Year B
1 Kings 19:4-8
Psalm 34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing that I enjoy sharing\u2026 every once in a while\u2026 especially to non-Lutherans\u2026 is that in the ELCA’s prayer book\u2026 the first 150 hymns\u2026 are the Psalms\u2026 a collection of religious poems\u2026 . many with musical settings\u2026 and they encompass a wide range of human feelings\u2026 things like joy and praise\u2026 thanksgiving\u2026 trust and faith\u2026 lament and sorrow\u2026 repentance and confession\u2026 anger and vengeance\u2026 fear and anxiety\u2026 hope and aspiration\u2026 love and devotion\u2026 and wonder and awe\u2026 and because our lives are full of these emotions\u2026 the psalms capture the breadth of human experience in relation to God\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And let me lift up that emotions aren’t right or wrong\u2026 or good or bad\u2026 they simply are\u2026 they are states-of-being\u2026 expressed by the verb\u2026 to be<\/em>\u2026 which can appear as I am\u2026 he is\u2026 she was\u2026 we are\u2026 they were\u2026 ] and so someone might say\u2026 I am hungry\u2026 he is sleepy\u2026 she was rested\u2026 we are excited\u2026 they were confused\u2026 and since emotions are also feelings\u2026 if someone says\u2026 I feel<\/em>\u2026 they also have to be able to say\u2026 I am<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And further\u2026 . emotions are energy-in-motion\u2026 they must flow through us and out of us\u2026 if we believe that our emotions are wrong\u2026 if we repress them\u2026 that energy will get stuck and may make us sick\u2026 or if we hold on to them\u2026 we may act out in inappropriate ways\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today’s passage from 1 Kings\u2026 Elijah seems to have\u2026 just seems to have acted out in a surprising way\u2026 and here’s why\u2026 King Ahab has just assembled all of the Israelites\u2026 and Elijah puts a question before them\u2026 will they follow the true God Adonai\u2026 or will they follow the false god Baal\u2026 and so at God’s command\u2026 Elijah devises a test\u2026 speaking to the gathered priests of Baal\u2026 he said\u2026 let two bulls be given to us\u2026 choose one of them for yourselves\u2026 cut it in pieces\u2026 and lay it on the [ pyre of ] wood\u2026 but put no fire to it\u2026 I will prepare the other bull\u2026 and lay it on the wood\u2026 and will put no fire to it\u2026 then you call on the name of your god\u2026 and I will call on the name of the LORD\u2026 and the god who answers by fire is indeed God\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the prophets called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon\u2026 they limped around the altar they had made\u2026 and they cut themselves with swords and lancets until the blood gushed out over them\u2026 and they raved on\u2026 until about sunset\u2026 but there was no voice\u2026 no answer\u2026 and no fire\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Elijah repaired the altar he made\u2026 which had been thrown down\u2026 and he took twelve stones\u2026 and made a trench around the altar\u2026 and poured twelve jars of water over the offering\u2026 and over the wood\u2026 so that it filled the trench\u2026 ] twelve\u2026 according to the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob\u2026 and at sunset\u2026 Elijah called upon the God of Abraham\u2026 Isaac\u2026 and Israel\u2026 and the fire of God fell\u2026 and consumed the offering\u2026 and the stones\u2026 and the wood\u2026 and even licked up the water that remained in the trench\u2026 and when all the people saw it\u2026 they fell on their faces and said\u2026 The LORD indeed is God\u2026 a<\/em>nd Elijah said to them\u2026 seize the prophets of Baal\u2026 don’t let one of them escape\u2026 and they seized them\u2026 all four hundred fifty of them\u2026 and brought them down to the Wadi Kishon\u2026 and killed them there\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And after all of this\u2026 after having done God’s bidding\u2026 after having affirmed that only the Lord is God\u2026 after having helped turn the Israelite’s hearts back to God\u2026 you’d think that Elijah would feel affirmed\u2026 acknowledged\u2026 maybe even appreciated\u2026 but after all of this\u2026 King Ahab’s wife Jezebel\u2026 who brought idolatry into the Northern Kingdom of Israel\u2026 Jezebel sent a threatening message to Elijah\u2026 which said\u2026 If by this time tomorrow\u2026 I have not made your life\u2026 as you have made theirs\u2026 may the gods do the same\u2026 and more to me<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Elijah felt afraid\u2026 and fled for his life\u2026 and we can imagine him feeling discounted\u2026 depressed\u2026 discouraged\u2026 his success on God’s behalf\u2026 meant nothing to him now\u2026 especially with Jezebel on his heels\u2026 and so he escapes to Beersheba\u2026 and then goes another day into that inhospitable wilderness\u2026 and now\u2026 while hiding under a broom tree\u2026 Elijah asks God to end his life\u2026 the critical voices in his head\u2026 must be too much to bear\u2026 he may even have PTSD\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But