watch suffering on tv every day. So I don’t think that palm Sunday should be a time to relive more suffering and focusing on negativity. Negativity is already here, we don’t need to create it. Living in this world for the last two and a half years has been exhausting. I started reading Bell’s book because I am exhausted, not quite at burnout, but just exhausted. Some of that exhaustion was there way before the pandemic started. I have talked to so many of my colleagues who are saying, I don’t want to be a Christian anymore – I think I need an easier life. And yet we forgot the meaning of eucharist – the good gift. We are in the habit of giving, but have forgotten how to receive. We lost sight of the meaning of the passion of Christ. Christ knew his joy was beyond suffering, he trust God with his prayers, he gave out of his generosity, not obligation. What if he mission on the cross was not a sacrifice – where he loses so everybody wins. Would that stop us as Christians from sacrificing ourselves on behalf of everybody else. What if Christ was not a living sacrifice, but a living eucharist – good gift? How would that effect our faith? Would we really think of Easter as new life? Christ actions should remind us that we are the eucharist – the body of Christ. We are God’s good gift to heal the world. We find that gift by listening to the joy within ourselves. Giving that gift away in order to receive more joy. We give ourselves permission to rest, we develop a language for being tired. We give out of what we have and not what we lack. Finally, don’t get me wrong I do think that there is a place in our lives for sacrifice, for suffering, for guilt, for shame. And even in our faith. It just shouldn’t stop us from following Christ to the cross and to the resurrection. May Christ’s actions bring us peace, justice and wellbeing in the days to come. Let us pray…… Prayer Wonderful God, we bow before you in gratitude for the life you have given us in Jesus Christ. In him, you have shown us that your love has no boundary. There is no place you will not go to be with us and for us. As you came into Jerusalem long ago, come into our hearts this day. Hear our cries and heal our hurts and hold us close. We pray for our world, your world. We pray for all that is happening in Ukraine, for refugee and soldiers, for leaders and aid workers, for citizens struggling amidst terror and violence. We pray that your spirit would bring forth peace and righteousness, comfort and strength. We pray for those who are sick, for those on the long road of recovery, for those struggling with uncertain diagnoses and seemingly never-ending treatments. We pray for those who mourn, for those bearing the burden of grief day by day. We pray for those who wait and watch and pray as loved ones suffer. We pray for those who are alone, those who are hungry, those without hope. We pray for the discouraged and the downtrodden, for those unable to look beyond the troubles of this day. We pray for those facing difficult choices, those weighing many options, those dealing with unclear directions on life’s journey. We pray for those beginning new ventures, trying new things, opening themselves up to fresh possibilities. O God, as this holiest of weeks unfolds before us and we retrace the suffering and the death of Jesus and claim once again the promise of resurrection, we pray that you would seal in our hearts the message of these holy days — that in Jesus you are with us and for us in all things, even suffering, even death and that in Jesus you have overcome every power that would hurt or destroy. AMEN (John Wurster) Lord’s Prayer UMH 895 Stewardship Moment Moment for Stewardship Luke’s description of that long-ago procession includes so many gifts! The owners of the colt, willing to let the disciples take it for Jesus. The people spreading their cloaks on the road. Those singing out their praise, “Blessed in the king who comes…” In this time of worship, what gifts have you brought to offer? Something you treasure? Something personal? Something from deep within? When we recognize how God continues to abundantly provide for us, and what amazing grace it is for Jesus to have shared his very life blood, let us offer the best of our lives! Prayer of Thanksgiving Good and giving God, we offer these gifts to you as fuel for the fire of your on-going creation. May all we offer be received, used, and taken in to expand the power of YOU in this world. (Center for Faith and Giving) Song of Dedication Were You There UMH 288 Announcements Closing Prayer Passing from joy into sorrow and on to elation, we come to Christ this holy week. Today is only a part of the story. Jesus’ triumph leads to his death, his death to his resurrection. May the journey of this week lead you into the fullness of Christ’s love. (Bryan Schneider-Thomas) Community Time Stripping the Sanctuary First Verse of Psalm 22 with Response 1 Leave in Silence and darkness Children’s Sermon 1. Prominently display two crowns: a golden crown (perhaps from the Christmas pageant props) and a crown of thorns. In the sermon, explore two kinds of kings. The first lives in a palace, is strong enough to scare off enemies, and make rules for the country. Paint a picture—not of an evil king, but of one who is authoritarian. Then describe the king that Jesus became by spending his life taking care of his people and finally dying for them. 2. After describing