There is a lot in a tone of voice. Did God sound annoyed when God asked: What are you doing here? Or Why are you here? Was God angry?
Or was God confused, like God didn’t expect Elijah to be there.
Or was God full of compassion and love, maybe even sadness, What are you doing here? Why are you here?
I want to think that it was the last one–that God was moved in compassion and love. I imagine while God would understand why Elijah would be there, but that wasn’t where Elijah was supposed to be. He had started this journey under a broom-tree seemingly waiting to die. And with a nap and a snack, he made it to the mountain of God. I’m sure he thought he would meet God there, like Moses did, in earthquake and fire and wind. And yet. This time, God wasn’t in them.
Elijah’s life, at least lately had been noisy–he had just won, or God had won, a worship battle with Ba’al and his priests and prophets. There had been chanting and songs and screaming… which would have no doubt carried over to when Elijah had the prophets of Ba’al murdered. And while Jezebel sent messengers to give Elijah a death threat, he felt like he heard her voice from across the miles.
He was probably used to the noise, and used to assuming he knew how God functioned in this world. He was tired, scared, disheartened, depressed, ready to give up.
“Why are you here, Elijah” Elijah says everything is awful!
And God reminds him of the noise that bounds through his body like a subwoofer when you’re in the back seat, and the shaking like seem to rattle your atoms against each other, and the fire it feels like the baby hairs on your face are singed.
But where Elijah needed God wasn’t in this signs and wonders of power but in the sound of silence, the quiet, the still small voice.
Why are you here, Elijah?
And God gave Elijah a new call, his work wasn’t done, he had to go and continue God’s work out there.
But here, he needed something different than power and fire, wars and floods.
Here he needed rest, quiet, snack and a nap, he needed to remember who he was and whose he was, and why and for whom he did the work that he did. Here he needed what was necessary to go forth and continue.
Why are you here?
We come on Sundays. Every week or on occasion. And we hope to meet God in a song, or a sermon. Which is the goal, but also kinda a lot of pressure on us.
But maybe here is what you need to hear your next call from God–quiet and a place to rest. A snack and a nap if you need it, and a friend to remind you you’re not alone. Maybe here is to remind you of who and whose you are. To remind you that you are called, your call with change with you, and you are always called to the next thing.
Here you gather what you need to do the work of God in the world for those who God loves beyond the doors, and within. Here is where we learn and discover and become those who work for the love of God.
Here is where we tell stories of our ancestors, in our books and in our pasts, that gathered here (in this space) or here (in our hearts), we remember their legacies and what they have left behind for us in love, and here is where we decide and tell the stories of the legacies we are going to leave behind here.
But here is not the call. Here is not the ministry. Here is where we listen in the quiet, rest and refresh, gather strength for the journey. Here is where we might be where we hear the whisper, the silent voice, the sound of God–there is where we are called to.