Sunday Homily August 12, 2012, 19th Ordinary Time B
Readings:
1 Kings, 19, 4-8, Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.
Psalm 34, Taste and see the Goodness of rhe Lord
Ephesians 4, 30-5, 2, Be imitators of God and live in love.
John 6, 24-35, I am the bread of life.
Kings: a review–
Subject: The kings of Israel. The Big 3 kings were Saul, David, & his son Solomon. The 2 Books of kings follows the 2 Books of Samuel, which describe the lives of the the kings up to the death of the Great King David, my favorite. 1 & 2 Kings takes up the life of Solomon, David's son, his building of the temple, his death, and the fate of the kingdom following his death, that is, it divides and is conquered.
Time Period: from ca. 900 – 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus.
Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.
Our Selection: focus is on one man, the prophet Elijah. The kingdom has already been split. Our story takes place in the northern state, Israel. Time of severe drought. The king is Ahab; his queen, the famous Jezebel. The prophet Elijah has scolded them for turning to false gods to end the drought.
There has been a contest in chapter 18: Elijah vs the 450 prophets of Baal, ultimately to see which side would be more effective in bringing rain. 2 bulls were slaughtered. Naturally, Elijah wins when Yahweh answers his prayer, sends down fire, and consumes the bull Elijah has slaughtered. When he wins, he slaughters the 450 prophets of Baal.
We enter at a point where Jezebel is furious with Elijah for killing her favorite prophets and aims to kill Elijah. He is going to run away all depressed.
We will read an expanded chapter 19, from 1-13. In fact, I want to tell you the story in Chapter 18, such a special story.
Taste & See the Goodness
This story takes place in Marshalltown, Iowa. It is the fifth of eight layover towns on our west to east bike ride across Iowa, a trip called Ragbrai (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride across Iowa), 10 thousand people this year, its 40th.
We had just had a lasagna dinner at a Christian Church in the town center. We are getting our campsite & gear ready because a storm was predicted. The temperature had been above 100 and rain & cooler temperatures were approaching. In fact, we could see big clouds building in the west and heading toward us.
At 8:30 a shower hit. 8:45 it tapered off. I took a bag of water bottles to a nearby pavilion to fill them. I fill them and prepare to return when it went chaotic. The rain came down in sheets, the wind blew every which way, and suddenly two gigantic gusts blew everything over, tents, bikes, gear. People poured into the pavilion.
I could not see Rosemary & Aviana, but I know Rosemary well enough. She can cope & would be okay.
After 30 minutes of this torrential rain, it began to lessen. Then the police arrive & tell us we are being evacuated to a school because of tornadoes & hail coming our way. Not good.
I run & get Rosemary & Aviana. Our tent has collapsed, so we roll it up wet and put it in the back of the van. We end up in a Lutheran Church because the school could not fit everyone. It is dark by now, still raining lightly, but cooler.
I can still remember entering that Lutheran Church. First of all, it was air conditioned. Wow, so nice. Secondly, the pastor was at the entrance welcoming everyone, saying we could use every room & corner. We did. It was wall to wall people. We all spent the night on the floors, which were carpeted.
Lying on that floor in the middle of a crowd in the middle of the night, I considered chucking the remainder of our trip. So much of what we had was soaked.
The next morning about 5:30, however, it was spectacularly beautiful, cool and sunny with light, left over clouds. People were in great humor. One guy said to me with a laugh in the parking lot of the church, “It’s just Ragbrai, let’s ride!” And I did. And Rosemary did. And so did Aviana, who had been the queen of those sleeping in the church.
There were a gazillion lessons that struck me & Rosemary from that adventure. Let me single out 3.
First, we were homeless and taken in, sheltered, and shown warm hospitality, by a Lutheran Church. Yahweh showed hospitality & care for Elijah. We attempt to show hospitality as a community. Look at Habitat. Look at the Katrina refugees.
Secondly, like Ephesians says excellently today, there was no bitterness, anger, fury, or shouting. In fact, generosity & love emanated from the Lutheran community and we returned it in a small way.
A basket had been put in the back of the church part of the complex and it was filling with $20’s. Rosemary sent a thank you note to the pastor.
Thirdly, taste & see the goodness of the Lord. I love this line and what it calls me to. I could savor the goodness some at the time. But I had a list later with Rosemary.
The ability just to ride my bike. And we got the car fixed easily (dashboard light came on).
The cooler temperatures and the needed rain, which produced a glorious day.
The evacuation so peacefully accepted by so many, and especially the Lutheran Church, which was so gracious.
Folks, we take bunches of trips in our lives. We taste & see the goodness of the Lord every day. Occasionally we have an adventure like Marshalltown. At the time of the adventure and even more so later, we really taste & see the Goodness.
What happened the last time you really tasted and really saw the Goodness?