After earning his
master’s degree, in the fall of 1983, Kevin began his 1st fulltime
college teaching job—at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. By January of 1984, he realized, that
despite what the recruiter there had said, he would have to earn his doctorate
in order to secure a tenure-track position. So Kevin applied for UT’s doctoral program, and I applied
for a teaching job with school districts in Austin. Planning a 3-month summer
sabbatical, our former Austin Presbyterian pastor asked us to house-sit. So, at the end of May 1984, with a
temporary place to live and a spot in the doctoral program, we moved back to
Austin. Facing a drought—teaching
jobs there had dried up—we wondered how will we survive?
Elijah
faces a drought in today’s text.
There is a power struggle in Israel—a power struggle between the Lord
God of Israel and Baal, the Canaanite god of rain. Through the prophet Elijah,
the Lord God of Israel promises no rain, no fog, no dew, no moisture. In drought, Baal will be proved
powerless. Elijah faces the
drought, and he wonders how will he survive. First God sends him back into the wilderness, where he
drinks from the waters of Cherith Brook and is fed by ravens. But the Lord God will allow no rain, no
fog, no dew, no moisture. The
drought continues, and Cherith Brook dries up. Sitting by the now dry creek bed, waiting on ravens that no
longer come, Elijah wonders how will he survive.
God
promises Elijah water, food, and shelter in the town of Zarephath. God sends
Elijah the loner into community.
God sends Elijah the backwoods man, to town. God sends Elijah the bachelor, to a widow. Now in the ancient near east, widows
were among the poorest of people. They could barely scrape out a living in the
best of times. Imagine their
prospects in the midst of drought.
No wonder Elijah hung around that dry creek bed a few extra days.
Unkempt
and uncomfortable, Elijah waits at the town well until a woman approaches. He tells her he is thirsty. Drawing from the well, she offers him
not only a cup of water but also her hospitality. For she turns away from her task—collecting a just little
firewood. She puts away her own
concerns—preparing what she expects to be her last meal. She offers her hospitality as she attends
to the need of this stranger. He
tells her he is hungry. She
replies she has only a handful of flour and a small amount of oil with which
she will bake one last small loaf of bread for her son and herself—and then
they will wait to die. Perhaps
Elijah put his head in his hands for a brief moment, wondering, “What is God
thinking?” This widow with “such scarce means is to be instrumental in God’s
plan to provide for”[1] me? Summoning his faith, Elijah proclaims,
“Don’t be afraid. Share that loaf
with me and by the word of the Lord my God, neither the oil nor the flour will
run out until God sends the rain again.”
“And the widow went and did what
Elijah said.” Sure enough, she
and her son and Elijah had enough to eat for the next days, weeks, months, and
years of drought.
The
Elijah stories we will encounter this summer depict God’s power over the
powerful. They show God’s
provision for and protection of the powerless. In today’s scripture, God provides—for Elijah and the widow
and her son in the midst of drought. The storyteller does not tell us how God
provided—Was it through some supernatural miracle? Each night as the widow’s household slept, did an invisible
spigot open wide and pour oil into the bottle while an invisible scoop poured
grain into the jar? The
storyteller does not tell us how God provided—Did Elijah’s presence give the
woman confidence to go out into the fields and glean grain to bring home each
night? The storyteller does not tell us how God provided—with a man of God in
the community, were the widow’s neighbors encouraged to share their grain and
oil with them?
The
storyteller does not tell us how God provided because how is not important.
That God provided is
important. That God provided is important. Where the logical conclusion was “there
is not enough,” God provided an experience—a physical, bodily experience—of There is enough. There was enough
for each day’s meal . . .
throughout the 3 ½ year drought.
Unlike
the widow in today’s scripture—powerless and all but shut out in the ancient
Near Eastern economy, in May of 1984, Kevin and I—who were young, healthy,
energetic, intelligent, skilled, and degreed—had economic prospects. Nevertheless, in the drought of Austin
teaching jobs, we, like the widow and Elijah, were faced with
scarcity—wondering how will we survive?
Like Elijah, we followed where God led. Like the widow, we took a chance with our remaining
resources. And like Elijah, the
widow, and her son, Kevin and I experienced the physical reality of God’s abundant
provision. By the end of June, I
was hired by Round Rock ISD—a district near Austin. By the end of August,
Kevin began a teaching assistantship at UT. We didn’t have to wait 3 ½ years for the job drought to end. Nevertheless, we experienced God’s abundant provision in
what we had expected to be long-term scarcity.
I
wonder what we, this congregation, can glean from this Elijah story. Like the widow, are we ready to cook
our last meal and sit down and wait to die because our 2013 budget currently
projects a deficit? As we gather
the firewood for our last meal, will we shut our eyes and ears to the voices of
need around us? Will we close our
hands into tight fists to hold on to what is left—our $120,000 savings? Will we turn inward, succumbing to the
myth of scarcity, eat our last meal and wait to die? Or will we be attentive to the voices of need around
us? Will we turn outward and, with
God’s grace and power, face those in need with hospitality?
Is
it possible that this Elijah story—like the story of God providing manna in the
wilderness—for all the wandering Hebrews for 40 years—Is it possible that this
Elijah story—like the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 people with 5 loaves of
bread and 2 fishes—is it possible that this Elijah story exposes the lie that
God is not powerful enough?
Seven
months ago, when the Christian Education Committee first explored the
possibility of partnering with Heartland Camps to bring a day camp here to our
site this summer, a small group of voices proclaimed, “We can’t do that. There is not enough.” We
don’t have enough children to attend. It’s not just for our children. It’s for children in this community. Here is our opportunity to show
hospitality. “We can’t do that.
There is not enough.” We won’t have enough volunteers. We now have 10 volunteers for our day
camp in 1 week. “We can’t do that.
There is not enough.” We don’t have enough money to fund
the camp. Campers are paying some of the costs. Donations have come from PW and from individuals both within
and outside this congregation. The
camp is funded, and we did not have to touch any of our savings. The fact is—There is enough. When we attend to God’s work—sharing
the good news of God’s love—there will always be enough.
The
enough may come from special gifts.
The enough may come from everyone in the congregation sharing
proportionately of our resources—as in the Stone Soup story I read to
our children earlier. How God provides the enough is not
important. That God provides the enough
is important.
When
we hear voices proclaiming a drought of finances, a drought of membership, a
drought of energy, a drought of commitment, when we hear voices proclaiming
drought, may we hold fast to the truth in today’s scripture. The Lord our God is more powerful than
any drought—real or imagined. The
Lord our God will see us through any drought—real or imagined. When we attend to God’s work, the Lord
our God will provide abundantly amidst the drought. For with the Lord our God, there is always more than enough.
[1] Choon-Leong Seow, “The
First and Second Books of the Kings,” in The
New Interpreter’s
Bible: a Commentary in Twelve
Volumes. Vol. III. Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1999, p. 128.
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