how we treat kings (we do whatever they say, we try to please them, we give them the best of everything, we bow or defer to them), explore who and what we tend to treat as "king of our life." Children often let a special adult, such as a teacher or professional sports figure/hero, become their king. In some neighborhoods, a child may become king of the block and totally run the show (this king may be an overtly evil gang leader or a benevolent natural leader to whom the other children always defer). The scriptural challenge is not to let anyone but Jesus be King in our lives. Jesus and his ways are to be more important than any other child or adult leader. (Carolyn C. Brown) Additional Illustrations There Is Still Hope The reality is that, if we figure to survive in this world, we had better have hope. The ancients knew that. Do you remember Pandora? Mythology has her as a lady endowed with every charm...the gift of all the gods. She was sent to earth with a little box which she had been forbidden to open, but curiosity finally got the better of her...she lifted the lid and out from that box escaped every conceivable kind of terror. Pandora made haste to close the box up again, but it was too late. There was only one thing left...HOPE. That was the ancients' way of saying how important hope is. Even when all else is lost, there is still hope. This was what had sustained the Israelite faithful from generation to generation. This was what energized the crowd along Jesus' parade route that day. David E. Leininger, Sunday's Coming! The Tomb Is Easier than the Cross In just a matter of days Holy Week takes us from the mountain of festive palms to the mountain of Golgatha’s despair. And that is why we resist it so. I mean, do we really need the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week? What’s so wrong with just jumping from one parade to the next and skipping all the sacrifice and death stuff? What’s wrong with simply moving on to the joy of Easter, with its white bonnets, Easter eggs, family, friends, big ham dinner, and of course the empty tomb. Well, I think we know the answer to that. For starters, an empty tomb, at face value, is a lot easier to deal with than a dying, bleeding Savior on a cross. Add to that all the pain and suffering that comes with Holy Week, is it any wonder that the human tendency is to try and ignore the events of the week and simply move on to the Easter celebration? But as much as we’d like to skip Holy Week we know that the only way to Easter is through the cross. We know where the parade of Palm Sunday leads and we also know that we’re part of that parade. That is to say, we know this intellectually. Our hearts are another story. Our hearts may be more in sync with the disciples and the fear and disbelief that led them to run away. It would seem that 2000 years later Jesus’ disciples are still running away. Jeffrey K. London, And When You Think It's All Over The Triumph and the Tragedy Go with me now to the year 1942. The first American troops are marching into London. We are entering the conflict known as World War II. The people of London are cheering the American soldiers. The friendly reception exhilarates the young soldiers. They sing as they march. Suddenly the troops turn into a main street and a strange hush falls over the scene. The happy songs die on their lips. They are looking for the first time upon an area in London that has been blown to bits. They see the great wounds on the city inflicted by falling bombs. They suddenly realize the city has suffered terribly. In these young soldiers’ hearts, one moment celebration; the next, great sadness. The triumph and the tragedy. Palm Sunday. Good Friday. Life happens. King Duncan, Collected Works, www.Sermons.com Save Us When we wave our palms and boldly cry out, "Hosanna," do we dare imagine what we really want God to save us from? Save me from anger. Save me from cancer. Save me from depression. Save me from debt. Save me from the strife in my family. Save me from boredom. Save me from getting sent back to Iraq. Save me from the endless cycle of violence. Save me from humiliation. Save me from staring at the ceiling at three a.m. wondering why I exist. Save me from bitterness. Save me from arrogance. Save me from loneliness. Save me, God, save me from my fears. In viewing Palm Sunday from that angle, we can begin to see the potential for some real depth in this celebration, for embedded in our quaint pageantry is an appeal to God that originates in the most vulnerable places inside of us; and it bubbles, almost beyond our control, to the surface. "Hosanna." "Save us." Please God take the broken places that will tear us apart and make them whole. We beseech you, God, jump into the water and drag our almost-drowned selves to shore. "Save us." "Hosanna." Scott Black Johnston, Save Us What Is Good For Us Is Hidden Martin Luther often spoke of this aspect of the theology of the cross, concerning how God works in a hidden way through contrasts. In a series of lectures that Luther gave in 1515 and 1516 on the Book of Romans, he wrote: "For what is good for us is hidden, and that so deeply that it is hidden under its opposite. Thus our life is hidden under death, love for ourselves under hate for ourselves ... salvation under damnation, heaven under hell ... And universally our every assertion of anything good is hidden under the denial of it, so that faith may