WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:05.820 Please join me in prayer. Almighty God, in you 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.599 are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 00:00:09.259 --> 00:00:11.900 Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of 00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:15.140 your word and give us grace that we may clearly 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.260 understand and freely choose the way of your 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:23.660 wisdom. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Our second 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:26.160 reading this morning comes to us from 1 Kings 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:30.839 chapter 19 verses 1 through 13. Let us now listen 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:35.460 to God's word. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:38.219 had done and how he had killed all the prophets 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:41.299 with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:45.119 to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:48.560 more also if I do not make your life like the 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.820 life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:55.960 he was afraid. He got up and fled for his life 00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:58.859 and he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah. 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:02.340 and there he left his servant. But he himself 00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:05.079 went a day's journey into the wilderness and 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.620 came and sat under a solitary broom tree. He 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:12.140 asked that he may die. It is enough now, O Lord, 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:15.180 take away my life, for I am no better than my 00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:18.420 ancestors. Then he lay down under the broom tree 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:21.540 and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him 00:01:21.540 --> 00:01:25.510 and said to him, Get up and eat. He looked, and 00:01:25.510 --> 00:01:28.769 there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones 00:01:28.769 --> 00:01:32.650 and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay 00:01:32.650 --> 00:01:35.349 down again. The angel of the Lord came a second 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:38.549 time, touched him, and said, Get up and eat, 00:01:38.689 --> 00:01:41.730 or the journey will be too much for you. He got 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:45.170 up and ate and drank. Then he went in the strength 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:48.430 of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:51.790 the mount of God. At that place he came to a 00:01:51.790 --> 00:01:55.379 cave and spent the night there. Then the word 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:57.939 of the Lord came to him saying, What are you 00:01:57.939 --> 00:02:00.859 doing here, Elijah? He answered, I have been 00:02:00.859 --> 00:02:03.659 very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:06.379 for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.199 thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:12.580 with the sword. I alone am left, and they are 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:16.560 seeking my life to take it away. He said, Go 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.419 out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, 00:02:19.539 --> 00:02:23.280 for the Lord is about to pass by. Now there was 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:25.819 a great wind, so strong that it was splitting 00:02:25.819 --> 00:02:29.020 mountains and breaking rocks and pieces before 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:32.879 the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.939 after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was 00:02:34.939 --> 00:02:37.800 not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:41.800 a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:46.780 after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:50.099 Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle. 00:02:50.569 --> 00:02:52.710 went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. 00:02:53.110 --> 00:02:56.069 Then there came a voice to him that said, What 00:02:56.069 --> 00:03:00.030 are you doing here, Elijah? The word of God for 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:05.129 the people of God. Thanks be to God. So this 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:07.889 morning, I was on my way here at what my father 00:03:07.889 --> 00:03:12.270 used to call Zero Dark Thirty, and a little sleepy. 00:03:13.030 --> 00:03:15.810 And I drove all the way here, no traffic obviously, 00:03:16.030 --> 00:03:19.750 got here, got here, parked in the parking lot, 00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:22.189 and realized I didn't remember anything about 00:03:22.189 --> 00:03:24.810 the journey. Didn't remember anything about the 00:03:24.810 --> 00:03:27.669 ride here at all. Not a single thing. Just that 00:03:27.669 --> 00:03:30.490 I left there and I got here. Have you experienced 00:03:30.490 --> 00:03:32.689 things like that when you do things by rote? 00:03:32.750 --> 00:03:35.629 You do them so often that you don't even know 00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:38.129 what happened along the journey. You just know 00:03:38.129 --> 00:03:40.150 you got from point A to point B and that was 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:42.710 what was most important. And that can happen 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:44.729 sometimes when we're so focused on where we're 00:03:44.729 --> 00:03:46.909 going that we don't pay any attention to what 00:03:46.909 --> 00:03:51.229 we're going through. Sometimes, I leave one room, 00:03:51.349 --> 00:03:53.949 go into another room to do something, and for 00:03:53.949 --> 00:03:55.750 the life of me, can't remember what I went into 00:03:55.750 --> 00:03:58.270 that room to do. Now, some people out there will 00:03:58.270 --> 00:03:59.550 go, well, yeah, that's because you're older. 