More Than Hearing

Greetings!! Welcome back! As we introduced the passages for the week, we said we did not perceive a common thread running through them, but as I’ve pondered for a bit, I think the common thread is perception. Yeah, that’s a bit like chasing one’s tail there, but hang with me. In the Old Testament reading, Job comes to a different understanding of his situation after seeing the heights and depths and dimensions of God’s glory. In Hebrews, the author continues to present an image of Jesus as high priest who’s office will never end. And in Mark, Jesus asks a blind man the exact question he asked James and John last week – “what do you want me to do for you?” – and is told by the man that he wishes to see again. Being able to perceive one’s circumstances and turn from planned action, seeing Jesus as the One to whom we take our offerings, and having blind eyes opened are all ways we can say, “I see.” See?

I think we had a difficult time finding material for this passage because it seems so rushed to be over. The whole story has this spectacular movement when God shows Job the universe, and then, after 40 chapters, it’s over when Job says, “I repent.” The ending is sudden. But, maybe that’s how quickly Job’s perception changed. In EYE smart, we suggest illustrating this sudden change with the experience you have when you meet a blind date for the first time. You’ve had someone “designed” in your imagination, and then they walk into the room. Or, like meeting someone you’ve been told a lot about and matching up what you’ve heard with what you are seeing. Or, seeing a radio personality and wrapping your head around what they really look like as opposed to what you thought they looked like. We have a fun way to demonstrate this with a special effect!  So, Job repents of his previous perception of who God is. The word “repent” can also be translated as “recant” (some WORD smart definitions), which means to turn away from a planned course of action. In SELF smart, Job’s willingness to turn from his former intention to follow God’s will reveals humility. We have an extended quotation for an illustration and some questions for a special effect.

The author of Hebrews makes a strong case for the supremacy of Jesus’ priesthood. As 21st century protestants, we may have a bit of trouble connecting with the idea, so David came up with a brilliant metaphor for BODY smart. We may not get “high priest,” but we certainly understand “referee.” We have a suggestion for a song in MUSIC smart, linked below. As I read the passage, an image came to mind of Jesus as an experienced trail guide, so I searched for information about NATURE trails and found the link below. Whatever metaphor you settle on – referee, trail guide, or something else – Jesus has gone before us and through the Holy Spirit will accompany us on our own road to Jerusalem. 

And, speaking of a journey to Jerusalem, in the passage this week, the group is very close to its destination. Jericho is not far away, and one commentary I read said that the last time anyone in Jericho shouted, the walls came down. I really like that comparison, and it’s a nice bonus WORD smart illustration! Also, Jesus asks the same question of Bartimaeus he asked of James and John and gets a very different answer. For an EYE smart special effect, have the congregation experience the story as if they were Bartimaeus. Take that idea into BODY smart by having someone move around the sanctuary not being able to see where they are going. We have a praise song suggestion for MUSIC smart, and David gave me a horrible ear worm that has come back as I’m typing this. He makes up for this by writing a Reader’s Theatre option for PEOPLE smart, which is attached to the worksheet. Finally, put yourself back into Bartimaeus’ shoes for some SELF smart questions. 

Image Credit: Photo by David Travis on Unsplash. Used by permission.

Greetings!! We’re glad you are with us! We must confess that while we have good intentions for this podcast, our schedules do not always come through for us. Which is to say, we have illustrations and special effects for two of the three passages for this week. If you are hoping to find help illustrating Melchizedek, we are sorry. The one and only thing we had to offer for Hebrews is a poem written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Christians and Pagans, which may help illustrate MUSIC, PEOPLE, or SELF depending on your emphasis. Otherwise, our suggestions today focus on God speaking to Job out of a whirlwind and Jesus asking James and John if they really think they are up to drinking from the cup of suffering he will experience. God tells Job that reality is so much larger than his current circumstances and Jesus knows the destination at the end of the road he’s traveling. In both passages, we see that God is not indifferent to suffering.

