What are you doing here?

     I would love to say that 2010 was a stellar year for me in ministry. I can truly say that I have been blessed in the post that I have occupied for many years. However, this past year has been a challenging one, with the day to day operations taking the lion’s share of my time along with the demands of being a bi, tri, quad- vocational pastor in this sinking economy has been hard.

     There have been times where I felt like Sisyphus rolling a huge bolder up a steep hill only for it to roll back down to the bottom having to start all over again. Over and over and having nothing to show for my efforts. Feeling all alone and suffering the unkindest cut of all, the cuts of a brother, having friends turn away from you or worse.

     I know that this does not only happen in ministry, everybody experiences the same things from time to time. After all the number one prescribed medicines in America are anti-depressants. We can take heart that we are not the only ones who have gone through this. We have a perfect example in the book of first Kings.

     The prophet Elijah had just come off a wonderful victory on Mount Carmel. God had Shown himself to be the true God once again, vaporizing the sacrifice and drying up all the water in the trench surrounding the alter. The people of Israel returned to worshiping God and not Ba-al. The prophets of Ba-al, all 400 of them, had been put to the sword. And to top it all off God had allowed it to rain on Israel for the first time in over three years. If anyone had the right to celebrate his victories it was Elijah.  Unfortunately, sometimes our greatest defeats can come on the heels of our greatest spiritual victories.   

     All that it took was a word from Jezebel to knock the wind out of his spiritual sails. She told Elijah that he was a “Dead Man Walking!” More exact she told him that,” May god do to me what you have done to the prophets of Ba-al if you are not dead in twenty four hours.”  That is all that it took to shatter Elijah’s confidence. Off he ran. He fled for his life. He did not stop until he got to Beersheba.

     But as we see in the story, God was waiting for Elijah when he got there. God asked Elijah,”Elijah? What are you doing here?” Elijah replied to God,” I just want to lie down and die! Just kill me! I’m the only one left, I’m all alone, not only that, but Jezebel wants to kill me.”  We can sympathize with Elijah. Elijah was exhausted, he was overwhelmed, he completely out of his depth. Anyone who has felt as if they can‘t take one more step knows how he felt. Anyone who has felt as if they are the only ones who are faithful, as if they are all alone knows what he was going through.

     Elijah failed at a single point. Elijah thought that it was up to him to fix his problem with Jezebel. Elijah could not see any way that he could take care of the situation. Elijah thought that his only recourse was to run from his problems. He failed because he forgot that it was not up to him. He forgot that it was God and not him that had taken care of the prophets of Ba-al on Carmel. He forgot that it was God who started the rain again. God would have taken care of Jezebel also. God sent angels to care for Elijah, and sent him back to where he was supposed to be. God took care of Jezebel.

     We don’t fare much better than Elijah. We are great followers of God and Christ in the good times but as soon as things start to get rough we forget that it is God who stands for us. We get overwhelmed and figure that it is us and not God who must win the day. In the end we have to let God be God.                

       

A Christmas Wish

     Christmas is a time of pageantry and celebration; it is a time of promise and a time of hope. For most of the world Christmas is a time of Magic. Christmas is a time of presents and a time of lights, sounds and tastes and even a time of traditions.

     Growing up in the buckle of the Bible belt we grew up hearing the story of Jesus birth in a manger. We were told of the three Kings who traveled from distant lands to meet the Christ Child that was born King of the Jews. Children around the world are chosen to portray angels, shepherds, Kings, lambs and cows, playing parts in Elementary School Christmas plays; each player clad in hastily sewn costumes, tin foil covered crowns, bearing gifts of glitter covered perfume bottles, and paper Mache boxes festooned with rhinestone jewels or Gold painted elbow macaroni. 

     We get caught up in the glitz and the glamour of the decorations and the gifts and yet we over look the meaning for the season. Year after year we are reminded of what the day portends through Christmas Carols and Television specials. Yet the true message eludes us and we find ourselves asking as Scrooge asked, “Is this the hope you mentioned?”

     We look into the cradle and miss the message. We see the child of Christmas but miss Emmanuelle our God with us.  We adore the star of the north but forget that it is by his stripes that we are healed.  We fail to connect the birth with the death that it is foretold in it. We see the gift but are blind to the sacrifice behind it.

     So much has been lost. We dare not allow Christmas to become just a secular holiday that may or may not include the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. But the message that we sow has to include not only the babe in the manger but the man of the cross. That message has to take the place of the lights and the presents and the tastes and even our traditions. We have to say as Scrooge said, “It’s not too late, there is still time.”  

Christmas has its cradle; Easter has its cross -   Rae E. Whitney