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:03.349 No, it's happened to me since I was 12 years 00:04:03.349 --> 00:04:07.469 old. And I know that it can happen because of 00:04:07.469 --> 00:04:09.810 aging, and that is true. But it also happens 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:11.629 to people who are younger, and it may happen 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:14.669 maybe because we're distracted or stressed out 00:04:14.669 --> 00:04:17.029 or because we've lost our focus, but it does 00:04:17.029 --> 00:04:21.579 happen to us. We forget our goal or we totally 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:24.699 miss what happens along our journey. So I do 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:27.160 have a question for all of you. What are you 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:31.339 doing here? No, really, what are you doing here? 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:36.399 Have you thought about it? Have you thought about 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:39.180 what got you here to this point in your life's 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:41.680 journey? Do you remember the people and the moments 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.420 that helped you and directed you? What are you 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:47.470 doing here? in this place at this time with these 00:04:47.470 --> 00:04:51.110 people at the beginning of Lent. Have you thought 00:04:51.110 --> 00:04:54.209 about it? This is the first Sunday of Lent and 00:04:54.209 --> 00:04:56.589 we now begin a journey that's going to be both 00:04:56.589 --> 00:04:59.709 taken together and individually. And yes, it 00:04:59.709 --> 00:05:02.889 is truly a journey. I grew up going to church 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:05.089 and actually sometimes being dragged to church. 00:05:05.529 --> 00:05:07.509 And that means that I've gone through Lent a 00:05:07.509 --> 00:05:10.029 whole bunch of times. Don't try figuring out 00:05:10.029 --> 00:05:15.759 how many times I've gone through Lent. But growing 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:19.680 up, Lent didn't mean a lot to me when I was little. 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:23.720 You know, it was a journey I went through, but 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:25.759 it wasn't something that I really knew a lot 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.199 about. And I was young. I knew that Lent did 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:30.339 something, though. It was a waiting period. It 00:05:30.339 --> 00:05:32.100 was a time when we went along and that at the 00:05:32.100 --> 00:05:34.399 end was going to be Easter. And what I knew as 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.120 a young kid about Easter was two things. One, 00:05:37.339 --> 00:05:39.259 I was going to have to dress up and wear a tie. 00:05:40.259 --> 00:05:43.350 And two, there'd be candy. That's the only thing 00:05:43.350 --> 00:05:44.990 that mattered. I was getting there and that was 00:05:44.990 --> 00:05:48.870 it. Only when I got older did I realize and pay 00:05:48.870 --> 00:05:51.490 any attention at all to the actual journey and 00:05:51.490 --> 00:05:55.149 realize what Lent was about. And Lent, as I got 00:05:55.149 --> 00:05:57.170 through Lent and looked at it, I looked at Easter 00:05:57.170 --> 00:05:59.089 as something more deeply meaningful than I had 00:05:59.089 --> 00:06:02.250 when I was young. Now, no matter how many times 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:05.370 you and I have repeated this journey, we now 00:06:05.370 --> 00:06:10.290 begin again. We begin anew. with another opportunity 00:06:10.290 --> 00:06:12.649 to reflect on our faith and practice spiritual 00:06:12.649 --> 00:06:16.230 discipline, to take stock along the way and even 00:06:16.230 --> 00:06:19.689 take time to do some soul searching, to ask ourselves 00:06:19.689 --> 00:06:24.350 if we are now who God has called us to be. During 00:06:24.350 --> 00:06:26.370 the Sundays leading up to Easter, we will be 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:29.730 focusing on fellow travelers in the Bible, people 00:06:29.730 --> 00:06:32.930 who have walked the road before us and for whom 00:06:32.930 --> 00:06:35.769 the road was not always easy. It's an opportunity 00:06:35.769 --> 00:06:38.949 for us to learn from their journeys. Elijah, 00:06:38.949 --> 00:06:42.110 in today's story, is one such traveler. Poor 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:45.990 Elijah. He gets asked twice by God, what are 00:06:45.990 --> 00:06:50.170 you doing here? And the question's posed to him. 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:55.350 By the way, as an aside, when you arrive in heaven, 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:58.790 the last thing you want to hear God say is, what 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:02.759 are you doing here? And certainly, And I could 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:06.279 pick a few out, like Russ. And certainly, you 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:09.120 don't want to hear, what are you doing here? 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:11.879 Right? That would be worse. Russ has been picking 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:13.339 on me today, so I just let him go over there. 