Anna Grant Henderson at Old Testament Lectionary has a fantastic idea we offer for a WORD smart special effect. She takes verses from Job and  Psalm 104 – the psalm of the day – and blends them as a reading done either as two voices or antiphonally in the congregation. As God asks Job questions, the psalm answers them! Check it out! Last week, we suggested using wide angle and telephoto lenses in EYE smart to illustrate how Jesus looked at people in Mark. Today, we think you could do the same thing; begin with Job focusing in on his life and then zoom out when God starts asking questions about things Job probably never even considered. For special effects, we have links to artwork below.  The MATH smart illustration comes from an essay by Todd Weir describing himself as a “Newtonian man in an Einstein world.” In BODY smart, read up on how to gird one’s loins and then demonstrate it! MUSIC smart has both a poem and a song, and in NATURE smart, David uses illustrations and a special effect based on how our perception of heaven and earth is stuck in time. We finish with a quote from Teresa of Avila for SELF smart.

We begin in WORD smart wondering if Jesus could have responded to James and John more directly. Drinking from his cup and being baptized like him doesn’t really address their request to be seated in Jesus’ glory. WE know what Jesus means, though. At the end of the passage, Jesus the greatest is the slave of all so ask people what comes to mind as they see themselves as a “slave”. For an EYE smart special effect, we have a link to some artwork showing who has been portrayed being at Jesus’ left and right. We have some logical exercises for MATH smart and a thought about being ransomed. Did the cup Jesus mentioned have any connection to Roman centurions getting ready for battle? Follow the link for BODY smart. Animals and their struggle for dominance is a good NATURE smart illustration of Gentile masters’ tyrannical lordship and quest for power. We continue into PEOPLE smart with this image and offer some thoughts that are pertinent to the United States as we head into the midterm elections next month. For SELF smart, follow the link below to the website At the Edge of the Enclosure for some compelling meditations about suffering and God’s presence in and through it. 

Image Credit: Photo by Lily Banse on Unsplash

Greetings!! We’re back on our old track for this podcast! We had been limiting ourselves to just one passage per show while David was on sabbatical these past three months, but now we are going back to the former structure of inspecting the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons for ways to utilize multiple intelligences. We’ll do this until the end of the liturgical year. We have a plan for when we get into the new liturgical year, so keep watching this space!!

At first glance, there does not seem to be much holding these three selections together. As David mentions in the introduction to the Job reading, you can stick your finger anywhere in the first 40 chapters of the book and find what we see here – Job protesting his innocence in light of all the calamity that has befallen him. He has done nothing to deserve the misfortune he has met. In the Gospel lesson, a wealthy man has a list of righteous acts that he thinks should be a ticket into eternal life. The author of Hebrews is urging disciples to continue confessing Jesus as Lord. As we worked on them, we saw the passages don’t interact with one another as much as run on parallel tracks. In each, someone is either pleading righteousness (Job and Mark) or being urged to hold onto righteousness (Hebrews). We have some interesting illustrations and special effects that we think might be helpful for drawing out this theme. 

The Lectionary Committee cuts verses 10-15, a fact which we ignore for MATH smart. In verse 10, Job is confident that he will both find God and be judged innocent. We have an illustration about a disturbing trend in US courts in recent years. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers published a paper regarding the “trial penalty”; the substantial difference between a sentence offered in a plea deal or pursuing one’s Sixth amendment right to trial. (We tend to put legal stuff in MATH because of the logic side of it.) If Job were on trial in the US, he would be urged to plead guilty in order to avoid a much stiffer sentence if his case went to trial and he lost. As a special effect, write a first person sermon or skit that puts him in our courtroom. Job wants to find God to prove his righteousness but at the same time, he is terrified of coming before God. The Hebrew word can be translated as “palpitate” so to illustrate this in BODY smart, talk about the sensation of fear we get when we lose a child in a public place. For a special effect, “fill your mouth” with marshmallows! We have a link to a part of Robert Frost’s A Masque of Reason for MUSIC smart. We go back to verse 10 for a NATURE smart illustration and special effect using smelting – Job insists he will come through this trial like gold. For SELF smart, we have a meditation from Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation that might help explain why Job could not find God.