have its place in God, who is a negative essence and goodness and wisdom and righteousness, who cannot be touched except by the negation of all our affirmations." Martin Luther had one more observation about why God operates this way - under contrasts and opposites. In another of his sermons, he put it this way: "He thrusts us into death and permits the devil to pounce on us. But it is not his purpose to devour us; he wants to test us, to purify us, and to manifest himself ever more to us, that we may recognize his love. Such trials and strife are to let us experience something that preaching alone is not able to do, namely, how powerful Christ is and how sincerely the Father loves us. So our trust in God and our knowledge of God will increase more and more, together with our praise and thanks for his mercy and blessing. Otherwise we would bumble along with our early, incipient faith. We would become indolent, unfruitful and inexperienced Christians, and would soon grow rusty." Mark Ellingsen, Preparation and Manifestation, CSS Publishing Palm/Passion Sunday In the newer church calendars, today is called Palm/Passion Sunday. I must admit I have a hard time remembering that. For me, last Sunday will always be Passion Sunday and this Sunday is Palm Sunday. However, the liturgical experts in the church are trying to remind us that the two Sundays belong together because you cannot divorce the two; the significance of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is that it was all a misunderstanding of His life and mission which eventually led to His death upon the cross. Jesus committed the unpardonable sin of not being the kind of Messiah everybody was expecting. The word "Passion" may give us pause. We're used to the kind of "passion" that Hollywood puts out. But the first meaning of the word given in Webster's Unabridged is "originally, suffering or agony, as of a martyr," and the second meaning: "the agony and sufferings of Jesus..." How about that? "When he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace...." (Luke 19:41-42a) Donald B. Strobe Closed for Good Friday The bank meltdowns in 2008 reminded me of a true story that I ran across somewhere about a man who was standing in line at a bank last spring when there was a commotion at the counter. A woman was distressed, exclaiming, “Where will I put my money? I have all my money and my mortgage here!! What will happen to my mortgage?!” It turned out that she had misunderstood a small sign on the counter. The sign read, "WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD FRIDAY.” I guess she wasn’t familiar with the events of Holy Week, because she thought that the bank was going to be closed “for good” that coming Friday. “WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD . . . FRIDAY.” King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Eight Days Eight days changed the world. These eight days have been the topic of a million of publications, countless debates, and thousands of films. These eight days have inspired the greatest painters, the most skilled architects, and the most gifted musicians. To try and calculate the cultural impact of these eight days is impossible. But harder still would be an attempt to account for the lives of men and women who have been transformed by them. And yet these eight days as they played out in Jerusalem were of little significance to anyone but a few people involved. What happened on those eight days? During the next eight Sundays of Lent and Easter we will look at these eight days in depth but for now let’s summarize: 1. On Sunday the first of the eight days, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of Hosanna, fulfilling an old prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. 2. On Monday he walked into the Jerusalem Temple overturning tables where money exchange occurred, Roman drachmas were being exchanged for Jewish shekels. Roman coins were not allowed. The image of Caesar was a violation of the second commandment. But the Temple authorities were using the Commandment as means to cheat the people and making the Temple a place of profit rather than a place of prayer. 3. On Tuesday Jesus taught in parables, warned the people against the Pharisees, and predicted the destruction of the Temple. 4. On Wednesday, the fourth day, we know nothing. The Gospel writers are silent. Perhaps it was a day of rest for him and his weary and worried disciples. 5. On Thursday, in an upper room, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. But he gave it a new meaning. No longer would his followers remember the Exodus from Egypt in the breaking of bread. They would remember his broken body and shed blood. Later that evening in the Garden of Gethsemane he agonized in prayer at what lay ahead for him. 6. On Friday, the fifth day, following betrayal, arrest, imprisonment, desertion, false trials, denial, condemnation, beatings and sentencing, Jesus carried his own cross to “The Place of the Skull,” where he was crucified with two other prisoners. 7. On Saturday, Jesus lay dead in a tomb bought by a rich man named Joseph. 8. On Sunday, his Passion was over, the stone had been rolled away. Jesus was alive. He appeared to Mary, to Peter, to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and to the 11 disciples gathered in a locked room. His resurrection was established as a fact. Brett Blair and Staff, www.Sermons.com

