And those who have followed look upon the new leader with great suspicion. It is hard for them to imagine anyone else to be quite the person or the leader the predecessor was. So, the new leader must show both that they are worthy and that they have been given the authority of the position.

So with this information and description of a phenomena of our own times, we come to the Bible passages just read by Grace.

Elijah had been a great and powerful prophet in the time following David and Solomon, during the rule of King Ahab. Now if you do not remember him, do not worry, you will remember the name of his wife. Her name was Jezebel. From the time the Hebrews came into Canaan, and began to set up homes there, syncretization, or the adoption of the religious practices or the people of the land and folding it into the Hebrew religion was a problem. That practice hit a high note during the reign of Jezebel and Ahab. (I refer to them together because Elijah did that.) Elijah confronted them about their encouragement of this practice. And he minced no words in the process. Over the years, Elijah was not only vocal about this issue, but performed great wonders and miracles. As we enter the story, Elijah is at the end of his life. Elisha is clearly to be the successor. The issue is, whether or not Elisha will have the same power, influence and authority of Elijah had. And so the story takes Elijah and us on a circuitous and out of the way journey. We hear of one last demonstration of the power of Elijah as he uses his mantle or cloak to part the waters. Elisha sees Elijah being lifted up on the chariot of fire, he takes the mantle, tries it out and voilah! The power and authority has been transferred to Elisha.

Now just a little footnote here. Fire is often used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to or signify the voice or word of God otherwise know as theophany. What Elijsha had to do before the authority was transferred to him, was to be a first -hand witness to the word or action of God. And he had to recognize it as such.

The problem the Galatians seem to have had, was that of recognizing the ethical aspects of the presence of the Holy Spirit among them. Paul uses the authority of the Torah as he urges his readers toward the responsibility of Freedom, which for Paul means loving service of neighbors. But if they are to live into that, they must first recognize God at work in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Then, in one of those hard sayings of Jesus we ministers seemed to be assigned during the summer, Jesus delineates the uncompromising demands of us would be followers.

Much has been made over what this passage says about Jesus and family values. I believe that misses the point. Jesus, like Paul and Elijah before him is calling his followers to see God at work through Jesus. He is saying, you must pay attention if you want to see the fire of God. It can pass you by with out your seeing it. You see, I have set my face for Jerusalem. You need to follow me now as Elijah’s disciples followed him. And when we get there, you will see the fire of God. Trust me!

Come to think of it, that was the task of the Hebrews in the wilderness, and it is also our task. The Hebrews found God at almost every turn. When they were hungry, God sent them manna and quails. When they were thirsty, God provided water from a rock. In the desert wilderness God named this people and claimed them. When they went into the Promised Land, they went as a people of God unlike anything they had been before. In fact, the significance of the wilderness was not that it was difficult, a harsh desert time, but it was the time when the children of Israel were named and claimed by God. It was the time that shaped them. Forever afterwards the Hebrew People would look back on the wilderness time as the time when they were in the most intimate relationship with God. It was the time they were apprehended, not as police apprehend criminals but as ones taken by surprise by one who loves them, one who touches them deeply, spiritually and changes their lives. In the wilderness they were led by the fire of God. In the wilderness they learned to trust God to feed them. Not Moses, not Aaron, not Miriam, but God fed the people. In the wilderness they learned to recognize God at work among them.

We, too, must find God, the voice of God, the Fire of God in our wilderness. For we too, could easily succumb to the temptations to spend our time grumbling about what we left behind, and about what is not here in this place. We too could succumb to fighting among ourselves, as did the Galatians. We too, could fall into the trap of checking out for the time being, stepping aside, and thus missing the journey to Jerusalem, the path to resurrection and victory.

Just like the Israelites came to Moses to complain of lack of nourishment, we, the staff and others, are hearing: "I am not being fed. For one thing, that sanctuary is so big and we are so far apart from one another." So, let’s move together! One of the things the Hebrews needed to do in the wilderness was to learn how to worship in that place. So let us get out from under the sound deadening balcony and sit together like the gathered people of God we think ourselves to be.

Now I charge us to recognize and partake of the spiritual manna God is providing for us, God’s people in this time, in this wilderness place. It is there. Manna is falling all around us daily. Our task is to not look at it and call it strange new stuff we are unwilling to taste.

The other evening at our first Board meeting of the new fiscal year, I led worship focused on manna in the wilderness and read a poem by Maren Tirabassi. I will share some of it with you now. Afterward, several people said they had never thought of manna as a verb. Maybe we need to see worship and manna as verbs, something that is not only given to us but something we need to pick up, savor, partake of but not hoard. And through it, we must recognize the fire of God and work of God among us. In the wilderness, the Hebrew people learned to pray as never before. In the wilderness, they learned to cry out and they learned that God would surely respond. Perhaps we need to learn to pray with Marin Tirabassi: "Manna me God." Then we might add, help us to recognize the manna, the spiritual food you are giving me in this desert.

God has led us into this wilderness. We did not wander here on our own. And the mantle is before us, ready for us to claim. Just as surely as the mantle was passed to Elijah, to Jesus’ followers and to Paul, the mantle is being passed to us. Do you see it laying there before you? Do you see the fire of God working in, among, and through us, pulling us together and leading us forward? Or would you rather lick your Oreo cookie and look for nourishment there?

As I wrote this sermon, I was tempted to give you a long list of the things God was doing in and among us. But the ministerial staff has done that several times, and that seems not to feed. For today, as in Bible times, those who are to pick up the mantle must see the fire, feed on the manna, recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in this place, time and this people and must walk the walk beside Jesus. And above all, the mantle recipients must be willing to tell the story of God’s work among us. Not just what we have done, but what God is doing with and through us.

Last Tuesday in Adult Confirmation I was explaining that the Bible was written from the perspective of the one who sees the hand of God in the events of the time. I wondered aloud what the history of CCC might look or sound like if we took the time to write it from that perspective: In the late 1940’s God called together a group of Christians, gave them a leader named John McClelland and ……If God names and claims us, we also need to name and claim the acts of God.

O mantle recipients, discern God’s work and gifts, let them snuggle deep into the recesses of your heart, be fed and nourished by God, then walk out proudly with the mantle around your shoulders, telling the story for all to hear.