Loading...Sermon – August 9, 2015
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Pentecost XI Proper 14, Track 2
He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." I Kings 19:4-5
When I read this passage from I Kings this week, I started to think about angels. My mother loved angels and had quite an angel collection. She told me that as a young girl who was Roman Catholic, there were times at school (a Roman Catholic school) where they sat on half of their chair to leave room for their guardian angel.
Also, when I worked as a social worker in hospice, I was often surrounded by angels. The person who was dying would often tell me there were angels in the room. They could see them so clearly. A friend even had an angel choir singing to her on the day she died.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen those kinds of angels; however, I also believe angels come in the form of other human beings; some we know and some just random. When I thought about the many angels or messengers from God that God has sent to me, I thought about Elaine. Elaine died nearly seven years ago. She was 80 years of age.
I met Elaine during a time when my life was in considerable change. My children had both graduated from high school, so I was experiencing empty nest syndrome and believe me, while I had read all about this syndrome, it was more challenging than I’d every imagined. My husband at the time, Fred, was also going through a major career change.
Fred had found a job with the Nature Conservancy in Topeka, Kansas and we made plans to move 1100 miles away from our family to a place neither of us had ever lived. My son, Scot, still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life and he decided to move to New Jersey, get a job, and live with some friends. My daughter, Carrie, graduated from high school, and started her first year of college at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. We were certainly scattered.
Before arriving in Topeka, I discovered the church I would attend. It must have been the first or second Sunday I was there that Elaine introduced herself to me. She made it a point to greet all newcomers. She was my guide to the church and also to Topeka.
Elaine always went to lunch after church, and eventually I started going too. I learned that Elaine had four grown children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her husband had recently died and she was in the process of selling her home and moving to a smaller place. She was trying to get used to being a widow. The fellowship and activities at church were important to her.
Elaine was the best volunteer. She was on a number of boards of organizations serving people who were homeless or living in poverty. Eventually, she helped one of the organizations open a thrift shop, not only as a service to people needing help, but also to raise a little cash for the organization. She scheduled the volunteers and scheduled the pick-ups of donations. She worked at the store and counted the money, most of it in change and small bills.
In some respects, the move wasn’t so helpful for Fred and my marriage. While we both tried hard to make it work, we came to a point where we needed to separate. I was in the middle of obtaining my Master’s degree in Social Work and needed to finish, but I felt that staying in our house would be too hard for me emotionally.
Elaine had become like family to me and I told her that my husband and I were experiencing difficulties. One day I called Elaine on the phone and said I might need a place to stay for a little while. Without hesitation, she said, “You can come over now.” Elaine gave me a furnished bedroom in her home. She never asked for rent or any kind of payment. She opened her doors wide and gave me shelter. That room was my room and I was one of her children from that time on.
With all of the changes in the previous 1 ½ years, I truly needed some care and love and guidance. I needed someone to care for me. I don’t know how I would have finished my degree, nor emerged from this difficult time in a healthy way without her support, generosity of spirit and Christian faith. To me, Elaine was the embodiment of much of what Christ taught about loving your neighbor and Paul’s understanding of the church as the body of Christ. Elaine was definitely a messenger of God. Elaine was an angel to me.
I guess that’s why this small piece of the story of Elijah resonates and draws me to it. First of all, Elijah is so very tired. He wants to die. He doesn’t think he can go on. God had directed Elijah to draw the people of Israel back to God. They had become worshippers of Baal and of Asherah. Elijah demonstrated that Baal and Asherah were false gods and then killed all of the prophets of Baal and Asherah. Queen Jezebel, the wife of the King Ahab, was so angry that her prophets had been killed, that she swore to kill Elijah. In our lesson today, Elijah is tired of being chased and wants to give up. He does not want to fight any longer.
But what happens? Twice when he sleeps, he is guided by a messenger of God…he is guided by an angel…to eat. He is guided to take care of himself and to prepare himself. By his second meal, we are told that he has enough strength to go for forty days!
Moving to Kansas was very hard for me and then getting a divorce was so difficult. I cried about that for a couple of years, at least. Yet, God sent so many angels, beginning with Elaine. God sent so many messengers of food and rest and strength to keep going.
Remember those who have been angels in your life…who have been there when you asked God to die…who have been there when you didn’t think you could go on. Remember them today. Remember how they fed you and reminded you to take care of yourself so you could have strength for the journey ahead…for the work that God needs you to do.
Amen.