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.720 So back to Elijah. He's on the road. He's on 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:20.220 the run from Jezebel. He's completely stressed 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:23.500 out. He's longing for relief. He believes he's 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:25.899 a failed prophet, and he believes he can't go 00:07:25.899 --> 00:07:30.759 on. He is at a very low point in his life. Can 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.470 you relate? It can be so hard to focus on much 00:07:34.470 --> 00:07:36.509 of anything when you're stressed out or just 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:39.430 plain exhausted. The demands of daily life can 00:07:39.430 --> 00:07:42.569 be overwhelming and we all know that. Elijah 00:07:42.569 --> 00:07:45.930 turns to God asking for one thing, for it all 00:07:45.930 --> 00:07:50.110 to end. Instead, God provides a different response. 00:07:50.629 --> 00:07:53.750 God sends an angel to bring him sustenance through 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:56.170 bread and water. Not only did the angel bring 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:58.810 the food and water once, but he did it twice 00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:01.029 and encouraged him both times to eat and build 00:08:01.029 --> 00:08:04.470 up his strength. for the journey ahead. The angel 00:08:04.470 --> 00:08:07.709 is persistent, and Elijah is not easily convinced. 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:11.029 But he does finally give in, and he continues 00:08:11.029 --> 00:08:13.410 on his journey, making his way to Horeb, the 00:08:13.410 --> 00:08:16.709 mount of the Lord. Once there, he finds a cave 00:08:16.709 --> 00:08:19.110 that he can rest in, and he hears the word of 00:08:19.110 --> 00:08:22.269 the Lord ask him, what are you doing here, Elijah? 00:08:23.750 --> 00:08:25.949 Is that question supposed to be a wake -up call 00:08:25.949 --> 00:08:29.149 for Elijah? Is it God's way of trying to get 00:08:29.149 --> 00:08:33.379 Elijah back on track? Is God making a point with 00:08:33.379 --> 00:08:36.600 that question? Is Elijah being called out by 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:40.879 God? Now there are times when we all, same as 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:44.120 Elijah, we all need to be called out. Whether 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.320 we ask ourselves, what am I doing here? Or whether 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.120 the wake -up call comes from someone else. We 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.440 need that wake -up call to get our journey and 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:56.679 our life back on track. It's an opportunity for 00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:59.970 us to look inward and take stock. to be reminded 00:08:59.970 --> 00:09:02.590 of who we are called to be and how we are called 00:09:02.590 --> 00:09:07.309 to live. We all need those moments, those markers 00:09:07.309 --> 00:09:11.049 along our journey to keep us on the path. Now, 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:13.250 you could think of them as cairns. I don't know 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:14.909 how many of you are familiar with cairns, but 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:19.570 it's spelled C -A -I -R -N -S. Cairns are piles 00:09:19.570 --> 00:09:23.090 of rocks. They are literally piles of rocks that 00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:26.580 people stack up. Cairns were our ancestors' way 00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:28.840 and their first foray into building structures. 00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:31.440 Pile some rocks on top of each other and they 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:33.740 would have the beginnings of a shelter or a place 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:37.559 to store some food. In Tibet, Buddhists used 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:40.240 them in ceremonies to call in good fortune and 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.440 balance conflicting energies. Before the intervention 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.519 of lighthouses, cairns warned sailors away from 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.039 Norway's jagged fjords. They also became markers, 00:09:50.259 --> 00:09:53.120 markers to help travelers find their way and 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:56.120 not get lost. In the midst of a wilderness area, 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.740 where the scenery all looks the same, they can 00:09:59.740 --> 00:10:02.120 keep you on the path when the trail is hard to 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:06.360 see. Now at times, we lose our path, and we find 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:09.360 ourselves wandering in the wilderness. A spiritual 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:12.840 cairn can get us back moving in the right direction. 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:16.059 Cairns are markers left by others to help us 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:18.559 and to guide us, to make our journey a little 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:21.840 easier. We just need to take the time to look 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:26.059 for them. And I want to share a story which will 00:10:26.059 --> 00:10:29.259 illustrate, at least has illustrated to me, a 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:31.980 little bit about my faith journey and about finding 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:36.200 my way. Years ago, before we had GPS, before 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:38.440 we had, you know, any way of finding our way 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:41.019 places, before we had cell phones, my wife Maureen 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:43.440 and I went on our first trip to Europe. We rented 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:44.940 a car. We drove through I don't know how many 00:10:44.940 --> 00:10:48.350 countries with a map, with a map. So it's the 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:49.909 two of us, the little car, you don't get big 00:10:49.909 --> 00:10:51.669 cars, you get little cars, and going through. 