The verses selected for this passage start with a visual that jumps off the page – a sharp, double edged sword that does some serious damage by the time we get to verse 14. What kind of actual blade might the author of Hebrews had in mind, I wondered, so I went looking and found a link to different types of swords with two edges for an EYE smart illustration. I think there are two likely candidates on that page – what are your picks? To demonstrate the cutting edge of these blades, try cutting up some chicken! Or show pictures of the process; that may be the friendlier option. We have some ways to illustrate being naked and laid bare in BODY smart. Jesus as the Great High Priest functions as the mediator of the new covenant, so for PEOPLE smart special effect, bring in someone who is a probate lawyer or an advocate for children to talk about the work they do on behalf of others. For a SELF smart illustration, talk about those dreams where you walk into a room and are not properly dressed or dressed at all. Is this what the author means about no creature being hidden?

Some commentaries note that Jesus includes “do not defraud” in his list of commandments, even though it isn’t in the Big 10. Much head scratching happens with this odd addition, but maybe it is a literary device. We are going that route, and for WORD smart we suggest trying your own paralipsis as a special effect. In EYE smart, some WORD smart sneaks over in the translation of two Greek words; look around and look at. The different prepositions give the verb “blepo” much different views. One is like a wide angle lens and the other is the telephoto lens. For MATH smart, we have some calculations for the eye of a needle and a camel. SPOILER: The camel won’t fit. More WORD smart interpretation of the Greek gives us an alternate reading for the man going away because he’s sad in NATURE smart. He may be literally “clouded up”. Do his possessions obscure his vision? If he had been more warmed by Jesus, would he have been able to see? Try some of the experiments we have linked below for a “gee whiz!” special effect!

Image Credit: Copyright : hafakot. Used by permission.

Welcome back! Have you ever wondered where we get the titles for our podcasts? Titles sometimes leap out at us from the material in Scripture, like mice from cupboards. Other times, something about the setting or plot in the story suggests a song or movie title that fits the theme. Sometimes, we have to take the material, bang it on the table, and shake it around to loosen up an idea that may be suitable and other times, we just throw something in as a place holder, like Phil Collins’ Sussudio. The title for this podcast is the unofficial motto of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that speaks to our polity – everything done decently and in order.

I sparked on this thought after reading the opening of David Lose’s blog post for this week’s Gospel. He suggests that the question the Pharisees are raising with Jesus isn’t about the legality of marriage per se, but about order. Structure. Bedrock. What is stable in life and what gives security and safety. The Pharisees are shook up because Jesus seems to be messing with order and inviting chaos into the lives of God’s people. This invitation is rarely welcomed, especially by those whose task or calling it is to keep order. But for the people of the first century, living in politically shaky times, it was likely perceived as an opening to destruction. If we crack the bedrock of order, the Pharisees may have been thinking, what is to prevent outside forces from sweeping in to scatter and destroy us – this time completely? 

That fear of annihilation is just under the surface of much of the tension in the U.S. these days, I think. Fear of losing one’s place in the world is driving a lot of nastiness. But what we forget, and what the Pharisees were too distracted to see, is that the chaos we fear was utterly conquered by Jesus’ death and resurrection. It no longer has any power, except what we give it. I think this is why Jesus calls children to him and encourages us to live as they do – entirely reliant on the powers of goodness in their lives that love them and want them to thrive. Can we live as children do, trusting God is in control and will bring order out of the chaos?

We begin in WORD smart with an interesting study of the Greek words – with great thanks to Rob Myallis at Lectionary Greek (link below). The words “divorce” and “release” are used in English but the Greek words are much more evocative. You may present some new ways of looking at a ruptured relationship by following this illustration. For a special effect, encourage your folks to write a letter to God from their inner child. The passage taken as a whole brings to mind a family unit, so in EYE smart, we have a link to a blog called Art and Faith Matters. Lynn Miller posts artwork relevant to the week’s lectionary passages and has two painting of Jesus with his parents. I wonder if he was thinking of his own upbringing whenever he saw children. The Pharisees ask Jesus specifically about divorce, so for MATH smart, we have a link to divorce law here in the U.S. We put this here rather than in PEOPLE because the language in the law is more logical than relational.

