Sermon for August 9, 2020 - The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 14A - The Rev'd Isaac P. Martinez

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer.

Well, beloved, in the three weeks since I last had the honor of preaching with you, I wish I could say that the great storm of this pandemic has passed us by. But alas, we are still in the midst of it. And it is only in faith that we can say that Jesus is saving us from the storm. We do not yet have the benefit of hindsight to say exactly how he’s saving us, as he did Peter. So this morning, I want to talk about how we can prepare ourselves for better perceiving God’s saving acts as they happen in our personal lives and as a community. And I want to use the story of Elijah from our first reading to do so.

First, we have to get a little background, as our Old Testament reading drops us in the middle of a story that has gone on for two chapters. God called the great prophet Elijah to speak out against the idolatry of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahab and Jezebel promoted the worship of the Canaanite gods Ba’al and Asherah and killed many of the prophets of the God of Israel. So God told Elijah to challenge the other prophets to a duel, basically.

You may remember this story from Sunday School. Elijah, representing the Lord, and the prophets of the false gods meet at Mt. Carmel, where each side was to build an altar, sacrifice a bull, and whichever god sent fire to complete the sacrifice would be recognized as the true God. The false prophets spent all day calling on Ba’al and Asherah, but to no avail. Finally, as the time of the evening sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple draws near, Elijah builds a simple pile of twelve stones, digs a trench and fills it with water, and then prays sincerely while God sends down a raging fire that consumes not just the animal sacrifice, but the altar and the water around it. When the assembly saw this, they fall on their faces and acknowledge that the Lord is indeed the one, true God. A resounding victory for the faithful prophet.

But not entirely, as Ahab and Jezebel seek revenge on Elijah, both for their religious humiliation, but also for the death of their prophets. Elijah, in fear for his life, flees from the north all the way to the very south of the land of Israel. Even that was not far enough, so he continues into the wilderness of Sinai. After being fed by an angel, he then wanders into the desert for 40 days and nights. And that brings us to the point in the story we heard today.

Now Mt. Horeb that Elijah finds himself on is another name for Mt. Sinai, where God gave the covenant to the people of Israel through Moses. Throughout this encounter, we are supposed to see traces of Moses’s encounter with God in the book of Exodus in Elijah’s encounter here. And the differences between the two stories hold the key to understanding the story and what is has to offer our lives today.

The first difference is that in Exodus, God calls Moses to the mountain. Here, Elijah comes uninvited, and although He already knows, God wants to hear from Elijah’s own lips why. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Perhaps, my friends, you have had your own version of God asking you a similar question. “Why are you here? Why are you in this predicament? What help do you need? What strength do you seek?” For me, those questions usually pop into my head, not as a voice from up there, but in here. Sometimes, they are asked by a close friend. Whatever form they take, they are an invitation for us to respond to honestly. Elijah did not hide his fear and despair from God but was honest and transparent about his feelings both times God asks him. Still, in Elijah’s repeated refrain, I also sense hidden questions that Elijah has for God.

I have been zealous for you, God, and performed great miracles in your name. So why have I failed in the work you gave me?

Others have opposed your will, God, and fallen away from the right path? Why do they prosper while I am on the run?

My enemies seek to kill me. Why have you left me alone?

We should notice how God responds to Elijah. If Elijah has unvoiced questions, God does not answer them directly. But this episode is a dialogue. To Elijah’s first desperate and fearful complaint, God only tells Elijah to stand on the mountain, “to assume the stature of Moses”[1] generations before. And there, God assures Elijah that God is ever with him, just perhaps not in the way Elijah expected.

The presence and power of God is not limited to the might of the whirlwind, the strength of the earthquake, or the purifying rage of the fire, though sometimes those are needed. But what I think Elijah needed most, at this moment, was reassurance that even in the vast emptiness and “minute stillness”[2] of his fear and despair, God was not absent. And so there was a sound, a voice, that his prophetic ear was attuned to and he heard. He heard that he was loved. He heard that he was called. He heard that we was never alone.

We can encounter God in the most unexpected of places. But every place and each moment have the potential to be a theophany like Elijah’s, an instance of divine encounter. And we can increase the chances of experiencing God in those instances by preparing ourselves for interior connection through consistent spiritual practice: in prayer, in reading Scripture, in meditation, in deep conversation with trusted friends. That is one way we can train ourselves to listen for God’s still, small voice. And there’s another way.

When God asks Elijah a second time why he’s on the holy mountain, Elijah gives the exact same reply. Perhaps because Elijah still has the same, lingering unspoken questions. “I’ve just experienced you God,” he might have thought, “so why do I still feel broken, afraid, and alone?

This time, God’s response to those questions is a command to action. “Go,” God tells Elijah, “I have a plan to bring justice and restore righteousness through new leaders.” And God also reveals to Elijah that he will not be the only prophet of the Lord any longer. Through Elisha, Elijah will have a legacy that will outlive him.

Sometimes, God responds to our fear and despair, to our suffering and isolation, with a gentle presence of calm and reassurance, as Elijah experienced the first time God spoke. And other times, God responds with a charge to act. I think this because God knows that we can worry ourselves into knots trying to get everything right. “Was that really the presence of God I felt? Did I understand it correctly? I don’t really feel any better, so did it work? Maybe I’ll just wait for a clearer sign.”

Into these moments, the urge to act from within or an invitation from someone else might just be the word we need that God was there all along, telling us to go. So, let’s go, beloved. Our call to action won’t be anointing kings, but it may be supporting someone who’s hurting in this time. Maybe it’s taking the risk of finally quitting the job we hate or donating the time or money we think we can’t afford. Or confronting the oppression and injustice we see around us. Whatever it is, let us go and seek the place where mercy and truth meet together, where righteousness and peace kiss each other.

And when you’re uncertain, as we all are from time to time, about how to pray or how to act, what you heard or what it means, I hope you will turn to the church, this community of prophets and priests, disciples and discerners. We are here to help each other listen better, act bolder, and build each other up so that when Jesus takes our hand in the storm, we can trust it is truly him, saving us all. Amen.

[1] Robert Alter’s translation and commentary of the Hebrew Bible, Vol. 2, p. 512.

[2] Ibid.