00:10:52.029 --> 00:10:54.070 And of course, not knowing what we're doing, 00:10:54.190 --> 00:10:59.330 we drive into Paris during rush hour. Now those 00:10:59.330 --> 00:11:00.769 of you who have ever been in Paris know you don't 00:11:00.769 --> 00:11:02.570 even want to drive into Paris when it's not rush 00:11:02.570 --> 00:11:05.990 hour, but we drove in during rush hour. And we 00:11:05.990 --> 00:11:09.429 were completely lost. We needed to find our lodging. 00:11:09.830 --> 00:11:11.750 It was in another part of the city and we didn't 00:11:11.750 --> 00:11:14.409 know how to get there. And we came to an intersection. 00:11:15.659 --> 00:11:19.120 And it was 16 lanes of traffic, all for every 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.080 way, coming at each other. And there were two 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:23.559 police out there directing traffic, stopping 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:27.120 it, moving it. And my very smart wife said, we 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:29.659 should ask directions. And I figured there were 00:11:29.659 --> 00:11:33.299 two choices, get divorced in France or ask for 00:11:33.299 --> 00:11:36.000 directions. So I chose the directions. And I 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:38.960 waved over the one gendarme. And he came over, 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:41.080 which surprised me. He made us pull up a little 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:44.320 bit onto the center island. And I realized he 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.980 spoke no English whatsoever. I pointed out where 00:11:47.980 --> 00:11:50.620 I wanted to go. This is where we need to go. 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:52.919 And he thought about it for a second. He goes... 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:59.600 So we figured, okay, that way, two blocks. Figured 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:04.129 that seemed sensible. And then he went... So 00:12:04.129 --> 00:12:06.129 that way, three blocks. So we're trying to memorize 00:12:06.129 --> 00:12:07.210 this because we don't have anything to write 00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:09.250 it down with. Memorizing how we're going to get 00:12:09.250 --> 00:12:11.269 where we're going. But he went through the whole 00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:13.490 thing with us. So now we figure, now we know 00:12:13.490 --> 00:12:14.789 where we're going and we just have to figure 00:12:14.789 --> 00:12:16.970 out how to get our car off the median and back 00:12:16.970 --> 00:12:21.350 into the traffic and we'd move on. He walks over 00:12:21.350 --> 00:12:24.149 and talks to the other gendarme and they're talking 00:12:24.149 --> 00:12:26.350 to each other and the other one goes, okay. They 00:12:26.350 --> 00:12:27.850 walk to the middle of the intersection and they 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:32.340 go. And they stop all of the traffic in every 00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:40.960 direction. And he goes, and away we go. We got 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.899 lost again later on. But it really is an example, 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:49.240 right, of a faith journey. We get somewhere and 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:52.480 we feel a little bit lost. And then we find a 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.110 way. to figure out what we're going to do to 00:12:55.110 --> 00:12:57.090 get ourselves back on track. With our faith, 00:12:57.129 --> 00:12:59.230 it may be talking to someone who's very special 00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:00.870 and being able to share with them. It may be 00:13:00.870 --> 00:13:03.269 reading the Bible. It may be a devotion. It may 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:06.169 be praying. It may be any of those things, but 00:13:06.169 --> 00:13:09.149 it helps to clear the way. And sure, we're going 00:13:09.149 --> 00:13:11.850 to get off track and get lost again, but then 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:13.549 we just need to do the process all over again, 00:13:13.690 --> 00:13:18.889 right? That's the way that it works. Now, being 00:13:18.889 --> 00:13:22.049 open to direction, Being willing to persevere 00:13:22.049 --> 00:13:24.629 and having a way ahead cleared and trusting God 00:13:24.629 --> 00:13:26.929 in helping you through your journey really is 00:13:26.929 --> 00:13:29.769 the way to move forward. The second time Elijah 00:13:29.769 --> 00:13:32.269 is asked, what are you doing here? It follows 00:13:32.269 --> 00:13:34.990 all that drama of the ferocious wind, mighty 00:13:34.990 --> 00:13:37.690 earthquake, raging fire. We're told that God 00:13:37.690 --> 00:13:40.210 was not in those dramatic moments, not this time. 00:13:40.750 --> 00:13:44.230 This time, God is in the silence. The scripture 00:13:44.230 --> 00:13:48.149 calls it the sound of sheer silence. It could 00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:50.570 be thought of as a whisper. or in that moment, 00:13:50.649 --> 00:13:54.070 the calm after the storm. Our lives don't usually 00:13:54.070 --> 00:13:56.570 have a lot of times of silence. We've