If you have not yet bookmarked the website Singing from the Lectionary, you really should. Of course, there is so much MUSIC out there, that even a compendium like this one only scratches the surface. We each found something you might consider using for a special effect. For NATURE smart, we have some links to the union of celestial bodies – BIG ones! Contemplating how galaxies collide is an interesting metaphor for marriage. What is marriage, anyway? We have a few definitions and questions for discussion as a special effect in PEOPLE smart. We also wonder if Jesus may not have been portraying Moses as an exasperated parent (or cat servant) in his remarks to the Pharisees. And in SELF smart, we have an extensive quote from Richard Rohr’s book Things Hidden : Scripture as Spirituality that works both as an illustration and special effect.

Image Credit: Copyright : Wavebreak Media Ltd. Used by permission.

Greetings!! We’re home from travels and ready to get back into the swing of things around here. We opened the Gospel selection ready to jump back in and – HOLY COW! The center section is strewn with dismembered body parts that Jesus recommends we cut off rather than continue to live in sin! It reminds me of a song I learned at a youth gathering in Ohio called “Baby Shark”. It’s not the cute little ditty floating (heh) around You Tube but a much darker version where the shark actually attacks and results in human carnage, a Bay Watch run, and going to see Jesus. You learn strange and awful things while working with youth, sometimes…. anyway, these verses from Mark are disturbing and as Barbara Brown Taylor has said, it draws a stark line at a literal interpretation of the Bible. So, what do we do with disciples who complain about an outsider doing their work, Jesus telling them to cut this sinful part out of themselves, and salty fire? We have a couple ideas that might help. 

We begin with WORD smart, looking at the Greek word for stumble which we English speakers recognize as the word “scandal”. An archaic definition of the word – to speak falsely or maliciously – sheds some light on why Jesus’ response to the disciples may have been so direct. We can’t tell from words on a page how the report to Jesus about a stranger casting out demons in his name sounded coming from them, but we only have to look to our own lives when we are upset with someone we think is taking over to get a hint about the tone of voice. The children’s toy Mr. Potato Head is an excellent illustration and SFX for EYE smart that occurred to us as we began recording the show. We also have a lot of videos that could demonstrate how to “dismember” – all tricks, of course! MATH smart is about numbers and logic, so you could illustrate the difference between millstones and stumbling blocks. Jesus draws the comparison between these dense objects and the propensity for our own self regard getting in the way of doing God’s will.

So, he suggests getting rid of them – with some shocking advice that we turn to for BODY smart. If you saw the film 127 Hours, you have some good material to illustrate the difficult situation to which Jesus alludes. Are you stuck somewhere with circumstances for your survival becoming dire? Do you see an option to free yourself? Do you have what it takes to make the decision and carry through with it? We have a link to the trailer for the movie below. We have another link featuring Aron Ralston, the man on whom the movie is based. My take away from Ralston’s experience is that NATURE is awe inspiring and entirely impartial to one’s existence. We have a link to how some insects have adapted to this harsh reality, plus some information about millstones and salt.

In my opinion, this passage with its big rocks and body parts distracts from the PEOPLE and SELF smarts that are the heart of it. Jesus redirects the disciples’ proprietary claims on exorcism and pushes them to think about how their behavior sets up failure for everyone. By attempting to erect a fence around their special relationship with Jesus, they state that the Spirit of the Living God will work only with their branding. Jesus knows this is nonsense and resorts to vivid imagery to shock them into seeing how they have jeopardized his mission. We have some quotes and questions in both PEOPLE and SELF to help us identify these tendencies in our own hearts and ministry. Is it time for some corrective surgery?

Image Credit: Photo by Andrei Lazarev on Unsplash. Used by permission.

