Here is Rev Helen’s sermon from Wednesday 19 June 2024:
No one likes a wait do they, especially a long one! If your patience level is anything like mine then you’ll know what I mean! My brother was the worst, when we used to go on holiday, sometimes in the early hours and heading down to Cornwall, Devon, Wales, we’d get to the end of our road and the question would come from the back, ‘are we nearly there yet?’, then my dad would turn the air blue. At least we knew though, ok it might be 6 or 7 hours driving but we’d get there. However, what if you don’t know the end time and how do you wait well.
We have heard the start of a wait in the reading today, the day Elijah has left the world and he been taken up to heaven on a whirl wind, Elisha has been left behind and he is upset. This led to a wait, a wait for Elijah to return and our Jewish brothers, sisters and siblings set a place for Elijah at the table when they celebrate Passover for him if he choices their home to return to. They wait and wait wondering what he will do, what he will say, will he be what they were expecting? What about when that wait results in an unexpected result. At my sending church in Oldham we had a cedar meal during Holy Week and during this a place is set for Elijah. It was a lovely night and usually a very nice lamb casserole as well. At the end of the meal Derek, our vicar, would send the children to have a look in the porch and see if Elijah was there and they would return saying no. Then one year as the sat down we heard the door banging loudly and then it flew open. There was a moment of silence and everyone was very quiet thinking really…now, the wait is over, Elijah has returned and he’s in Oldham, stranger things have happened I’m sure. Next thing we know my dad walking in through the door! He’d been working late and thought he would come via church to see if there was any casserole left. Then followed a bizarre few minutes while Derek (trying not to laugh) has to explain to children that this wasn’t Elijah just one of the wardens with bad or good timing depending on how you see it while my dad sat eating a large plate of casserole, that’s all he wanted. So the wait wasn’t over and many wait patiently for the return of Elijah.
But Elijah isn’t the only person being waited for here, we are waiting for someone who went away and promised to come back and that is Jesus. When he ascended into heaven this message was given by two angels ‘Why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ it was promised Jesus would return and 2,000 years later we are still waiting for him and we don’t know when he will come back? So what do you do with an un ended wait.
That’s one of the things I like about the gospel today as it gives some very good examples on how to wait well. We know the story that Jesus left for us, his teachings, his actions, his miracles, his story, to tell of his life, his death and his resurrection. How sometimes you don’t have to be loud to be sincere. Is the best prayer the one that is well formed, thought out and has a clear beginning middle and end or is it the one cried out in desperation, anger or with tears of joy, the person who really, really means it! Is the best show of piety the person who goes through the street flagellating or evangelising loudly in the town to hear or the person stood next to them quietly praying and showing God’s interference in their life? Is a song that’s well rehearsed and tuneful the best or the slightly out of tune one that is really sang from the heart?
Which of these really matters to Jesus when were are giving an account of ourselves to him in this world or in the next. What would he really want from us here? How would he want us to best use the time while we wait for him to return. It’s going to be a while, I don’t know when the wait will be over. If anyone ever has an inkling let me know so we can run a quick duster over. It’s going to be a while and we are going to have to wait but let’s make sure we wait well, let’s do what Jesus asked and have something that he would be proud of and lets make sure we have lots to tell him when we see him again and that we have used the time wisely. Amen
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 