Sunday, June 24, 2007

Sermon: "Elijah Collapses After Desert Flight"

Scripture: I Kings 19: 1-15

Reverend Larry M. Gerber

 

At the end of a long, hard day, we all have our favorite comfort foods and drinks that help make the world all right again. So what kind of comfort foods or drinks does our wearied soul need?

John the Baptist would recommend a nifty snack of locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). Paul tells Timothy: "... take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments" (1 Timothy 5:23). Read Leviticus 11 and you'll have to stop snacking on camel or rock badger.

Unless you buy into one of those whacky "Bible diet" ideas, you rarely chose the Holy Scripture for Bon Appetit type food reviews.

Unless you're Hassidic, you leave the meal inspirations to Rachael Ray and Emeril.

Unless, that is, you are looking for a little comfort food.

Many of us are familiar with one of the most famous stories about Elijah. Haggard and despondent, he escapes to the desert and dives under a "solitary broom tree" to die. . A Broom Tree would be equivalent to one of sage brushes, so one can readily see that Elijah was not seeking comforting shade, he was desperate and ready to die. God comes and meets him through that still, small voice. But most of us don't remember that Elijah was in no condition to hear the still, small voice, until he'd listened to that loud, big voice in the pit of his stomach.

Elijah needed a drink. Needed a drink badly. An "angel of the Lord" had to insist ? twice ? that he take on nourishment before he began a 40-day retreat in the cleft of the "mount of God." Elijah needed strengthening. Elijah needed some comfort food.

So do we. We not only need it, we want it, we love it, we gotta have it. Comfort foods are the things we eat and drink when needing a sense of reward, security, calm or reprieve from life's circumstances. They're things we enjoy for their familiarity, simplicity or pleasant associations from past enjoyment.

I remember when I was about 8 years of age, my father, older brother, a hired hand, and I were fixing a weakened area in our hen house roof. My brother was working near the edge of the roof, on the overhang. He found a weak spot and plunged to the ground. Our two - bottom plow was parked in that spot. Luckily he landed between the two plow shares and not on one of them. He immediately asked for a glass of water. I ran to the house (about 200 feet away). I ran in to the living room where my mother was visiting with some of her friends. I stood there for a moment waiting for one of them to stop talking. You see, I had been taught not to interrupt my elders. I must have become a little figity because my mother said: "Larry, what do you want!" I calmly stated that: "My brother fell through the hen house roof and he wants a drink of water." My mother flew past me, drew a glass of water and ran the 200 feet, arriving with a half a glass of water. I often thought that if I had just gotten the glass myself he might have had a full glass of water.

My brother had the wind knocked out of him. His first thought was for water, a comforting drink when one is disdraught and thirsty. It calmed him down and then he stood up to make sure he was ok. The glass of water (half glass) was the comfort he needed for the moment.

We all need, or want, comfort food for different reasons and for different times in our lives. In the U.S. it's apple pie, cheddar-smothered baked potatoes, French fries, mom's meatloaf, mac and cheese or double-fudge brownies. In Asian cultures it's pho or green onion pancakes. The Greeks are soothed by souvlaki or frappes. Indians prefer hot, creamy chai or yogurt and rice dishes as their source of succor. Food speaks to our souls. Soul food.

While comfort foods are as diverse as the tastes of those who choose them, research shows a couple of interesting trends. Many foods people report as comfort foods are high in carbohydrates, such as sugars, rice and wheat products. It's thought that comfort eaters learn to choose high-carb foods because the brain responds to their consumption by releasing the natural tranquilizer tryptophan. In other words, carbs calm ones nerves.

The Bible even has several versions of food serving as comfort to people. Manna from heaven for the wandering Israelites. To those seeking water and bread, Jesus offers himself as the living water and the bread of life. In today's passage Elijah collapses of exhaustion. He's starving and thirsty after his desert flight from his enemies. As he sleeps, an angel brings bread and water to strengthen him for his journey.

But let's be honest ? manna, bread, water ? who chooses these things as their comfort food? Picture television chef Julia Child exclaiming through that froggy voice, "Tonight's meal will be a delightful stone-baked, corn-meal flatbread and a refreshing jar of water." Who are we kidding?

So to understand the comfort of this passage, we have to look beyond the calories. The comfort food is something else.

Realize the busyness, the running and the exhaustion of the previous season of Elijah's life:

? Basically, his entire career is to confront and critique Ahab, the king and most powerful man in Israel.

? He's been used by God to usher in a three-year drought upon the land.

? He's subsisted in the wilderness, living like he's on a Discovery Channel survival show.

? He has battled (and trash-talked) 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel in a cosmic showdown between God and their gods.

? He's not only enraged the king, but now Queen Jezebel ? the real pants-wearer in the family ? has vowed a death sentence upon him within the next 24 hours (v. 2).