gotten 00:13:56.570 --> 00:13:59.190 so used to being busy and having noise all around 00:13:59.190 --> 00:14:02.610 us. It's constant noise, constant motion, often 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:05.990 chaos, so much so that sometimes sitting in... 00:14:05.990 --> 00:14:15.200 Does that work? There we go. Okay, so sitting 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:17.100 in silence can be sometimes uncomfortable for 00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:19.240 us. If you don't believe that, think about this 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:21.559 for a moment. When we have the moment of silence 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.419 during the confession, we do the prayer, and 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:26.399 then there's that moment of silence. It usually 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:29.740 goes about to a count of 1 ,008, and then we 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:33.399 say amen. What if we went 10 minutes? You'd all 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:36.519 be in the seats going, did they forget? And poor 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:38.299 Kathy would be back there with her fingers like 00:14:38.299 --> 00:14:40.620 this waiting to play something while we're having 00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:43.139 all of this silence going on. Silence can, in 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:46.340 fact, make us uncomfortable. But perhaps silence 00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:48.419 is actually the gift that we can give ourselves 00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:51.980 during this Lenten journey. Finding moments to 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:55.100 move out of the chaos, to spend time calming 00:14:55.100 --> 00:14:58.820 our minds, meditating, reading the Bible, praying, 00:14:58.919 --> 00:15:03.379 whatever allows us to pause in our journey. I 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:05.200 find it hard to be comfortable in long periods 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:08.799 of silence. However, I also know that some of 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.500 the most profound moments in my faith life and 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:14.419 in my life in general have come in moments of 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:17.200 silence. Perhaps you've experienced the same. 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:19.860 Being open to hearing and feeling the Spirit 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.299 and taking to heart what you hear and feel in 00:15:22.299 --> 00:15:25.179 those quiet moments of reflection can be life 00:15:25.179 --> 00:15:28.299 -changing. Although I didn't read the next part 00:15:28.299 --> 00:15:31.360 of the story this morning, God does provide Elijah 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:34.370 with direction. It occurs after the sound of 00:15:34.370 --> 00:15:37.269 silence when Elijah emerges from the cave, humble 00:15:37.269 --> 00:15:40.330 and ready to hear what God would reveal. And 00:15:40.330 --> 00:15:42.909 God does give him direction as to where to go 00:15:42.909 --> 00:15:46.409 next and what to do next. In one perspective 00:15:46.409 --> 00:15:49.169 by a theologian on this moment, they said, in 00:15:49.169 --> 00:15:52.230 other words, God tells Elijah to go back to work. 00:15:52.830 --> 00:15:55.070 Elijah does not have to give up being frustrated. 00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:59.269 God just will not let him give in to it. God 00:15:59.269 --> 00:16:01.570 won't let him go. He doesn't have to stop being 00:16:01.570 --> 00:16:04.070 frustrated. But he's not allowed to give in to 00:16:04.070 --> 00:16:06.289 it. He needs to move forward and to move on. 00:16:07.149 --> 00:16:10.149 Elijah had to be open to listen in order to hear 00:16:10.149 --> 00:16:13.009 the direction God was ready to give him. Isn't 00:16:13.009 --> 00:16:16.049 that the same for us? We need to be ready to 00:16:16.049 --> 00:16:18.250 hear God's word in the silence as well in the 00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:23.049 chaos of life. Lent is a journey. It's our journey 00:16:23.049 --> 00:16:25.730 together and individually over these coming weeks. 00:16:26.210 --> 00:16:28.919 We know how it ends. We know we're headed to 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:32.039 Easter and all that it promises to us. Maybe, 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:35.539 just maybe, the best way to travel through Lent 00:16:35.539 --> 00:16:38.039 is to forget that we know where the journey will 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:41.679 lead and instead take time to focus on the journey 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.539 itself, looking for cairns along the way, maybe 00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:48.639 even stopping for directions, making time to 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.019 listen for God's voice in moments of silence, 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.779 and being willing to sincerely ask ourselves, 00:16:55.100 --> 00:17:02.419 what am I doing here? Let us pray. O God, as 00:17:02.419 --> 00:17:05.460 we walk this Lenten path, grant us the grace 00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:07.559 to be receptive to your guidance and teachings. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:11.220 May your word take root within us, transforming 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:13.839 our lives and drawing us ever closer to you. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.019 Strengthen our resolve to live in faith and love, 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:20.779 reflecting your light in our every step. Amen.