Bread for the Journey
1 Kings 19: 4-8
This sermon was given on August 11, 2024 at Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church in Lawrence Township, NJ.
You can watch the entire service here
In today’s Hebrew Bible reading, we come upon an absolutely despondent Elijah.Elijah, one of God’s mighty and famous prophets, sits under a tree asking God that he might die.
This is a particularly strange place to find the prophet since only one chapter before,Elijah has decidedly beaten the priests of Baal in what was essentially a miracle competition.With God’s help Elijah performed a series of Olympic worthy miracles!He showed everyone that the God of Abraham and Sarah is Lord He is at the height of his career. So why do we find him now, under a tree wishing God would end his life?
Well part of it is probably because he is facing retaliation from the rulers of Israel for humiliating their priests of Baal. And the reality and seriousness of his situation may have just hit him and he is starting to panic. His mind is berated by a whirlwind of catastrophic thinking.He is starting to sink into the quicksand-like nature of a mental doom spiral.
But I think there might be something else going on here as well.Not only is Elijah afraid because of the current danger he’s in,but he’s also afraid because he realizes how high the stakes are in being a prophet of the Lord. This danger that he’s in,the loneliness he’s feeling,and the despair he’s descended intoThey are all, unfortunately, part and parcel of being a servant for the Most High.
Elijah realizes that following God’s kin-dom ways isn’t always exciting and glamorous.It’s not always besting your opponents in a spectacular and divinely-inspired display of power.Sometimes it’s fleeing into the wilderness and trying to hide from the henchmen of a vengeful queen
Elijah realizes that doing this work doesn’t always come with great benefits. Like powerful connections. Or honor and prestige. Or even a few extra bucks
Instead, following God’s kin-dom ways is often costly and even risky. Speaking truth to power; committing one’s life to God’s radically-inclusive, boundary-breaking love; and laboring for justice and peace are all actions that often make one’s life harder And as Elijah just experienced, following God’s call has just thrown his whole life upside down. And now he’s scared and confused and hungry and tired and he just wants to give up
But thankfully, that is not the end of Elijah’s story. Because God does not leave Elijah where he is . God does not abandon him while he is at is lowest. As Elijah’s anxiety starts to rise like the flood levels around Noah’s boat, God intervenes.
An Angel touches his shoulder and gently says to him, “Get up and eat.”And next to him was some bread and water.And after eating, he lays down and sleeps. Then again the angels touches his shoulder. And gently rouses him from sleep, and whispers like a parent to sick child,“Hey Elijah. Wake up, buddy. You need to eat something. Will you get up and eat something for me? We want make sure you’re okay..”
And like a tired toddler, Elijah groans and begrudgingly gets up, and eats, and drinks. And now that he has been physically nourished by the food and spiritually supported by God’s care,he can continue his long journey through the wilderness where he will encounter God’s holy presence on the mountain top.
God’s eagerness and desire to sustain Elijah isn’t just limited to Elijah. God shares God’s self with us to sustain us, too
There are definitely times where I feel similarly to Elijah.Times when I am just exhausted and discouraged by the world around me. Especially when it comes to issues of social justice.
After helping with educational events,advocating for crucial issues,and having tough conversations with neighbors, I can get discouraged when things don’t seem to change. When I try to do my part and it’s amounting to nothing or especially when things seem to get worse,it can just feel like I’m doing all of that for nothing. That all the work we have done doesn’t seem to make even a small difference. And I just want to give up
And I know I’m not alone in this feeling. I recently read the book Generation Dread by Britt Way. In it, she explores the extreme anxiety and dread that folks, but especially young people, feel around climate change. In one chapter, she tells the story of a young man named Charlie--a young man who is consumed by his fear and anxiety around climate change and climate destruction. Spurred on by his eco-distress, Charlie dove head-first into activism.He committed himself to working with different political action groups and doing everything he could do reduce environmental impact.Charlie became the golden child of environmental activism and conscientious living. But despite this work, Charlie was still anxious, fearful, and despondent. In fact, Charlie found himself in a pretty similar situation to our Hebrew Bible prophet.
Like Elijah, Charlie had realized the enormity of the task at hand and was crushed under the weight of it.Charlie realized how hard it is to do to the right thing. And like Elijah, how costly it was too. Charlie’s devotion to climate activism isolated him from his other friends who didn’t have the same concerns. And like Elijah, he wanted to run away from it all.“He wanted to skip town, move to the woods, and learn to live off the land.” Both Elijah and Charlie found themselves isolated and consumed by their work By the work they were called to do.
And like Elijah, too, what eventually saved Charlie was something outside of him. Something that he couldn’t give to himself in that moment. Encouraged by his therapist, Charlie reached out to others who were also passionate about climate activism--folks who had also struggled with eco distress and could relate to what he was feeling.
In the same way that the bread revitalized Elijah, so too did these vulnerable and authentic connections revitalize Charlie.It was because of these relationships that this heartbreaking and difficult work was made all the more bearable for him.
While the both the bread and the relationships made the work more bearable, it didn’t make everything smooth sailingWorking toward justice and peace is still hard—and even sometimes gut wrenching—but with the right support, it doesn’t have to end us.
What both Elijah’s and Charlie’s stories show us is the importance of having the communities and resources to sustain us along the way.The work of God’s kingdom is long and difficult and we can’t go it alone. We need accompaniment and careAs we journey together we can be sustained spiritually, emotionally, and physically by both God and our community.
Our neighbors and our spiritual practices will hold us up. Maybe like Elijah, we bring all of our emotions—the good, the bad, and the ugly—to God in open and vulnerable prayer and be willing to receive care when it comes to us.
Maybe like Charlie, we find others who are doing similar work and lean on them when we need a listening ear to help us process hard emotions and to be reminded of the hope that exists amidst it all.
Or maybe—just to begin--we find a spiritual director who knows the struggles of working faithfully for peace and justice for all of God’s creation and go to them for dreaming up new spiritual practices that can sustain us for this long journey.
While these sustaining practices might look like for each of us—may we know this: God walks alongside us. Our God—the very one who calls us to this work in the first place—walks along side us and bears us up with their grace.And our neighbors do too.our co laborers work alongside us and are they there to bear our burdens with us May we remember this. And may, in turn, we be this support for others.
Amen