Mark 9:2-9
2 Kings 2:1-12
"Living in the Meantime"
On January 6th, we began the season of Epiphany in the Christian Church. The word
means "manifestation" and commemorates the revelation of the birth of the Messiah to the
Gentiles. When I think of Epiphany, I think of light, of new beginnings, of God's presence
coming into the world.
This coming week we will celebrate Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of the
season of Lent, the time of preparation of the believer, through prayer and repentance, for the
coming joy of Easter Sunday. During Lent, we are asked to confront our own sinfulness and
take time, very intentionally, to experience change in our lives. Of course repentance and the
change that comes with it can be difficult, even scary. And so the season of Lent can be thought
of as a time of darkness.
Today, we remember the Transfiguration of the Lord. This is a wonderful transition from
the light of Epiphany to the shadows of Lent. The transfiguration of Jesus points toward Good
Friday and the resurrection of Christ. On the mountain with his closest friends, Jesus is visited
by the greatest prophet in the history of his people, Elijah, and the Old Testament Savior figure,
Moses. And as the frightened disciples watch in both terror and amazement, the Lord declares:
"This is my Son, the Beloved listen to him!" And just as Christ's life and ministry were
transitioning to a new phase, which would certainly mean changes, we can remember that the
glory of God is with us in the changes of our lives too.
The writer of Kings describes the transition from the prophet Elijah to his disciple,
Elisha. Yet the story, with all of its mystery, whirlwinds and miracles is, like the
Transfiguration, a message of hope in the midst of change. Because it basically is a reminder to
us that God is still present in times of uncertainty, of adjustment, of transition. And all of life is
full of changes – births and deaths, people moving into and out of our lives, changes in
leadership, changes in the rules, jobs, grades, friends. It seems as if we are all, no matter our age,
moving from one stage to another. Yet, as these changes take place, we STILL have to cope
with everyday life. I guess one way to say it is that we are a people who are living in the
meantime and God's word is the constant where we can find hope for the journey.
Today's story leaves a lot of questions when we read it. Why is Elijah leaving? Where is
he going? What do Elisha's symbolic actions mean? Why the secrecy? But perhaps the writer
of Kings presents us with so much mystery because life then and now if full of questions. We,
like Elisha and the company of prophets are often in a place where we can see the end of one
path and cannot see the beginning of another. So what lessons can be learned for anyone who is
living in the meantime?
First, we learn from Elisha that we must refuse to be distracted from the path God calls us
to follow. "As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." Three times in today's
story this phrase appears. Three times Elijah tried to send Elisha away. The company of
prophets came out and tried to give him a discouraging word but he would NOT be distracted by
any of it. You see, God had called him to a mission and he planned on fulfilling it passionately.
It is easy in today's world to become distracted when trying to fulfill the mission that God
has given us to do. To let failures defeat us or successes cause us to stumble on our pride. To do
what is easy rather than what is just. To be silent when we should speak or tell something in
passing that we know should not be shared. But when we do this, we have become distracted
from the business of following God. Of making meaning of the meantime. Elisha teaches us
that, although following God is not always easy, it is always worth it. His story reminds us that
living in the will of God brings about joy, which is so much deeper than happiness.
Elisha shows us what it means to be faithful in our response to God, even in the face of
the unknown or the unknowable. I think Elisha is able to do this because he is sure in his
convictions that God has a plan for his life. Elisha knows to whom he belongs. And Scripture
teaches us that God has a plan for all of our lives, whether as individuals, as families or as a
church.
I have heard a few discouraging remarks from folk here about attendance being down or
not having as many young people. And that is to be expected when you are going through
changes of leadership. In fact, any church with an Interim Pastor is definitely living in the
meantime. But that is when remembering WHOSE YOU ARE will help you hold on to the plan
that God has for you here at Nazareth. And belonging to God does not have anything to do with
who stands in the pulpit. It has to do with the potential that God has put in each of you, in this
place, in God's call to be the body of Christ for each other and the world. And maybe it just has
to do with believing in ourselves.
One of my favorite stories is told by Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. It is a
wonderful parable about the need to remember whose we are every day, not just when it is easy
or convenient. He describes a town where only ducks live. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out
of their homes and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary
and squat in their proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place. Then, the duck
minister comes forward and opens the duck Bible. He reads to them: “Ducks! God has given
you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No
one can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings. God has given you wings and
you can fly like birds!” All the ducks shout, “We have been given wings. Amen!” And then
they all WADDLE home!
How descriptive this story is of many of us in the church. We hear of Christ's potential in
us. We agree with declarations about the new life that can be ours when we are willing to seek
God's plan. But in the end, we do not act upon what we have heard. We do not us the talents
that God has given us. We simply shout, “AMEN” and then continue waddling on in life as we
always have been. We are not willing to change.
Finally, I believe that Elisha teaches us how important it is to rely on the spirit of God to
do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. When Elisha realized that truly his time with his
beloved mentor was coming to an end, he asked to inherit a double share of Elijah's spirit. Some
people may read this and think that Elisha wanted to be twice the prophet that Elijah was. I take
it to mean that he understood well that God's spirit in us is what allows us to do God's work and
that he would need twice as much to continue to be the great prophet that his friend had been.
This, in and of itself, is a statement of faith. Elisha never wondered IF the Spirit of God
would be with him. And he knew he needed it for that day specifically, so he asked. Augustine
once said, "we are forced to act within a tiny window of time – the present – since the past is
unrecoverable and the future is not yet available." Elisha had faith that, since the Spirit had been
present with God's people in the past, the same Spirit would be with him in the present. And
THAT Spirit dwells here at Nazareth and is in each heart here as well.
Maybe you don't feel the Spirit because you expect it to be dramatic like the whirlwind or
powerful like the chariots. But maybe Peter, James and John did not talk about what they had
seen on the mountain because they understood that each of us has to recognize the Spirit in our
own way. In fact, it has been my experience that the Spirit is found in both the obvious light of
Epiphany and the quiet darkness of Lent. And when I thought about the ways that I have sensed
the Spirit in my own life, a long forgotten poem that I studied in high school came to my mind.
"The fog comes in on little cat feet." Perhaps the Holy Spirit doesn't always have to be
transforming in such an obvious way, as it was on the mountain where Jesus met Elijah. Perhaps
is can just creep quietly into our lives when we least expect it.
I think this is what happens when you open your Bible and the verse that you REALLY
needed to hear, the one you have never noticed before even though you KNOW that you have
read it, just catches in your heart. There are no bells and whistles but you know that God is
present with you in that moment. I think this is what happens when a long forgotten friend
comes to mind and you pick up the phone and make a call. There is no blinding white light, no
dramatic revelations or confession from either end of the line, but there is a feeling of connection
that is made.
I think this is what happens when peace rests in you when you hold a newborn baby and
feel her downy head and her little hand tightly wrapped around your finger. Mountains do not
move but the might acts of God are real. You see them, feel them, smell them in that new
creation. And I think that is what gives you the comfort that you feel when the circle of life has
been completed for someone you love. There are no angels visible to escort your loved one into
the Kingdom, but you know in your heart that he is home.
These every day occurrences are just as much the Holy Spirit being unleashed in our lives
as the whirlwinds before Elisha and the appearance of Moses to Peter, James and John. The
point is that whether the Spirit comes in with might or creeps in on little cat fee, we can be
assured of its presence with us at all times.
So as we leave the light of Epiphany and seek the redemption that we need during the
Lenten season, may we be reassured that God is still calling us to follow the plan God has for our
lives. That each of us has Christ's potential within us. And that the Spirit of God will continue
to do God's work though us, as we are living in the meantime. In the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.