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Sample Issue |
Preaching 1 Kings 17:8-16The story of the widow, her son, and Elijah speaks of sharing scarce resources in a time of drought and want. It proclaims a word of life over the inevitability of death. This story is remembered in Israel and the Church, because it forms a lively image of hopefulness. It is clear from this story that it is the word of God that sets things in motion (v. 8) and things continue according to the same word (v. 16). God provides according to God's word. The human players in this drama face the realities of a difficult life, for the widow and her son the realities of a doomed life. The widow recognizes her fate and responds. But her fate is not final. The prophet comes and speaks a word of God, a word that charges her to share what she has. She resists at first, but responds at last. The power of fate is overcome by the word of God. The inevitable death from lack of provisions is held off when the prophet brings the word of God. An obvious preaching point that could be made on this lection is that God provides. But preaching an obvious point often reduces a text and runs the risk of making a wrong point. The hope that is borne by this story cannot be easily reduced to the assurance of God's provision. For instance, this text does not speak of God providing unconditionally, or in all cases. Here, God provides in one instance, to one prophet, a widow and her son. The ravages of drought are not abated beyond the provisions for these three. Presumably many others suffer the full weight of drought, and among them may well be widows and children. The hope this text opens to a contemporary congregation is a slim hope at best. There is no simple formula to be derived, nothing like: "If you trust in God's word, all you need in life will be provided." Savvy church people will know this is not true anyway. Most people who face the realities of fate are never visited by a prophet from God. The miracle of this text is not readily available to whoever "listens" to the word of God. The hope it bears is only the slim hope that comes with news that what is clearly the inevitable is not always the inevitable. The realities of fate are often undeniable, but fate does not always have the last word. The way things clearly are and will be is not the way they always must be. There is, beyond the bounds of the necessary and inevitable, the possibility of a word of God that can change everything. A possibility is not a certainty. The congregation gathered would surely like more than just a possibility that God will change problems faced. But there is only the possibility. In our context, preaching such a slim hope may not be warmly received. We are accustomed to happily-ever-after stories and simple formula solutions to complex problems. The modest news that, while not certain, it is possible for a word of God to change things, may not receive exuberant response. Most persons facing troubling situations want to know if the fate they face will be reversed. Sadly, there are no warrants in this text for predicting such a reversal. What is found here is simply the assurance that God can reverse fates. If the preacher can avoid reducing this story to a formula for securing God's provisions, genuine hope can be preached--genuine hope and not optimism. The difference is that hope rests solely in God. Optimism rests in the intricacies of the fates. The reversal of fates, changing the way things seem destined to be, is not a foregone conclusion, a reward for right action, nor an optimistic forecast based on present data. It is rather a gift from God and as such it may only be hoped for, not secured. Israel, in remembering this story, and the Church in telling and retelling it, have kept alive images of the God who reverses the power of famine and death. Keeping alive such an image keeps hope alive. David Greenhaw
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