Hey everyone! We’re back after two weeks away! David is wrapping up the long tour portion of his sabbatical and we’re heading back home having spent two weeks in New Mexico and Colorado. We are recording the show on the California Zephyr somewhere near Ottumwa, Iowa. We are glad to have had the time away and we are also glad to be back with some illustrations and special effects for the Gospel passage for this week. Distance and a new perspective often allows us to see familiar things with fresh eyes. Hopefully, that will translate to the podcast!

The passage begins with Jesus’ second passion prediction. As usual, the disciples in Mark are confused by Jesus’ instruction and are too frightened to ask him for clarification. I remember being too intimidated to ask questions in my sixth grade math class, so I don’t fault the disciples here at all. If you have a similar experience, this would make for an excellent SELF smart illustration!

We begin with EYE smart special effects regarding verses 34 and 36. For verse 34, find a picture of “The Greatest” aka Muhammad Ali. For verse 36, find some before and after family pictures memes where the same people come back decades later to retake a favorite picture, especially one where someone is holding someone else. Have some fun with this and then transition into a discussion about taking up the small and vulnerable in Jesus’ name. This includes some BODY and PEOPLE smart elements.

In MATH smart, break out the transitive property of equality! We think we may have used this before as an illustration, but since it works so very well here, we’re dusting it off again! For a special effect, get newsprint or a projector and demonstrate how the equation works. Be certain to show how this works with the welcome Jesus refers to in verse 37.

BODY smart can be illustrated with the logo for The United Way (or other organizations that use the encircled arms) showing “big” people caring tenderly for “little” people. We accidentally include a NATURE illustration using eggs, so be sure to listen for that! For a special effect, get a baseball bat to demonstrate how we sometimes decide who is “first”.

Write a poem for MUSIC smart including a repeating refrain about “the greatest”. If you have trouble with rhyming that word, try free verse! David is hoping to provide an example before we get to Chicago! You are highly encouraged to try it yourself and let us know what you do!

Finally, for PEOPLE smart, make a list of all the ways we determine how someone is the greatest. What categories do we use and what criteria in each category determine who is first among us? Take this list and use it as a springboard for discussion for a special effect. Take verse 37 and the transitive property from MATH smart and present a short skit showing how we welcome in Jesus’ name.

Image Credit : icetray. Used by permission.

Greetings!! We are glad you’re back! David is in Los Angeles for a few days and had some time to join me for today’s podcast. We will be taking two weeks off after this one, though. We intend to be back with a show for Ordinary 25 (Proper 20, Pentecost +18). Meanwhile….

Unwashed hands prompt the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees in this passage from Mark. The Pharisees see the disciples eating without first ritually cleansing. “Foul!” cry the Pharisees. I know some people who would echo the Pharisee’s disgust at the disciples’ lax hygiene, but their reason for it would not be the same. We modern people would be thinking about bacteria and food borne illnesses, but the Pharisees would be concerned about purity. What’s the difference? Infection makes you – well – not well, but you get over it after a couple days of unpleasantness. Ew, foul.  But becoming impure is a risk to your participation as one of God’s people; if your impurity is too dire to overcome, you will be cut off from the community. A couple days of illness can be overcome. Being cast out of your only system of support could mean death.

But, Jesus also calls foul. This story in Mark’s gospel presents Jesus objecting to the excessive application of restrictions initially put in place as spiritual guidance. If the law is more important than people, the law has become a hindrance to people finding a place at God’s table. What defiles a person is the evidence of what lives within a person and getting rid of that infection is far more important to Jesus than keeping people away from God’s healing grace. Jesus wants our hearts to be enveloped in God’s heart which is holy enough to withstand and cleanse our unwashed hands.

The Lectionary Committee took scissors to this passage, which presents a challenge to preaching, let alone finding illustrations and special effects! We muddled through, though, only occasionally stepping into the holes. In WORD smart, try illustrating unclean hands with Lady MacBeth’s famous soliloquy. David tells a story about the guru’s cat that could be another illustration or a way of demonstrating how reasons for traditions can be lost in the keeping of a tradition. For an EYE smart special effect, bring in items that can and cannot be washed. Don’t forget more esoteric items like personal histories and souls. We turn to The Matrix for a MATH smart illustration. Morpheus urges Neo to learn to think differently – not just outside the box but as though there is no box in the first place. We have two illustrations for BODY smart. The first centers around a thought from Ched Meyer’s book Binding the Strongman and the second is from an old Palmolive commercial. 

