Rise!

by Liz Goodyear-Jones

2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14

“Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” It’s a question on many, many lips in these days. Where IS the Lord in all this? Guns, babies, women, immigrants, children, men: where in the world is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Our cry is a cry from our hearts, nearly all our hearts, no matter which of many viewpoints we have. It is a cry from the depths of us.

Perhaps, to answer that question, we first need to look to Elisha. His cry might have been one of desperation and sorrow. His Prophet had just gone and his world as he knew it, had too. But instead, I assert his cry was a mighty warriors’ cry, one of power and generation, fueled by the one thing that can rocket our visions and prayers to fruition, and that is – Faith. 

He had listened to Elijah and believed him. He had rent himself from self-doubt and sorrow, and brought forth a new power of being – of Being a prophet. And then he acted; he generated the waters parting – and they did.

But what about us, you may be asking? How do we get to the place where we can call forth a new thing, delight in a new vision? How must we “rise to the occasion” as it were. The key is in the story itself. It lies at the heart of everyone who has ever called forth a new possibility. If I could put my finger on it, I can only call it – faith. A turning away from doubt and despair and a rending of the garments of “no possibility” and “anger” and a strengthening of our backbones that we have listened and heard the One whom we follow and out of that listening have struck the waters of life and brought forth a new thing. A new thing comprised of loving our neighbor as ourselves, born from our love of God. 

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