God doesn’t abandon him\u2026 God sends an angel to feed and tend to him\u2026 not once\u2026 but twice\u2026 to strengthen him for his journey\u2026 and what this tells me\u2026 is in spite of how he felt\u2026 God was with him\u2026 as God is with us\u2026 and the food that he was given\u2026 must have been something else\u2026 because the text tells us that in the strength of that food\u2026 Elijah traveled for forty days and nights to reach Mt. Horeb\u2026 also known as Mt. Sinai\u2026 reminding us perhaps of the Israelite’s forty year journey in that wilderness\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the strength of that food<\/em>\u2026 the food given to Elijah by the angel is more than just a cake of bread and some water\u2026 it is symbolic of spiritual nourishment and divine sustenance\u2026 Elijah is being strengthened by God’s grace and power\u2026 ] just as the Word of God nourishes the soul and provides strength for the journey of faith\u2026 and the food given may foreshadow the Eucharist\u2026 where the bread and wine become spiritual food that sustains us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus’ audience knows him as Joseph and Mary’s son\u2026 they know him as human\u2026 as mortal\u2026 and they seem to forget that he has just fed more than five-thousand people\u2026 and that the leftovers filled twelve baskets… ] but in v. 35 he says\u2026 I am the bread of life<\/em>\u2026 and in v. 38 which is omitted from today’s reading\u2026 he says\u2026 I have come down from heaven<\/em>\u2026 and the Jews complain when he says\u2026 I<\/u> am<\/u> the<\/u> bread<\/u> that came down from heaven<\/em>\u2026 so which is it\u2026 is he human\u2026 or is he divine\u2026 in their either \/ or thinking\u2026 they cannot reconcile how both can be true\u2026 they have no point of reference for both \/ and\u2026 but if God is always free to act in unexpected and often incomprehensible ways\u2026 then Jesus is also able to be fully human and fully divine\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Jesus’ own emphasis was not on his human identity\u2026 but on his authority\u2026 a theme with which the religious authorities were obsessed\u2026 he emphasized his role as the giver of divine life to others\u2026 the bread he offered is more than manna\u2026 which was heavenly food intended only to sustain earthly life\u2026 but the bread he offers satisfies hunger forever\u2026 ] he expanded their short-sighted understanding of what they thought possible\u2026 ] and so when he says\u2026 I am the bread that came down from heaven<\/em>\u2026 he reveals himself as living bread which sustains and transforms people from death to eternal life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who have come to Jesus\u2026 have come\u2026 because they heard God’s call\u2026 ] and the ones whom God teaches\u2026 recognize the fullness of God’s life\u2026 the life that is everlasting\u2026 that’s why Jesus also says\u2026 I will raise that person up on the last day<\/em>\u2026 because those who are lifted up\u2026 will be lifted up in love\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gospel-writers had a number of words from which to choose to convey love\u2026 but they all chose the word agape<\/em>\u2026 which speaks of a love\u2026 in which the one who is loved\u2026 is raised to the level of the one who loves\u2026 and just as Jesus has been raised to the level of the Father\u2019s love\u2026 his love for us raises us to the level of his love\u2026 and that kind of love heals us\u2026 heals us enough so that we too\u2026 will be brought into God’s loving embrace\u2026 where we will fully know\u2026 the I AM\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B 1 Kings 19:4-8 Psalm 34:1-8 Ephesians 4:25-5:2 John 6:35, 41-51 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 One thing that I enjoy sharing\u2026 every once in a while\u2026 especially to non-Lutherans\u2026 is that in the ELCA’s prayer book\u2026 the first 150 hymns\u2026 are the Psalms\u2026 a collection of religious poems\u2026 . many with musical settings\u2026 and they encompass a wide range of human feelings\u2026 things like joy and praise\u2026 thanksgiving\u2026 trust and faith\u2026 lament and sorrow\u2026 repentance and confession\u2026 anger and vengeance\u2026 fear and anxiety\u2026 hope and aspiration\u2026 love and devotion\u2026 and wonder and awe\u2026 and because our lives are full of these emotions\u2026 the psalms capture the breadth of human experience in relation to God\u2026 And let me lift up that emotions aren’t right or wrong\u2026 or good or bad\u2026 they simply are\u2026 they are states-of-being\u2026 expressed by the verb\u2026 to be\u2026 which can appear as I am\u2026 he is\u2026 she was\u2026 we are\u2026 they were\u2026 ] and so someone might say\u2026 I am hungry\u2026 he is sleepy\u2026 she was rested\u2026 we are excited\u2026 they were confused\u2026 and since emotions are also feelings\u2026 if someone says\u2026 I feel\u2026 they also have to be able to say\u2026 I am\u2026 And further\u2026 . emotions are energy-in-motion\u2026 they must flow through us and out of us\u2026 if we believe that our emotions are