We have a selection from the Adi Granth, the holy writings of the Sikh tradition, as a MUSIC smart illustration. We also have two music videos for a special effect. We did not use NATURE smart, but did say we would have links in the notes, so see them below! We have three illustration for PEOPLE smart; the first comes from an essay at Journey with Jesus, the second from the PC(USA) ordination vows, and the third from the experience of encounters with overly zealous adherents to healthy living. For a SELF smart illustration, see the final mediation at Edge of the Enclosure. For a special effect, we have some questions to guide self examination.

Image Credit: Copyright: ljupco / 123RF Stock Photo. Used by permission.

Greetings!! Welcome back! I’m soloing again; David had some down time while he was in New Orleans last week to join me for the podcast, but that “free” time is now gone while he’s in Arizona. He’s heading on to Los Angeles from Tucson where I’m sure he’ll sleep for a while! Meanwhile, I decided to concentrate on the epistle lesson for this Sunday because it is just clamoring to be used as an extensive EYE smart special effect! Do you have access to a suit of armor? No? How about a tuxedo? A uniform? A space suit? Any of these suits will do – or cobble together your own props and enjoy “suiting up” for your sermon!

Paul is wrapping up his letter to the church in Ephesus. He encourages them with a stirring message of strength by appropriating the suits of armor worn by Roman soldiers that he and they must have seen on a regular basis. He takes that uniform – representing many impressions, memories, and likely unpleasant realities – and transforms it into a suit of armor for Jesus’ followers. He does not overtly suggest the armor be used offensively. Instead, this armor is forged in the power of God so that we might “stand against the wiles of the devil”. 

Beginning in WORD smart, I used common definitions of the words “faith” and “salvation” and played with the images and memories these words bring to mind. EYE smart is chock full of special effects as you bring in a suit of armor and try it on for size! The belt of truth is the basis for an illustration in MATH smart and the strength to stand reminded me of many standing yoga poses that require and develop strength for a special effect in BODY smart.

I have two links to many options for MUSIC smart and ask you to bear with me as I attempt a connection with a NATURE smart illustration. Does it work? Eh, maybe. The breastplate of righteousness has some strong PEOPLE smart connections, I think. Which pair of shoes in your closet would best be used to help you proclaim the gospel of peace? I have a link to an article about peacemaking that could be used as a SELF smart illustration.

Image Credit: Photo by antas singh from Pexels

Greetings!! You will hear a familiar voice in this week’s podcast that isn’t pre-recorded! Yes, we figured out a way to record the audio together over many miles and one time zone! Once we puzzled out some technical issues, we jumped into two passages that share a basic theme – wisdom. The theme shows up in the Kings passage when Solomon encounters God in a dream, asking him what he can give him as he assumes the throne. Solomon responds that he wants wisdom to lead God’s people. God is pleased with this and gives him even more! Wisdom is personified in Proverbs as a woman who invites people to a feast. On the menu is not only fabulous food but insight and maturity. Come and get it!

We begin with WORD smart and look at three components that help define wisdom; relational, ethical, and emotional. Developing these components allows wisdom to permeate our lives as we learn to be wise with God, one another, and our own selves. Turning to MATH smart, an essay at Journey with Jesus presented two different aspects of Solomon’s character in this story. We got to wondering if Solomon was acting humbly or with an eye toward getting an advantage over others. It’s possible that both are true and we look at a paradox called antimony that illustrates this. For BODY smart, we have a special effect that follows the idea that Solomon was entirely selfless. Try praying using posture matching Solomon’s humility as he makes his request. For PEOPLE smart, you could illustrate the complexity of the paradox with stories linked below. Invite your congregation to deepen their perspective about wisdom and knowledge.  