The Small Still Voice

June 22, 2019 A Small Still Voice 2nd Sunday After Pentecost Year C Object: A dish with water in it Boys and girls: How strong is water? Some of you probably think water is not very strong. It's gentle and soothing to swim in this time of year, isn't it? And it's true that if I stick my hand in this dish and scoop up some water and let it seep through my hand, the drops of water don't seem very strong. But suppose I let one tiny drop after another keep falling on one spot, how strong is it? Did you know that it could wear a hole in a mighty rock, drop by drop, over a number of years? How about the water that goes over Niagara Falls or over a dam? Enough water going in the same direction can turn mighty motors that can produce electricity to light great cities. Our lesson from the Bible is about a man named Elijah who forgot two important lessons: You can win great victories if like the drop of water falling on a rock you hang in there and keep trying. Don't give up. The other lesson he forgot is that you can also be victorious if you find other people to help you. Of course Elijah's greatest help came from God. That's where our greatest help comes from, too. We can even be more powerful than Niagara, because God is with us. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan 1 Kings 19:1-15 Common English Bible (CEB) Elijah runs to Mount Horeb 19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had killed all Baal’s prophets with the sword. 2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: “May the gods do whatever they want to me if by this time tomorrow I haven’t made your life like the life of one of them.” 3 Elijah was terrified. He got up and ran for his life. He arrived at Beer-sheba in Judah and left his assistant there. 4 He himself went farther on into the desert a day’s journey. He finally sat down under a solitary broom bush. He longed for his own death: “It’s more than enough, LORD! Take my life because I’m no better than my ancestors.” 5 He lay down and slept under the solitary broom bush. Then suddenly a messenger tapped him and said to him, “Get up! Eat something!” 6 Elijah opened his eyes and saw flatbread baked on glowing coals and a jar of water right by his head. He ate and drank, and then went back to sleep. 7 The LORD’s messenger returned a second time and tapped him. “Get up!” the messenger said. “Eat something, because you have a difficult road ahead of you.” 8 Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God’s mountain. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. The LORD’s word came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?” 10 Elijah replied, “I’ve been very passionate for the LORD God of heavenly forces because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars, and they have murdered your prophets with the sword. I’m the only one left, and now they want to take my life too!” 11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand at the mountain before the LORD. The LORD is passing by.” A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones before the LORD. But the LORD wasn’t in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the LORD wasn’t in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the LORD wasn’t in the fire. After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat. He went out and stood at the cave’s entrance. A voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?” 14 He said, “I’ve been very passionate for the LORD God of heavenly forces because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars, and they have murdered your prophets with the sword. I’m the only one left, and now they want to take my life too.” 15 The LORD said to him, “Go back through the desert to Damascus and anoint Hazael as king of Aram. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible So it is official, in May of this year, CNN reported that burnout is officially classified as a bonifide disease. The term burnout, breakdown has been around what seems like forever. Actually a phsychiatrist coined the phrase in an article in 1974, and it seems to have caught on like wildfire. Now the World Health Association says that burnout is not the same as depression or anxiety. Burnout is expressly defined as a work related issue. Burnout is a feeling of exhaustion,a callousness or carelessness of work. There are 5 stages of burnout – the honeymoon phase, when you are gungho about everything , and excited to work. But as reality sets in you get stressed out about problems, then you start to obsess about the stress all of the time, and then stress becomes a way of life, and then you get to the point where you can’t deal with anything. . A study back in 1993 (1) showed that people who work in the care industries, such as nurses and social workers and others who have frequent intense or emotionally charged interactions with others are especially susceptible to burnout. But burnout can affect workers in any field. Take prophets, for example. Since many prophets were commissioned with the idea that most of those to whom they prophesied were going to reject their message, burnout was practically part of the job description for being a prophet. (Stan Purdam) Our scripture for today is the story of the prophet Elijah and his bout with burnout. This biblical story happened thousands of years ago, Elijah experiences the classic symptoms of burnout. When I talk about a lot of scriptures, I say they are my favorite. But I love this one for so many reasons. But there are few stories in the bible as important as this one, with such a wonderful message of faith as this story. First of all Elijah is a really big deal to the Jewish faith. There are a handful of stories in the bible about him, but there are many other stories and legends about this man. Elijah – means I believe in God in Jah. The more I think about it, Elijah was an important prophet because Elijah was an important example of an ordinary man, who did extraordinary things for God. Today, we use Jesus as our example and say what would Jesus Do. But Jesus used Elijah as an example, as Jesus began his ministry – he would ask himself what would Elijah do. In this story Elijah runs out into the wilderness to find god, In the new testament, Jesus runs out into the wilderness to find God. Elijah is a prophet, Jesus is a prophet. They kill Jesus for being a prophet and telling the truth, they threaten Elijah’s life. That is part of