This Sunday is the send-off for our former youth person from Colombia, who has accepted a call to serve as an Associate Pastor for First Presbyterian Church, Skaneateles, NY.
Basically, I am violating the sermon writing rule of starting with the text, and instead starting with the idea that I want him to consider what it means to be a "man of God," or I suppose in our world today, "a person of God." In the day, I always thought "man of God," was about the highest compliment a person could pay another person. it is not flowery, doesn't build on the success of the world or on all the accomplishments of the person, but declares that the person has lived a life that reflects their service to God.
Elijah is called a man of God. That has me pondering the different ways Elijah worked -- he brought fire down from heaven to burn the sacrifice when challenged by the prophets of Baal; he gives Naaman silly advice about washing in the river to remove his leprosy (it works, by the way); and in the passage we read today he brings life-saving grace to the widow. he mediated God's presence in different ways.
But, he also pouted on occasion, and he happens to be staying with the woman because he has run away. He has this human side that is full of his human vulnerabilities and inabilities.
I also notice that in I Timothy the assumption is that a man of God could be anyone in the community of faith, not just the prophet (like Elijah) who was in their midst.
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