Summer of Renewal: Step Out of the Cave w/ Dr. Jack Levison

A man of the Spirit. That’s what they called famed Old Testament prophet Elijah. So much so that when Elijah asked another prophet to send a message to King Ahab, that other prophet moaned, “The minute I leave you the Spirit of GOD will whisk you away to who knows where. Then when I report to Ahab, you’ll have disappeared and Ahab will K*ll me.” So much so, too, that Elijah’s protégé Elisha, just as Elijah was dying, pressed him, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” Elijah was a person of the Spirit. Fiery in faith. Fierce in his devotion to Israel’s God. An enemy of the fickle, the faithless, the feckless.

That’s the Elijah we see on Mount Carmel, where he calls 400 prophets of Baal to a contest. Where he builds an altar, drenches it with water, and calls down fire from heaven. Where he boasts, “I alone am left!

But that is not the whole of Elijah’s story. So we’ll look, too, at Elijah on another mountain: Mt. Sinai, to which he retreats after his Mt. Carmel victory because Queen Jezebel threatened to K*ll him. There, on famed Mt. Sinai, Elijah cowers in a cave. Where he whines, “I alone am left!”

This Sunday’s sermon is a tale of two mountains. We’ll join Elijah on both mountains—and ask how durable our own faith is.

Jack Levison

You may also like the following events from Harrison Square Presbyterian Church:

• This Wednesday, 25th June, 11:30 am, Abundance Pantry in Centralia
• This Sunday, 29th June, 11:30 am, Blessing Bag Assembly in Centralia
• Next month, 9th July, 11:30 am, Abundance Pantry in Centralia