maybe time running out is a gift

i'll work hard 'til the end of my shift

A sermon for All Saints, from 1 Kings 18:17-39:

Hard to see what this passage has to do with a day like this:

No humble remembering, but bombastic battle of whose God is best

And, prophet Elijah isn’t exactly acting all the saintly,

taunting opponents; bathroom

BUT, we can make exceptions for prophets

Had trouble making any connection b/t this passage and this day

…and then I drove to Virginia’s funeral

& I realized I had been commission to say some just as bombastic things

& I realized the congregation was going to join me in taunting the ol’ foe

The truth is, we don’t have to go to Mt. Carmel to find ourselves caught between competing theologies. Do we?

We don’t even have to go to a funeral to find ourselves in the middle of a battle between The Lord and all those other false gods out there.

● In a world full of prophets insisting we MUST prove ourselves, it can feel as if there are hardly any voices declaring God’s prior and unfailing love.

● In a world full of prophets insisting we must atone for our worst moments, it can feel as if there are hardly any voices declaring God’s forgiveness.

Our lives are spent on the proving ground. Aren’t they?

Like the people Elijah assembled at Mt. Carmel, our loyalties are constantly caught in the crossfire between The Lord and all those other false gods out there…

And, like the people at Mt. Carmel, it’s hard not be be swayed…

That day there were 450 prophets of Baal and just one prophet of the Lord! 

And that day, like these days, those prophets of Baal rant and rave. They have a way of getting our attention.

Especially compared to the messenger of the Lord! People commissioned with God’s work always find themselves doing things that seem insignificant. Like preparing the altar, attending to liturgical details, and reciting the prayers for the day. 

Just like that day at Mt. Carmel, still it is that only one of the prayers are answered with fire.

The prophets of Baal and all those other false gods out there, they have to rant and rave!

They have to rant and rave because they concoct gods with opinions we worry about, that have no mouth! They dream up gods we must impress, that have no eyes!

The Lord, on the other hand, is the one, true God!

And, what’s more, it is the Lord who will look upon us when our lives are not impressive! When our lives are consumed with the humble things or life! 

Still more, it is the Lord who will look upon us when our lives are not only unimpressive, but when our lives are laid low.

When they’re mired with sin. 

When they’re fading to death.

In baptism God took notice of you. And since then, God hasn’t looked back for a second!

There you were not only sealed with the cross of Christ forever! You were also given the FIRE of the Holy Spirit!

And that fire, it will burn when your wick is quenched. It will be the light whereby you are led into eternal light! It will be the beacon whereby God rescues you from Death!

That is why we’ve lit candles to remember those who died this year, because we trust that to God they are not dead, but living!

And that is why we will soon light candles to remember all those other loved ones in our lives. Because we trust that although to us they are dead, to the Lord they are living!

Yes, daily our lives are spent between the liturgies of the false gods out there and the Lord. 

And yes, it’s hard not to be swayed. 

The odds probably haven’t changed that much. Have they? 450 to 1.

But, DESPITE those odds, it is still ONLY the Lord who is able to answer with fire from heaven; the Holy Sprit. 

The fire our loved ones burn with eternally in heaven. And the fire that warms our hearts right now. The fire that leads us on. And will lead us on. 

Until WE join the saints in light, too!