? He's run to the other side of Palestine, left his servant behind, and stumbled despondently into the solitude of the desert: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors" (v. 4).

In short, this guy is cooked, exhausted, ready to give up.

Sound familiar to any of you? Have you worked hard at your job only to see no results. Do you do volunteer work in the church or community and see no satisfaction? Are you sometimes running to the desert to get away of condition in your family? Serving on too many committees and sitting in on too many meetings? To-Do lists longer than the days to accomplish them? A family member who demands way too much of your time and attention?

Or at a more painful level ? are you dealing with a painful loss of family or friends recently? Feeling the emptiness of lonely singleness with no bright outlooks for love? Having feelings of depression and despondency? Sometimes wondering if not living is better than living like this?

In today's story, God chooses to meet Elijah in all of this life chaos ? in his fatigue, in his busyness, in his stress, in his depression, in his questioning, in his self-doubt. This is where the comfort food comes in ? and it isn't the bread and water.

First, God meets Elijah's needs through his presence within these circumstances, not the removal of the circumstances.

Through his angel bearing food and rest, God brings his presence to Elijah's physical needs. As a glass of cold water met my brothers physical needs. Through his own words, God brings his presence to Elijah's spiritual needs. It is the presence of God which is what Elijah most needs. My brother's spiritual needs were met by my father asking him if we was alright, the touch of a hand on the arm, a hug from his mother. Comfort food.

Read the beginning of verse 15 over and over again: "Go, return on your way ?" That is spiritual direction. As part of comforting Elijah and meeting his needs, he sends him right back to the place that either caused or was the location of his difficulties.

God doesn't always remove the hard circumstances of our lives or allow us to run away from all that challenges us. In this case, God joins Elijah in it. He gives him purpose within it. He gives him a remnant ? a community ? within it.

Second ? and don't overlook this detail ? God meets Elijah through silence and solitude. So it's more than comfort food. Notice that God meets Elijah while he is alone. In verses 3 and 4, there's an apparent redundant emphasis on the idea of Elijah's solitude: "He left his servant there" and "He himself went a day's journey into the wilderness."

Solitude. Away from other people. Alone.

While he is by himself, God meets his physical needs through an angel that comes and touches him. The miraculous presentation of food to nourish his fatigued body.

We shouldn't allegorize and say that Elijah was practicing a spiritual discipline here ? he's asked God to kill him and presumes a solitary end more fitting than one in front of his servant. 

God seems to understand our need for solitude.

And as God spoke during this solitude, it wasn't in the dramatic wind, earthquake or fire. No, it was in "a sound of sheer silence" (v. 12). Talk about a deafening silence! Elijah knew God was in that silence because he covered his face in preparation to hear from his God.

Would your life be quiet enough ? free enough of noise and distraction ? that you might hear God's whisper and know his voice there? What keeps you from hearing from God?

(Pause for a moment of silence)

If we look at the rest of this passage we can see that meeting God changed Elijah. It rested and refreshed him. It reset his attitude and lifted his depression. It prepared him for life once he went down the mountain again. It restored his sense of God's purpose in his life. His solitude filled him up with God so that he was spiritually and emotionally healthy enough to be around people again.

All from meeting with God alone and in the quiet.

We recognize silence and solitude as spiritual disciplines ? ways to connect with God ? ways to make room for God in our lives. Jesus got away from people and by himself frequently, and the church has encouraged these disciplines throughout its history.

Can we, as a church, can we, as individuals, clear out the busyness and make more room for hearing and meeting with God?

 What makes you exhausted? What leaves you questioning, despondent, depressed? Are you ever slow and alone and quiet enough to see if God may meet you in those circumstances.

Comfort food brings security, calm and reprieve. And how much more does a comforting God bring? God meets our needs with his presence in the circumstances of life, not always by removing them. And quite often God's presence is most easily discerned when we choose the solitude and silence to seek God.

Cut the clutter and seek the comfort. God still speaks, but it may be in a really small, still voice.

Susan and I will stay near the altar this morning. Come and seek the presence of God. You may want to lean on the altar and pray alone. You may want a pastor to pray with you. Cut the clutter in your life and seek the comfort of God. As we stand and sing "He Leadeth Me" will you come.
Sources:
Florence, Anna Carter. Sermon on 1 Kings 19. Preached at the Festival of Homiletics, May 2005. Thanks to Beth Appel for sharing her notes.
Happynews.com/news/11182005/comfort-foods-women-like-sugar-men-meat.htm#below.
On carbohydrate induced tranquilizer release: http://charm.cs.uiuc.edu/users/jyelon/lowcarb.med/topic7.html.

On comfort food: wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_food.

On gender differences with comfort food: news.uiuc.edu/gentips/03/07comfort.html.