a prophet’s job – to tell people what they really don’t want to hear –hence the chronic stress. But a prophet also helps people, is an example to people, listens to God, and does God’s work in the world. We are all called to do God’s work in the world. We are all called to have a relationship with the creator. I really think Elijah is so important, because there is a part of Elijah inside of each of us. you know that World Health Organization says that burnout is only work related, but I think that burnout is also very common amongst God’s people. Burnout is faith related as well, that is why this story is so important. ! Kings 18 and 19 are two parallel lessons, which may or may not have happened chronologically. Elijah is this strong determined figure who comes out of the middle of nowhere, with no back story. But he comes on the scene determined to show the love of God both to those in need and even to those in power. In chapter 18 he challenges the kings wife – Jezebl to a dual that his God is stronger than her God. Elijah wins the battle, by killing 400 prophets of another God. but now Elijah is afraid for his life and he runs. He runs and hides in a cave. That pattern of starting out gungho and determined, and then starting to realize the stress of what you are doing starts to set in. Elijah retreats – he is so discouraged that he just wants to die. The angels come to feed him and nourish him. I love this story – because the story tells itself. One preacher says that the cause of burnout are unrealized expectations, traumatic events, worry, poor decisions, lonliness, negative self talk – negative prayers – It is all here in this story. God ask Elijah – what are you doing here – and all Elijah can do is complain and think negative. He doesn’t even answer God’s question – but whines- I have been zelous for the Lord, I have been doing all I can, no one listens, they are out to get me, I am a failure, I cant do this , I am all alone……unrealized expectations, tramatic events, worry, poor decisions, lonliness, negative self talk – negative prayers. Elijah has it all. God never responds one way or another, he gives Elijah no advice, no sympathy. He simply ask Elijah one more time – what are you doing here. It is Elijah who goes off on this quest to find the real God – the god of the fire – like the one who appeared to Moses. The god of loud noises and big things. shipwrecked man prays to God to save him. A boat approaches, but the man tells it to go away because God will save him. The boat leaves. A second boat arrives, and the man sends it away, saying God will save him. The man dies of exposure. When he gets to heaven, he complains to God for not saving him when he prayed. God tells the man he sent two boats to save him but the man sent them away." Elijah looked in all of the places he heard God would be – and found nothing. Until he was able to calm down and find God in the still small voice. The Greek says a thin whisper, or a light murmuring sound.- I like to call it a God whisper. It is that moment in life, not so much when God speaks, but when your spirit is quiet enough to listen. In his book Directions, author James Hamilton shares this insight about listening to God: Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking." Elijah is still stuck in his burnout – his complaining, unrealized expectations, tramatic events, worry, poor decisions, lonliness, negative self talk – negative prayers God speaks to Elijah one more time. First of all he tells Elijah that he is not alone – there are 7000 other prophets just like him. But I love it, in the end he tells Elijah to go back to the desert and get back to work. In other words get over it and move on. He doesn’t stop elijah’s complaining, but he doesn’t acknowledge it either. But after it is all over Elijah is able to renew his own spirit. He is able to continue in his calling, rather than giving in to his burnout. But this time as he goes out and continues his ministry – he is not only restored, with a new purpose. But he has the confidence and skills to change the world, instead of allowing the world to change him, and his meaning and purpose. Faithful living can be hard, draining, thankless work. It can burn even the most determined person out. I am convinced that in life, we all have a Jezebel to face – that one challenge that will take every ounce of strength that we have. Burnout is okay – sometimes it forces us to take the much needed break to regroup. Pastor Jim Erwin gives this 7 fold prescription to renewed faith based in Elijah’s experience – sleep and nourishment, accept help from the angels, feel free to vent your frustations, listen to God’s small still voice, renew your purpose, be reassured that what you are doing is right, and finally find some friends – those 7000 others who just like you are zealous for the Lord – they are out there. Burnout is real – we don’t need to don’t need the world health organization to tell us that – all we need to do is come to church a couple of Sundays and be with God’s people. But the good news for us is that the demons of despair don’t have the final word. God’s still small voice still speaks. I have just one more story to share – in 1952 composer John Cage wrote a song called 4 minutes 33 seconds. – it is a song written in three parts. But in each part instead of playing, the musician is forced to sit and listen – for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Where in your life can you go to find God – a place in your life where you can be fed by the angels and hear God’s voice speaking to you. So many times in our life we seek God in the miracles, in the extraordinary , in far away places. When God is present right here in our ordinary lives. Let us pray…. Amen. Additional illustrations… Have you heard about the cell phone ringtone that junior high and high school kids are using to keep teachers from discovering that they are using their cell phones in school? The pitch of this ringtone, called the "mosquito tone," is too high for people over 25 to hear. So the kids can still send and receive text messages during class without the teacher knowing. The mosquito tone was first developed in Great Britain to irritate teenagers who were loitering around convenience stores and keeping customers away by their loud and obnoxious behavior…Some kid simply figured out how to use that sound as his cell phone's ringtone and—voilà—kids are downloading it by the millions.

