The sermon text is below the sermon video/audio…
https://zionepiscopal.com/Sermon%20Videos/second-sunday-after-pentecost-6-19-2022.html
Sermon preached at Zion Episcopal Church, Washington NC; Sunday June 19th 2022
The Reverend Alan Neale; “Enough… Already!”
I Kings 19:4 “It is enough!” Message Translation “Enough of this, God!”
Nearly forty years ago I was serving in a small country parish between London and Cambridge, St. Andrew, Stanstead Abbotts Hertfordshire. It was early service and I was preaching on a text from I Corinthians, chapter nine, verse 27 “Lest… when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway”. As folk were leaving the church, one parishioner stopped (with tears in her eyes) and said, “How sad, very sad, that a minister of the gospel should somehow lose the gospel”. Wendy helped me remember the parishioner’s full name, Bunty Bailey. Thank you Bunty.
What caused Bunty distress was the concept that clergy should suffer from psychic, spiritual burnout; and, even more poignant, that they should continue in ministry for there seems no reasonable alternative.
Remember Elijah’s words? “It is enough!”
Of course it is not only clergy who suffer psychic, spiritual, physical burnout. It happens to people in all professions, it happens to people in all relationships (including fathers), it happens to people who carry great causes and missions (including those we remember this Juneteenth).
Yes, it happens to clergy and I have seen it happen too often to laity as they struggle as wardens, or vestry, or chairs of parish programs.
In 2021 Harvard Business review published an article “Your Burnout is Unique. Your Recovery Will Be, Too”. The writers described three symptoms: 1. Exhaustion (a depletion of mental, physical [and I add] spiritual resources, 2. Cynical Detachment (a depletion of social connectedness) and 3. A Reduced Sense of Efficacy (a depletion of value for oneself).
Does this remind you of a lesson we heard today? Does this remind you of a prophet once powerful, now pathetic? Yes, Elijah from today’s reading I Kings 19:1-15.
Let’s tick off the symptoms one by one…
1. Exhaustion. Elijah was afraid and fled (v.3), he asked that me might die (v.4), he lay under the broom tree and fell asleep (v.5)
2. Cynical Detachment, alone and solitary. He left his servant in Beersheba (v.3), he went into the wilderness, not quite a pulsating place for social gatherings (v.4), and he told the Lord, ‘I alone am left’ (v.10)
3. Reduced sense of efficacy. He declaims, ‘It is enough’ (v.4), and he speaks of helplessness, hopelessness as he complains, ‘They are taking my life, to take it away’ (v.10)
Oh yes, Elijah is in a dangerous place of burnout. It happens to all of us from time to time; despite great successes of earlier times. Just before I Kings 19, we read how Elijah bested, defeated 850 prophetic lackeys of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in a fireworks-worthy context.
Final score: prophets of Baal and Asherah, zip; God of Israel, a heaven of a rout. I hope you remember that fiery story! But, recounting successes of our past will not necessarily serve to rescue us from burn-out, depression, surrender.
Thank God, this is only part of today’s story. For alongside the somewhat pathetic, whining, woe-is-me Elijah… alongside Elijah, is another participant who will intervene and rescue Elijah… the Lord is His Name!
The Lord shows his power, provision, patience and purpose.
The Lord’s Power. Only a few days earlier the Lord had shown his power to Elijah as the prophet was able to taunt and tease the false prophets, as a mighty barbecue was lit from heaven despite being soaked in water. And now the Lord shows his power as he accompanies Elijah into the wilderness and, at the end of story, creates a mighty wind, a shattering earthquake and then “the sheer sound of silence”.
The Lord’s Provision. Just as Jonah enjoyed divine shelter in a desert place, so Elijah finds shelter under a conveniently placed broom tree. The Lord grants Elijah the most precious gift of sleep, and the angelic provision of food and water and time… yes time (v.6) to sleep again.
The Lord’s Patience. Just one instance of the patience of our Lord… did you notice that twice (vv. 9 + 13) the Lord asks, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’. And twice, despite all of the Lord’s glorious and miraculous provision, Elijah gives exactly the same response. I am reminded of a PBS Program we watched years ago; the presenter was talking about the “woe-is-me” dynamic; she then proceeded to offer a Velcro set for such people… one was placed on the back of the hand, and one was placed on the forehead… made “woe-is-me” declarations so much easier! But the Lord is patient… in Morning Prayer I am reading in Numbers the story of Israel’s progress from Egypt to the Promised Land, oh the Lord was so very, very patient. Numbers 14:11 “How long will this people despise me?”. Friends, you and I cannot ever, in any way, place ourselves beyond the patience of the Lord… and neither could Elijah!
And finally, the Lord’s purpose. We cannot be sure how long it took Elijah to move through his personal “slough of despond” but the Lord held him tightly, securely, lovingly. And then… the time comes to arise, return even to the place of threat, and there perform a work for the Lord… (v.15) “you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram” and you shall appoint your successor, Elisha – you will not be alone.
To Elijah, God responds extravagantly, as is God’s wont. Hot dinner, served twice, food for the journey, and time to rest. But the God who nurtures is also the God who calls, and that call is to service… in our home, in our work, in our church, and in our nation. Even when the prophet, or any one of us, thinks we have done our best, used all our resources, when we congratulate ourselves on a job well done, even when we peer out from our caves too scared to venture forth… God is back, nudging us awake, reminding us that with Lord we have all we need to go out again into a world of injustice, inequality, aching pain… to serve the Lord and the world He loves so much. AMEN