wrong\u2026 if we repress them\u2026 that energy will get stuck and may make us sick\u2026 or if we hold on to them\u2026 we may act out in inappropriate ways\u2026 In today’s passage from 1 Kings\u2026 Elijah seems to have\u2026 just seems to have acted out in a surprising way\u2026 and here’s why\u2026 King Ahab has just assembled all of the Israelites\u2026 and Elijah puts a question before them\u2026 will they follow the true God Adonai\u2026 or will they follow the false god Baal\u2026 and so at God’s command\u2026 Elijah devises a test\u2026 speaking to the gathered priests of Baal\u2026 he said\u2026 let two bulls be given to us\u2026 choose one of them for yourselves\u2026 cut it in pieces\u2026 and lay it on the [ pyre of ] wood\u2026 but put no fire to it\u2026 I will prepare the other bull\u2026 and lay it on the wood\u2026 and will put no fire to it\u2026 then you call on the name of your god\u2026 and I will call on the name of the LORD\u2026 and the god who answers by fire is indeed God\u2026 And the prophets called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon\u2026 they limped around the altar they had made\u2026 and they cut themselves with swords and lancets until the blood gushed out over them\u2026 and they raved on\u2026 until about sunset\u2026 but there was no voice\u2026 no answer\u2026 and no fire\u2026 And Elijah repaired the altar he made\u2026 which had been thrown down\u2026 and he took twelve stones\u2026 and made a trench around the altar\u2026 and poured twelve jars of water over the offering\u2026 and over the wood\u2026 so that it filled the trench\u2026 ] twelve\u2026 according to the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob\u2026 and at sunset\u2026 Elijah called upon the God of Abraham\u2026 Isaac\u2026 and Israel\u2026 and the fire of God fell\u2026 and consumed the offering\u2026 and the stones\u2026 and the wood\u2026 and even licked up the water that remained in the trench\u2026 and when all the people saw it\u2026 they fell on their faces and said\u2026 The LORD indeed is God\u2026 and Elijah said to them\u2026 seize the prophets of Baal\u2026 don’t let one of them escape\u2026 and they seized them\u2026 all four hundred fifty of them\u2026 and brought them down to the Wadi Kishon\u2026 and killed them there\u2026 And after all of this\u2026 after having done God’s bidding\u2026 after having affirmed that only the Lord is God\u2026 after having helped turn the Israelite’s hearts back to God\u2026 you’d think that Elijah would feel affirmed\u2026 acknowledged\u2026 maybe even appreciated\u2026 but after all of this\u2026 King Ahab’s wife Jezebel\u2026 who brought idolatry into the Northern Kingdom of Israel\u2026 Jezebel sent a threatening message to Elijah\u2026 which said\u2026 If by this time tomorrow\u2026 I have not made your life\u2026 as you have made theirs\u2026 may the gods do the same\u2026 and more to me\u2026 And Elijah felt afraid\u2026 and fled for his life\u2026 and we can imagine him feeling discounted\u2026 depressed\u2026 discouraged\u2026 his success on God’s behalf\u2026 meant nothing to him now\u2026 especially with Jezebel on his heels\u2026 and so he escapes to Beersheba\u2026 and then goes another day into that inhospitable wilderness\u2026 and now\u2026 while hiding under a broom tree\u2026 Elijah asks God to end his life\u2026 the critical voices in his head\u2026 must be too much to bear\u2026 he may even have PTSD\u2026 But God doesn’t abandon him\u2026 God sends an angel to feed and tend to him\u2026 not once\u2026 but twice\u2026 to strengthen him for his journey\u2026 and what this tells me\u2026 is in spite of how he felt\u2026 God was with him\u2026 as God is with us\u2026 and the food that he was given\u2026 must have been something else\u2026 because the text tells us that in the strength of that food\u2026 Elijah traveled for forty days and nights to reach Mt. Horeb\u2026 also known as Mt. Sinai\u2026 reminding us perhaps of the Israelite’s forty year journey in that wilderness\u2026 In the strength of that food\u2026 the food given to Elijah by the angel is more than just a cake of bread and some water\u2026 it is symbolic of spiritual nourishment and divine sustenance\u2026 Elijah is being strengthened by God’s grace and power\u2026 ] just as the Word of God nourishes the soul and provides strength for the journey of faith\u2026 and the food given may foreshadow the Eucharist\u2026 where the bread and wine become spiritual food that sustains us\u2026 In today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus’ audience knows him as Joseph and Mary’s son\u2026 they know him as human\u2026 as mortal\u2026 and they seem to forget that he has just fed more than five-thousand people\u2026 and that the leftovers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[318,278,255],"class_list":["post-2614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-christs-love","tag-jesus-authority","tag-time-after-pentecost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Elijah-wilderness-broom-tree-smaller.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2616,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions\/2616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}