Getting to the Getting Over It

Getting to the Getting Over It
1 Kings 19:1-15
Galatians 3:23-29
4th Sunday of Pentecost
June 20, 2010
(not really a father’s day sermon)
Year C

Let me be clear – one of the worst things that you can tell someone in pain – is to just get over it and move on.

But in reality – it is the only answer to any crisis in our lives – life goes on, get over it and move on. It is all in the timing , the way of saying it, and sometimes even the appropriate place for it to be said. Even God realizes that God has to be careful with God’s words even with the most faithful of servants.

We have all reached those moments in our lives when we have done all that we can and things are just not working, and you are ready to throw in the towel and say forget about it all.

We have been looking at the prophetic career of Elijah this summer. He has had some pretty amazing accomplishments. He has done some pretty amazing things.

Last week he challenged the queen of Isreal to a duel. We wanted to prove that his god was stronger than her god. He set fire to an altar and god not only appeared – all of her priest were killed, and she gets a little angry. And threatens to kill him.

Elijah falls into a very familiar trap that prophets still fall into today. We are told to do something by God, we do it because we believe it to be the right thing, and because we are doing what it right, we are expecting praise and affirmation, and instead we get threats our lives and well being. And we are shacked beyond belief. We consider ourselves to be good people and we want people to love us – and we don’t understand what is going on when they don’t. that was enough to take Elijah over the edge.

He had a breakdown and ran. Now Elijah is not the type who scares easy he is a little hot headed in his zeal for the lord Elijah was one to stand up to kings and anyone else he thougth was not doing to will of god. His student was meaner than he was – Elisha sent bears to attack a group of teenagers for calling him bald.

But there was an underlying message in his zeal to prove that his god was bigger than any other god.

The message that he wanted to get across to the world, those in his group and outside – was that there was only one god.

The god of the ancestors is the god of our children to come. The god who enjoys gospel music is the god who loves the anthems of the church. The god of the Chinese and Japanese is the god of the Americans. The god who shone the sun on the convicted criminal this morning is the god who woke you up for church this morning.

God is the same for all of us. Elijahs’s question for us is that if there is only one - why do we have so many different opinions of who god is and what god wants from us.

