From Our Interim Rector: Elijah and Walking with Angels

We come across the prophet Elijah in our first lesson this Sunday. He is in a sorry state. He has dismissed his servant and friend and gone out alone, a day’s journey into the wilderness. He is sitting under a tree as solitary as he is. He says he has had enough. He asks to die and lies down to wait for his prayer to be answered.

What is the matter with him? How did he get in such a state? We don’t know. 

Perhaps he is simply exhausted from the stress of being a prophet. We know from the previous chapter that he spent the entire day competing with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel for the souls of his people. He and the Baal’s prophets traded insults and taunts all day like children on a playground: “My God is stronger than your God!” “Your God is a joke!” “My God is going to whoop your God but good!” At the end of the day, the true God sent fire on the sacrifice Elijah had prepared for him, while the sacrifices the prophets of Baal had prepared for their false gods still sat there, a soggy, bloody mess. God won the contest for Elijah, but it took a lot out of the prophet.

Perhaps Elijah is out there in the wilderness because he’s afraid to go anywhere else. Queen Jezebel has put a price on his head. She has not taken kindly to what Elijah did to the prophets of her god Baal. The wilderness is the only place he feels safe.

Perhaps he is in the wilderness because he is depressed. He has, after all, the classic symptoms: he has withdrawn from everyone, even those closest to him; he has no energy for anything except lying around; he has given up eating; he can’t see any way out of his misery but death.

Perhaps he is angry at God. In the following passage he complains that God has let him down. He has tried to do what was right, he has done everything God asked him to do, and his reward is that there is a price on his head. Where’s the justice in that?

Whatever the reasons Elijah is in the state he is in, our hearts go out to him.

Then comes the good news. An angel from God shows up. He touches Elijah, then puts some food and water in front of Elijah and says nothing but, “Get up and eat.” Elijah does, but then he lies back down again. The angel shows up again with food, again he touches Elijah, but this time, besides serving the food he says to him, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” The angel is offering Elijah not just food for his body, but also whatever help Elijah may need to get himself out of the state he is in.

This time Elijah gets up, eats and drinks, and then uses “the strength of that food” to journey back to Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) to encounter his God and figure out with God what he needs to do to get his life back on track. In the rest of the First Book of Kings Elijah goes from strength to strength, until the chariots of fire come to carry him away. It’s an inspiring story.

When I attended my first SUPPER at St. Martin’s, I realized how well the members of this congregation “get” this story. They had invited the whole community to SUPPER, no questions asked, no money requested, no commitment demanded. The community arrived with family, with friends, alone; parishioners, neighbors, perfect strangers. Who knows why they came, what burdens they were bearing. Angels from St. Martin’s met them at the door, clasped them by the hand and welcomed them by name. Other angels filled their plates with truly delicious food prepared by yet more angels, and seated them at tables with interesting folk. Information prepared by other angels was readily available on the opportunities available to them at St. Martin’s. When SUPPER was over, they were sent on their way, hopefully strengthened for their journeys.

I went home walking on air. I had been with the angels. I was so proud.

Blessings,

Rev. Phyllis Taylor

What's Next After St. Martin's?

Some years before I came to St. Martin’s, I attended three cooking classes taught by Christina Pirello, the host of WHYY’s Christina Cooks. In these classes, I learned how to cook in what Christina calls the “whole foods way”. “Cooking the whole foods way” means using fresh vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes, and avoiding processed food. I was excited to be in Christina’s class because it took me back to my childhood days when I used to watch my mother cook. Interestingly, I learned that my mother also cooked in the whole foods way. You might say that Christina’s course was an advanced version of, what for me is, back-home cooking. So her class enabled me to refine my cooking skills. In particular, I learned different ways of chopping vegetables, how to
use my intuition when combining ingredients to make a recipe, and how to use appliances like a pressure cooker. I was also excited by the abundance and diversity of vegetables and legumes: so many colors, shapes and sizes with which to experiment. My choices of ingredients expanded. I now include leeks, rutabagas, parsnips, turnips, collard greens, kale, quinoa, flax seed, and many other ingredients in my recipes. 

Christina has inspired me since I took her classes. When she was 27 years old (some 30 years ago) she was diagnosed with terminal leukemia and did the most courageous thing. She opted to forego conventional treatment because, she told us, she saw how her mother suffered as she underwent chemotherapy. Around the same time of her diagnosis she met her future husband, Robert, who introduced her to Macrobiotic cooking and the macrobiotic lifestyle. A major part of her treatment was a matter of nutrition, and she credits her healing to eating in the way Robert taught her. She went into remission after a year and a half! As a nurse I was amazed by her recovery and by her trust in the power of nature to heal. Our body has the capacity to heal itself. We all have a healer-within, if we but trust in the power of our body to heal itself. 

I’ve heard and read similar courageous healing stories like Christina’s that inspire me and my husband to adopt their eating lifestyle to complement the traditional treatment he is receiving.

Some of you asked me about what I am going to do when I leave St. Martin’s. Well, I am going to take some Sabbath time and cook. I am going to cook like I’ve never cooked before. That is, I am going to devote more time to cooking than I ever did in the past. I have a collection of recipes from a stack of cookbooks that have been on my shelf for quite a while now just waiting to be cooked! These recipes are calling to me. And I plan to create some of my own recipes as well.

Lately, I have been spending much of my time in the kitchen when I’m home. I have come to consider my kitchen a sacred space in which I prepare holy food for nourishment and healing. Cooking has become a prayer exercise in which I thank God for the abundance God has given us and I ask God to bless each ingredient I am using for that meal. I also ask God to bless the fire, the pots and pans, and my hands.

I am looking forward to new possibilities during my Sabbath time and beyond. God willing, all will be well.

- The Rev. Harriet Kollin

The Rev. Harriet Kollin, Associate Rector, is leaving her employ at St. Martin's at the end of June. We'll celebrate her ministry with us these past three years, and wish her a blessed and fond farewell at the Pentecost worship services on Sunday, June 8, 2014.