Something to Talk About
I Kings 17:8-24; Luke 7:11-17
NO 6/10/07 MW

Scene

In the Lectionary readings for today we have three prime examples of the New breaking out of the Old and giving people something to talk about – one who was himself raised from the dead and sat up and began to speak.  Just look at what these folks had to talk about.

            Elijah

If we aren’t careful we will fall into the trap of focusing on Elijah’s brining the widow’s son back to life.  Of course, that is not small feat but it’s not the focus of the story.  Perhaps we could spend a lot of time on the fact that the meal and oil jars did not become empty with use.  That is pretty significant in itself.  That’s not the story either.

Elijah was being prepared for a powerful mission where he would take on a long-standing religious tradition of Baal worship – the god of fertility.  This was the god that brought the rain and sunshine to make crops grow and that gave life.  Elijah was called by God to take on the power of government and religion.  He was going to give everyone something to talk about.

Elijah was going to take on the established traditions and provide a new one for the Baal worshipers.

            Paul’s Letter to the New Galatia Christians

Paul reminds the folks in that young church that he knows something about the power of God and continuing creation.  He reminds that young church that they understand how Paul was so steeped in the traditions of Judaism that he was trying to wipe this new Christian movement right off the face of the earth.

God comes along and meets Paul in a new way and says to him, “You’re on the wrong path and I want you to take a complete turn-around.”  God was saying, “Paul, you think you have had something to talk about with all the laws and the traditions you’ve learned and practiced.  Let me tell you something, I’m giving you something to really sit up and talk about!”  Paul tells us that this was a plan formed by God before Paul was even born.  He had from the very beginning something to talk about but didn’t know it until he met his Lord.  His Lord is the same as our Lord.

            Jesus and the Widow’s Only Son

This is such a power packed event in the ministry of Jesus that I don’t want us to miss it.  First, let me jump to the highlight of this passage and read it from The Message, “The son sat us and started speaking…”  Folks I contend that son had a lot to talk about when he sat up out of death into new life.  As did the crowd in the funeral procession and the large crowd following Jesus have a lot to talk about.  New Life!  What they saw was new life that rose right up out of death.

The North Alabama Annual Conference Theme

The theme of our North Alabama Conference this year was “New.”  You might think of the word N E W and think that covers it but that’s not the case at all.  We were talking about a way of life rather than a word – we want to live new rather than old.  This does not mean that we throw away all our traditions but it does mean that we question every one of them and that we welcome that which is new.  Bishop Willimon stated in his opening sermon, “God is better at creation than preservation.   Something in this God loves to make new out of nothing and to raise the dead.”  If we are going to hear God speaking to us we will have to take that giant leap into newness – God making us new.

Bishop Willimon went on to say, “So our theme is “New!”   Not because we get easily bored and want to try some new stuff, but because we really believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he loves to raise the dead, and that he commands us to be “born again” (and again!).  If Jesus can make all things new -- new heaven, new earth -- he can do that to our church.  We can’t go back and do it the way our grandparents did, not because we lack good historians but because we’ve got a good Savior who is always moving forward, setting his face to the future he is determined to own.”  (A Message from Bishop Willimon, Conference e-mail, June 4, 2007)

            Jesus Broke the Most Important Rules

If you look at the funeral that Jesus met along the way you can see that he does some new and reckless things.  First of all, he did not move over to the other side of the road as he met the procession.  He was supposed to get as far away from that dead man as possible.  He knew the rules because he was a rabbi but he decided to go against the traditions.  He reached out and stopped the funeral procession by touching the bier.  At that moment he became unclean and would have had to be avoided by everyone present.

The other tradition broken was that he brought this young man back to life.  There is a tradition that the dead stay dead.  However, in this case Jesus steps up and tells the man to get up and get on with life and the man gets up and starts talking.  Wouldn’t you like to know what he said?

                        The Focus of These Passages – God’s Power to Bring Newness
The bringing back to life, the change in faith direction, the meal and olive oil all point to one thing -- God’s power to bring newness where there is death.  All of these accounts are about God rather than the people.  All are about God’s wonder and awe.  As the Psalmist writes, “GOD's in charge--always. Zion's God is God for good! Hallelujah!”  (Psalm 146:10, The Message)  The stories are about God.

Our Church
I decided that I didn’t want to call Terry Bentley’s coming to preach for us in July a Revival because it seems that we are in the midst of a revival here at New Oregon.  I’ve asked him to come preach a Spirit Filled Sermon Series.  I want the story, his sermons, to be about God.  I believe Terry will fulfill that mission.
God is at work here at New Oregon and has been for some time.  In fact, I would venture to say that God has been at work at New Oregon since the very first day that little school and worship house was built.  God’s been busy creating right here on Lookout Mountain all this time.
        

    Our Traditions
Like every church, or institution, we have traditions that have been formed over the years.  Some of them are helpful and others are less than helpful.  Many of them are very Christian and others miss the mark.  That’s the way it is with us humans.  All traditions, whether helpful or not, are powerful.  Our traditions are “the ways” things are to be done around here.
I don’t want to start naming any of these traditions today but I’ve observed a few of them and will continue to look for our traditions.  What I want you to know is that they all are powerful.  Our church traditions can be killers of the very thing that we love – this church family.
              

          Jesus Has the Power of Newness in the Church
Jesus has the power to overcome the traditional powers within any church if we will only look his way.  Perhaps we need to weep and wail and cry out like that mother who had lost all her security in life as well as her loved one.  Eugene Peterson interprets the scripture to read, “When Jesus saw her, his heart broke.”  (Luke 7:13a The Message)
That tells us something about God and how our lives impact our Lord.  He, without question, wants this church to not just live but to be alive.  Jesus wants us to have something to talk about today and tomorrow and on into the future.  We’re beginning in His direction and I want to make sure, to the very best of my ability, to keep us going in His direction.

Ourselves
We individuals also have traditions that we follow – some are healthy and some or just plain evil.  Some of our traditions are builders of faith and some are destroyers of faith.  All our personal traditions are powerful whether good or evil.  We usually call them habits and they become powerful by repetition along with leaving them unquestioned.
The widow in the account with Elijah asked him if God had sent him to “expose” her sins and kill her son.  We don’t like to even hear the word sin today much less talk about it openly.  However, it is our sin in life that kills us physically and spiritually.
Is it possible for us to break out of our personal, sinful, traditions?  Yes it is!
Conclusion
God worked through Elijah to being newness of life.  God confronted Paul with newness of life.  Jesus broke all the important traditions for newness of life.  We all belong to Jesus and his heart breaks as we suffer from our personal traditions when they are the deadness of sin.
Jesus is saying to us, “I want to make you whole.  I offer you new life.  I can give you something that will cause you to sit up and talk.  I’ll give you something to talk about!” 
Hear these words from Bishop Willimon, “New is not a set of radical plans by our planning committee…New is what you get when you step out with Jesus.  New is what Jesus does to everything he touches.”  We are not called to recreate ourselves but to give ourselves to Jesus to be recreated!
Our conference is falling very short of ministers, especially of young ministers.  Now, I don’t know why anyone would ever want to be a minister but I do clearly understand that God calls even those who believe they can’t do it.  If you feel even the slightest call of the Lord to be a minister, regardless of age or gender, I hope that you will follow the Spirit to this altar today.  The Spirit will give you something to talk about.