2 Kings 2:1-12

"Transfiguration" - Year B

A prophetic spirit is a gift of G*D, not inherited or otherwise passed to one. Elisha's request is as difficult to grant as it was to do all that traveling in one 24 hour day. And yet, it did come to pass through a "watching" process.

How alert are we to the movement of the spirit as we walk along? Aren't we more likely to focus on the presence of the chariot and horses of fire than on Elijah? It is not easy to keep seeing people in the midst of whirlwinds. This is a huge challenge - to remain present and humble enough to still see Saddam and Dubya as they may become beyond their posturing and rumoring of war.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/march2003.html

 

 

Elijah comes and goes and comes again. Jesus comes and goes and comes again. Consider that you are part of this same pattern of coming and going and coming again.

We tend to get all caught up in coming and staying and staying. As long as we have these attachments it will be all too easy to identify with the disciples who want to build some temples where they can stay and stay and stay or with any political group that has an edge it will hone and hone and hone.

The desire we are left with as we leave Epiphany behind is that of moving on. Elisha finally had to let go of Elijah and his own past choices in clothing and pick up Elijah's left-behind cloak. The disciples finally had to let go of Transfiguration and quietly go down the mountain. You and I finally have to use our belovedness and entrust ourselves to leaving our places of established security.

We have come. It is time to go. It is time to trust there will be a coming again and to practice the spiritual disciplines of letting go.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/february2006.html

 

 

2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9

A whirlwind - horses of fire, a chariot of fire - fire before and tempest around. These images call to let light shine out of darkness. They hearken back to the energy of creation - and let there be light (as though that were an easy, instantaneous event leaving no cosmological trace over time). There is judgment in these images, there is death and inheritance. We find here markers of transition from one generation to the next and a separation of the past from the future. All-in-all, blind violence is very much present.

Listen for another light, perhaps an energy saving compact fluorescent rather than a strobing spotlight, with the mystery of a floating cloud rather than a known tempestuous whirlwind. This comes with a message different than separation and doubling, different than judging and perishing. A message here is that of belovedness that can bridge the gap between what has been and what might yet be.

If we were to compare it with what might otherwise have been the pericopes of the seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Isaiah 43:18-25
Psalm 41
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
we find a new thing springing forth. A whirlwind of fire becomes a whirlwind of mutual care as a roof is blown off that a paralytic, one already judged and found wanting, might find a healing of forgiveness and walk forth. A way will be found in the wilderness that is as refreshing as a river in a desert. There is an opening up, not a closing down to one transitional moment - every moment of opening leads us onward and reveals the Yes of life. We find a life to be a first or next installment of Life, not a final culmination. We don't need to build more houses to separate us, but an opening of the houses already present that belovedness might enter and go forth.

- - -

a double portion of spirit
so cries the religious capitalist
making a profit off the prophet
to build more and bigger
dwellings to be franchised

of course this is intended for good
the veiled, the perishing
will be left behind
those who work hard
and persevere will triumph

equally true is the way
this keeps us separated
one profiteer from another
claiming a quadruple spirit
or a hundredfold

eventually we return
no prophetic profit
only a gentle quiet
a light-dimming cloud
murmuring a beloved lullaby

- -

Thomas (Reader) said...
re: Isaiah 43:18-25, Psalm 41, 2 Corinthians 1:18-22, Mark 2:1-12
... We find a life to be a first or next installment of Life, not a final culmination. We don't need to build more houses to separate us, but an opening of the houses already present that belovedness might enter and go forth.

perhaps
we do need
to build more houses
for those
who do not even have as much,
that they may know
appropriate separation
(boundaries, shelter, privacy)

and at the same time
invite those
whose houses have become prisons
to turn from their barred prison window
and walk through
the door
that has always been open
(wisdom, compassion, love)

what is this belovedness
in the presence/context of which
both the whirlwind
and the quiet lullaby
find home?


Wesley (Blogger) said...
Yep. I do appreciate your ability to see the more that yet needs to be said. I might have gotten to this in another year.

I am reminded of an op-ed piece in today's NY Times that can be found at though you may need to a free signup to read it. Being a Yeats fan, I enjoyed it.

The closing was "Yeats, who grew up feeling "sort of ecstasy at the contemplation of ruin," did not just welcome whatever new order his rough beast was ushering in. He believed the only way it could plausibly be spoken of was in the form of a question."

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

 

 

2 Kings 2:1-14 and Isaiah 43:18-25

Don't hold on to former things /for\ a new thing is springing forth. (Isaiah)

Don't stay behind /for\ double blessings lie ahead. (2 Kings)

With these two summaries (continuing the tension between Epiphany 7 and Epiphany Last) we find moments of transfiguration right on this cusp of past and present/future.

These moments are precious. They are call-moments, direction-setting moments that are within and without what has been seen as a religious context.

So, what does it take to be aware of these opportune times? Well, watching or perceiving. This is difficult work to do alone and just as difficult to do in community. The difficulties are different but equally trying. To put oneself to the test or to be put to the test by another takes audacity, perseverance, humility, vision, hope, and forgiveness (just a beginning half-dozen of qualities needed in an in-between place).

Enjoy your cusp moments today. You'll look back on them with even more joy than you had in anticipating them.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

 

 

Elisha and Ruth have different styles, but both are clear about where their loyalty lies - with Elijah - and - Naomi - and - G*D. While each will benefit from their commitment, they seem to pay attention to their relationship before its perks. They also understand that their action requires a dual connection between Person and G*D. These cannot be separated. Whether focusing first on Person or on G*D, the other is always implied in healthy situations. Problems arise when we claim one or the other to be most important. Again with the “both/and”.

To pay too much attention to the details of the respective stories is to miss the deep relationships. Even if Elisha had not been able to “work” Elijah’s dropped garment, it was enough that he witnessed Elijah’s passing from life to beyond.

The temptation is to think that the magic cloak was all that was left of Elijah. That level of faith makes shrouds and pancakes with a cultural image of Jesus on them into some false proof of the unprovable. I would also appreciate a story-line that had Elisha wading back to work and Ruth not hooking up with Boaz. Imagine how the personal and religious stories might have been enhanced without an easy happy ending.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/02/2-kings-21-14.html