God of life, help us to recognize when you are at work around us, and lead us to share stories of your love with others. Amen.
God is pretty amazing.
A few years ago, I was working at church camp. A friend and I decided to bring our sleeping bags out to the dock one night so that we could fall asleep below the stars and wake up to the sunrise.
That sunrise was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
I was so glad I had thought to bring my camera out to the dock with me.
It was gorgeous – and even though sunrise finished about an hour earlier than my friend and I needed to be up for work, we couldn’t fall back to sleep after witnessing something so magnificent. God can do awesome things.
Am I right?
A family friend was struggling with raising her four kids, three of whom had learning or developmental disabilities. This was long enough ago that resources were few and far between for kids with special needs.
One day she heard a voice, asking her one simple question.
Do you trust me?
Our friend did trust God, and despite the countless challenges that her children faced, they were able to thrive as their mother raised them according to God’s guidance.
God is pretty amazing.
In today’s story from First Kings, we hear about a truly awe-some thing that God does. After Elijah challenges all the prophets of Ba’al, and they and their god fail to perform a miracle of any size, Elijah steps up to the plate.
It’s time for him to get his game on.
Or, more accurately, it’s time for Elijah’s God to get in the game.
Elijah has so much faith in the power of his God that he puts on a ridiculous spectacle for the onlookers. He doesn’t just prepare an altar and an animal to sacrifice on it, but he douses the whole thing in water, three times, just to show how confident he is in God’s power.
I have no idea where all that water came from – they were three years into a severe drought.
But somehow, Elijah finds enough water to soak his altar and even create a moat around it. The people looking on must have been thinking, there’s no way that thing will light.
And then, in contrast to the prophets of Ba’al, who had been praying and crying out for hours on end with no results, Elijah offers up a simple prayer for God to show up.
And God does.
Elijah was right.
God doesn’t care how much water has been poured onto the altar – it’s still possible for our God to bring fire there.
God can do some awesome, spectacular, and amazing things.
Now, Elijah shows up in many more Bible stories, and we’ll hear a few of them in the coming weeks. But the inspiration for all of Elijah’s ministry comes from God – the God who Elijah knows to be powerful beyond measure.
Elijah is the prophet – the vehicle for God’s power to show up among the people. Elijah is the one who makes God known. He’s the storyteller.
But God is the one who is truly amazing.
Don’t you think?
God’s power can be pretty amazing, even in our lives today.
The church staff has recently heard stories from some of the folks who have been included in our prayer list. Some of those people have experienced truly miraculous healing.
God performs incredible miracles sometimes.
And, of course, as you well know, some people do not experience the power of God through miraculous healing.
There are tragic stories of illness and death in every family.
Why does God respond with healing sometimes and not others?
There is no good answer to that question.
I can tell you a few things that I do know for sure.
Someone who does not receive what they ask for in prayer is not any less worthy than the next person. Each and every person is a beloved child of God and was created in God’s image. We are all equally worthy of seeing God’s power and miracles.
I also know that no one’s earthly life lasts forever. Whether someone’s time here feels too short or too long, whether it’s filled with happiness or pain, it’s just a drop in the bucket when compared to the eternal life that we have waiting for us in God’s presence.
And, I can tell you without question, that God has the power to do anything at all. The stories we’ve heard so far today can attest to that. Why God chooses to show off the power sometimes but not others is a mystery. It’s one that we can ask God when we are face-to-face, but until then, there are no good answers.
What we know is that God is powerful and has the ability to do awesome and amazing things. And sometimes, God chooses to do those things in ways that influence our daily lives. And when that happens, it’s a miracle.
Today’s Gospel story tells about another one of God’s miraculous moments.
In the society in which Jesus lived, there were powerful people – the Romans – and powerless people – the Jews. Jesus was one of the Jews. That’s partly why his ministry had such an impact – it came out of the section of society that tended to be dismissed as powerless and meaningless and worthless.
But a member of the ruling class, one of the Romans, sent messengers to Jesus asking him to heal his slave. And Jesus agreed. So he started heading to the guy’s house, because that’s how we usually see healings done – in person, with the healer touching the sick person physically as well as spiritually.
But that doesn’t happen in today’s story. The Roman soldier sends additional messengers to tell Jesus – hey, look. If you have the power to do this at all, I’m sure you can do it from a distance just as easily as in person. Don’t bother making the trip to my house. I just want this member of my household to be healed.
And so Jesus performs this healing, across a physical distance but across an even wider social and religious and ideological distance.
What power!
It’s amazing.
Well, to us, the fact that Jesus heals is amazing.
To Jesus, the fact that a Roman would have such faith in a Jewish healer is the more amazing thing.
Taken together, we learn that God has the power to heal physical illness and also the power to repair broken relationships.
God is pretty incredible.
In today’s Bible stories, God does these spectacular things.
You’d think God was trying to get our attention or something!
“Hello, people! I’m over here!” God says. “I’m the one who made you, and I’m the one you’re supposed to worship.”
Why else would the Bible and our lives be filled with stories about God’s miraculous actions?
These stories remind us that nothing is as great as God is.
Money, power, beauty, love – these things are good. But they’re not as good as God. They don’t even come close.
Have you ever seen a great blue heron taking off? Those birds are so enormous, it’s a wonder they can fly at all. But they are so graceful. Every time I see one taking flight, I’m reminded of the power and miraculous grace of God.
Isn’t God awesome?
My mother’s father lived with Alzheimer’s for the last 17 years of his life. He forgot the names of his family long before he died. But I still remember when I visited him and my grandmother, and they were taking their afternoon nap while I read in the other room.
I heard Grandpa asking Grandma, who is it that’s visiting us today? And Grandma told him it was me.
And about 15 minutes later – well after Grandma had fallen asleep – I heard Grandpa calling out to me. His memory had lasted long enough for him to call me by name one last time.
God does awesome and amazing and wonderful and mysterious things.
And I know I’m not the only one in the room who has seen God’s power in action.
Haven’t you seen God’s power at work in the beauty of creation, or in the intimacy of human relationships? Haven’t you felt God’s healing power, or heard God’s voice when you needed strength?
I think it’s important that we get reminded about God’s beauty and power and awesomeness from time to time.
I’d like you to take a little time now to write down some ways in which you have seen God in your life.
Where have you seen God at work in the past week, or month, or year? When did you feel God’s presence most closely?
The ushers are passing out cards, one for each person, and there are pencils in the pews.
Can you think of a time when you have experienced God’s power?
It probably wasn’t as spectacular as the story about Elijah, or as boundary-breaking as the story from the Gospel of Luke.
But I know that God has been active in your life.
So take a moment now and write down a memory – or draw a picture of it.
And I’ll stop talking for a moment so we can hear some music while you write.
…
If you’re still working on putting down the ways that you’ve seen God in your life, that’s fine. You can take your time.
And when you’re done, I invite you to share your story with someone else.
Take it home and have your family share their stories over lunch today.
Call up the person who showed God to you with their loving actions.
Find a way to share God’s awesomeness with other people.
The good news in today’s readings is that God is amazing!
And hopefully, each one of us has seen that for ourselves at some point in time.
But not everyone in the world knows about how amazing our God can be. And even those of us who do know, forget sometimes. We need to be reminded.
So the best way for us to respond to the good news of God’s power is to be like Elijah – to serve as prophet, as storyteller, as thevehicle of God’s grace.
If we make ourselves available for God to use, then soon the whole world will know and will remember how wonderful our God can be.
And that would be the best news of all.
Amen.
Pentecost 2C; 5/29/16
1 Kings 18:20-39; Luke 7:1-10