Sermons & Meditations

1 Kings 19:1-15
Presented June 24th, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

There is a sharp disconnect between this morning’s text from 1 Kings, chapter nineteen, and the preceding chapters. In chapters seventeen and eighteen, the prophet Elijah seemingly is sitting on top of the world, a larger-than-life hero of the faith who exudes an air of confidence, faithfulness, and authority. Remarkable occurrences ensue as a result of Elijah’s prayer, as a dead widow’s son is restored to life, as the prophet accurately predicts a three-year drought, and as Elijah, challenging the prophets of Baal, calls down fire from heaven. Further, Elijah fearlessly confronts the king, urging him to return to God. Indeed, King Ahab cries out as he meets Elijah, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” To which the prophet counters, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord….” (1 Kings 18:17-18). And then Elijah suggests that Ahab assemble all the Israelites at Mount Carmel, along with the hundreds of prophets of the Baals, the Canaanite gods.

When the people gather, Elijah pushes them to recall the God who brought their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt. “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow God; but if Baal is God, then follow Baal” (18:21). After challenging all the people, Elijah turns his attention to the 450 prophets of Baal. A sacrificial bull is placed upon each of two altars, both covered with unkindled wood, one altar for Baal, one for the Israelite God. First the 450 prophets of Baal beseech their gods, from morning until noon, to provide fire for the sacrifice. In a final frenzy, the prophets cut themselves with swords and lances, all to no avail.

In sharp contrast, Elijah calmly stands before the people, even ordering that drenching waters be poured upon the altar—not once, not twice, but three times. And then the prophet confidently prays, “Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you are God” (18:36-37). And with that, the altar ignites, the sacrifice is consumed, and the gathered people cry out, “The Lord indeed is God” (v. 39).

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Isaiah 6:1-8
Presented June 3rd, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The First Sunday after Pentecost/Music Sunday

Laurie Beth Jones, in a book of meditations entitled Jesus in Blue Jeans, recalls a time when, on her way to a speaking engagement, a colleague and she became caught in a snarl of traffic created by construction workers rebuilding a section of the highway. Feeling the pressure of time, Jones began to fume. But while she was fuming, she couldn’t help but notice that her colleague, who had picked her up from the airport, was humming. When she asked him what he was doing, the driver responded, “I was trying to see if the engine in that truck beside us is idling in the key of C or the key of D.” Caught up short by her colleague’s unusual method for dealing with stress, Laurie Beth Jones soon joined in the humming, in the process discovering that her own view of life began to shift radically. Before she knew it, she found that she was having fun!

In a meditation labeled Jesus Did Not Whine—He Hummed, Jones writes, “I believe that Jesus hummed and did so often…. He was humming because he knew what he was going to do, and he had serene confidence in the face of the difficult task that awaited him…. Because Jesus knew who he was, he could hum.”

I recall the first time I found myself humming again in the aftermath of my wife Janice’s accident and death. Were I asked, I would have said with conviction that all the music had vanished from my life. And yet, without even thinking about it, I found myself humming. I recall thinking to myself, “Maybe I’m going to make it after all.”

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