If God doesn’t change, then things don’t really change for us either. We still need to get the message – of unity and working together. And prophets still get weary of preaching it.

In his time of despair, Elijah needed to go back to the beginning of his faith. The place where moses talked with god.

This is such a rich story of our lives, our feelings , our desire to do the right thing, our desire to see and talk with god face to face in times of trouble.

He went into to a cave, god was not in the earthquake, not in the flood not in the storm but in the silence.

Morse code story….
A group of men answered a want ad for someone to do morse code for the government. they came for the interview one b one, and after about 7 applicants who were waiting - the conversation got to be a little lively. they needed to make sure that it was clear who would be first for the interview, then they needed to talk about who was more qualified for the job, then they needed to talk about who had the most exciting experience in the field. After about ten minutes of constant talking, a woman walks in and sits down - obviously thinking she would be qualified for the hib. As the noise continues, she quietly got up and walked into the office of the interviewer, and 5 minutes later she walked out smiling to announce that she had gotten the job. In the midst of all of the noise of their conversation, the interviewer had sent a orse code over the intercom. It said that the first person to hear this message and walks into the office gets the job. but in the midst of all of the chaos - no one else was paying attention to what was really going on.

God in is everything, in the noise the confusion, the chaos, the arumengs, the fights, the disagreements, the questions, the broken dreams, the hurt feelings


Its just that in the chaos, we get confused, we get torn apart, our minds are not focused on what it right – and we forget the message of one god, for one people.

Another prophet zealous for the lord – had a similar experience. Killing anyone who did not believe in god the way he did – until he met god in Christ and was told that was not the right thing to do.

Christ gave him the message that people are people – they are all children of god, they are all loved, and none of us have to right to exclude others. People are people are god is god.
Instead of making distinctions of what pulls us apart, we need to concentrate on what it is that keeps us together.

The abortion story –
When I was in a church in Aurora - there was an abortion center across from the church. There were demonstrations on our corner all of the time. In a demonstrations similar to those I used to see, there were two groups protesting. One in favor of women's rights, and one against abortion. A stranger came to interview the two sides, and asked one man against abortion why he was protesting - he stted that he remembers his father in world war II. His father used to tell stories of men, women, and children who were killed as a whole village. the one memory that haunted his father the most were the eyes. He could never forget those eyes looking at him seeming to ask what was happening. This man thought of the eyes of the unborn, and felt that he had to do something. The preporter also talked with one of the women on the prochoice side and she was also asked why she was protesting. She remembers her mother, who was told that she should not get pregnant anymore after the 8th child. Her mother did get pregnant again and could not go through the pregnancy. But abortion was illegal at the time. she went to an illegal clinic and aborted the baby. she bled to death in the backroom. it turns out that the lady and the man were married to each other. The man honoring his father, the lady honoring her mother. The reporter asked, if you are married and you love each other, how come you are on opposite sides of this issue? They both said that they were doing what they believed was right. The stranger suggested that maybe they and everyone else should no get so caught up in the issue that separates them and to remember to love the pople involved on either side.
The women and chldren affected by abortion, yrt looking for love and attention in the midst of the situation. what a world we would live in if we could all do that. Love one another more than we love the issues tht divide us.

Paul says in Galatians
As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer jew or greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are abrahams’s offspring according to the promise.

Elijah mission was not in vain, he won the battle, he proved to the world that he worked for the baddest god the planet – the one god of all. He wanted us to all know that there is only one god, the god of power and might. We should be one people – the people of power and might.

If we go on in this story – as god continue to talk with Elijah – he tells him that he is not the only one zealous for the lord – that there are 7000 others just like him. Who are determined to give the message. God also gives Elijah a helper – Elisha who will listen and carry one the message of the one god for all of the world. He is not alone, doing this all by himself – there are others along with us and others coming after us. The message we have to give is not ours, it is god and god calls us, we don’t call god, there are times when we grow weary in spreading god’s message – but the message is not about us, and our doubts and our fears – it is about the love of god for all people. The message of our lives – but much bigger than any of us. A message that will live on.

God’s final words to Elijah in this story is to get over it and move on. God tells Elijah to go back into the wilderness and to keep working. There are times when we would all like to quit – but as long as we are alive we all have to keep moving on in some way. Let us pray…..