Wisdom is a woman readying a feast. She wants people to come to her house and sends out servants to fetch them. Illustrate this using the video in EYE smart – or brush up on your own sign spinning skills! As a special effect, set a table! Don’t forget the bread and wine. Modern people tend to think of wisdom living in our heads but folks in antiquity considered the heart the seat of all reason. In BODY smart, compare these locations and how each one determines how wisdom regulates our lives. We go back to dinner parties in PEOPLE smart and think illustrating how the menu, decor, attire, and guest list reveal information about the host and the guests. How do meals shared in your congregation reveal your character? The Hebrew word listed below in SELF smart has been translated many ways. How do these different words connect to your own self discovery? 

Image Credit: Photo by Joao Tzanno on Unsplash

Hey everyone! David is on the long form version of his sabbatical so I’m on my own this week. I’m feeling a bit apprehensive about this; for two and a half years we split the division of labor on this project. I’m responsible for show notes and David is responsible for editing the audio. I now think he has the larger share of the work! You will hear his voice at the beginning and the end of the audio clip and that tips you off to the fact that some of the show is pre-recorded. David’s actual voice may be back on the show in the coming weeks – even while he’s away – as he has taken recording equipment with him for other purposes. If I get a file from him, it will be added to future shows. He is entirely away this week as he is on retreat. 

I was not entirely certain I would find anything for this week’s passage, frankly. I went looking for our past encounters with this story and found this one: Year C, Ordinary 12, 2016 (plus the worksheet). Not a lot to work with even with the inclusion of the wind, fire, and earthquake! But God is gracious and once I stopped fretting and started listening, many options presented themselves. The overall feeling of this passage is despair, I think. Elijah has just struck a mighty blow for YHWH by defeating 450 priests of Ba’al – but this does nothing to put a halt to Jezebel’s enmity. If anything, it flamed it even hotter. I think Elijah was surprised by this; I think he thought this would defeat his nemesis and when it did not, he ran. I can empathize with this and while I’ve never sat under a broom tree and asked for God to take my life, I have known the shock of thinking one thing was certain to happen and the exact opposite came into being. It’s a hard thing to endure much less come back from. 

The passage begins with Elijah already beating a retreat. He’s gone a day’s journey into the wilderness and stops under a broom tree. He sleeps and is awakened by an angel offering him bread and water. For WORD smart, I found an article about dinner bells – a method of calling people to come and eat who are not within voice range. The author of the article to which I linked heard a story about a different use for the clanging bell. What ways do you know to call people to dinner? Elijah’s despair has some connections to literature, as well. (The title of the post is Eugene O’Neill‘s last produced play.)

In EYE smart, I found some classical paintings of angels waking the prophet. I also came across an article that looked at the real world journey of 40 days and 40 nights from Beersheba (which influenced PEOPLE smart). Looking at a map of the region, walking from Be’er Sheva to Jabal Mousa would take 87 hours and range from 8 meters to 1,673 meters in altitude. For some of us, that *would* take 40 days and nights! I wondered if Elijah may have dreamed the angels and found an article about neural pathways in the brain while in REM sleep for MATH smart. 

Even though he had already covered a great distance, Elijah was going to be traveling further, so the angel made certain he had enough fuel for the trip. In BODY smart, I have two links to the way food benefits our bodies. Is your congregation involved in ministries to alleviate hunger in your community? This might tie in to that very well. I came across some verse for MUSIC smart as I was being distracted in my search for WORD smart ideas. TVTropes suggested the chorus to the song “In the End” by Linkin Park and a famous quote from Macbeth (links below).

I revisited the broom tree (including the first link below) for NATURE smart and wondered if there are any native plants that might stand in for it from your local fauna. Based on the geography of the southern Israel and The Negev, this plant may have been the best opportunity for Elijah’s shelter. After I finished recording the podcast, I found an interesting article on self-defeating behavior that I added to PEOPLE smart as an illustration. I still think the long journey was God’s way of transforming Elijah – we don’t know how until later in his story. For SELF smart, explore the way mental exhaustion and or PTSD may play into his behavior. This is also the doorway through which many of us may step into his world and share his experience.

Image Credit: Photo by Jakub Gorajek on Unsplash