This week we have the wonderful story of Elijah being carried up in the whirlwind, and his devoted servant and successor prophet, Elisha, receiving a double share of the spirit in Elijah. Swing lo, sweet chariot - comin' for to carry me home! Or "Double shot of my [God's] love." (I took some liberties with the latter song). We also study the fruits of spirit in Paul's letter to the Galatians, and Jesus' statements of "let the dead bury the dead, and "he who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God."
This passage in Galatians is sometime referred to as the freedom passage. What kind of freedom is Paul talking about? See "Freedom and Obedience" by Jake Wilson.
Do good works, or living "the fruits of the spirit" bring us salvation, or are the effects of God's saving grace? See Fruits of the Spirit, an excerpt from "The Faces of Jesus," by Frederick Buechner.
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a and Psalm 42 and 43 • Isaiah 65:1-9 and Psalm 22:19-28 • Galatians 3:23-29 • Luke 8:26-39
What would you do? How would you feel... if Jesus came to visit? Compare your thoughts with the healed demoniac and his fellow Gerasenes. What if meant leaving our comfortable, familiar ways and "possessions?" See The Rev. James T. Moors, "When Jesus Comes to Visit."
Where do you find God? What is it like to be in the presence of God? Have you ever felt being in God's presence? What was it like? Describe it as best you can. Read where Elijah found God - not where you might expect. In God's presence, the man running for his life found the strength, serenity, sustenance and purpose to confront the very forces threatening his life, and the lives and faith of God's people. Where does Jesus show us that we can experience God's presence? See The Rev. Kate Huey's "In God's Presence."
This week we have stories of greed and destructive possessiveness contrasted with extravagant giving - one leading to death, the other leading to life, and not just life, but life in abundance - joyous living. We learn more about what sin is in the story of Ahab and Jezebel with Naboth's vineyard, and the sin of David in his lust for Bathsheba as he sends Uriah to his death in battle. See The Rev. Janice B. Scott's "What is sin?"
In Luke's account of the "sinful woman" who washes Jesus' feet with an expensive ointment from an alabaster jar, and her tears, and dries them with her hair, we really see what extravagant love is. Luke does not place this story immediately prior to the passion story. It is in the midst of Jesus' teaching of forgiveness - the ultimate giving, which frees us from the control of hate, spite, anger and what ever else would separate us from loving God and our neighbor, and getting on with living. In this kind of giving we can experience the joy and peace God intends for us to have, and to share. See "Alabaster Extravagance" by The Rev. Dr. Mary Anderson.
Two
widows, two sons, two deaths. Elijah in Zarephath, and now Jesus in
Nain. Restoring life where there is death. Jesus cuts through all rules
and conventions of his society in the gospel account from Luke, as he
does so many times - there is not one sheep this Good Shepherd will not
search out, find, and bring home. Both of our authors give excellent
accounts of the status of widows in the society of that time when they
lost not only their husbands, but their sons. Essentially they were left
to a living death with death not too far behind. Worse, perhaps, they
were left without a voice - silenced, non-persons. In "A people without boundaries,
" The Rev. Matt Seddon reminds us that the mission of the church in our
Book of Common Prayer "is to restore all people to unity with God and
each other in Christ." To be a people who recognize the dignity of every
human being.
Jesus
did a couple of things which were taboo in this Sunday's gospel lesson.
He talked to the woman and he touched the bier of the dead. Cutting
across anything which would separate us from the love of God. This story
is not just about the son. Through his compassion, Jesus also gave life
to the widow. She matters. He has given her a voice. A place in the
kingdom of God's love. Jesus speaks liberating words. In "Finding a discourse for living,"
Christopher Burkett tells us , as people of faith, to chose our words
carefully - that we use committed, responsible and liberating words -
life giving words, Godly words. For the sake of our Lord, may we speak
and act with compassion with all God's children, especially those
without power, status, or voices of their own.
