During Lent, we will be exploring faith journey through the journey of Abram and Sarai. This Sunday, Transfiguration Sunday, precedes Lent and gives me a chance to preach a prelude to the Lenten series. The transfiguration has some of the disciples on a mountaintop watching Jesus turn dazzling white as Moses and Elijah join him there. then, the disciples come off the mountain. The story includes a mountaintop experience and the realization that they have to go back into the world.
The 2 Kings story has Elijah being swept up in a whirlwind and Elisha assuming the mantle of prophetic leadership. If the story is about Elijah, it's the final step of his journey; if the story is about Elisha, it is the beginning of his journey as the lead prophet.
Faith journeys have beginnings and endings, new beginnings and then new endings. There are mountaintop experiences followed by the need to go back to work.
with the 2 Kings passage, I've been playing with the question, "whose story is it?" Is it Elijah's story of ending or Elisha's story of beginning? Or is it simply God's story and Elijah and Elisha get to play a part in it.
We are also having an infant baptism, which speaks to journey in some ways.
I recently read The Great Santini, and was pondering Ben Meecham's (Santini's son) reflections as he ponders how he can pray to God in the face of his father's death and his anger at his father. Ben decides that he can only do so when he envisions God differently. he then describes the God he could pray to and notes the characteristics he has discovered in others that seem fitting of God. it reminded me of the power of reflecting on our faith journeys to discover where we have uncovered God in the midst of our lives.
Not sure the point of the sermon exactly, but it feels like there is a sermon in here somewhere!
peace,
Richard
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