2 Kings 2.1-2, 6-14

Several years ago the professor in one of my doctoral courses at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry asked us to complete the following assignment:  imagine your life is a book, divide it into chapters, give each chapter a title, and identify the chapter you are currently living in.  At the time he gave us this assignment, I didn't give it much thought.  Later I discovered that it is a very helpful thing to do.  My life divides into five completed chapters: foundation, decision, formation, redirection, and mission.  The chapter I am living in now has the title reproduction, because I now want to raise up new leaders for ministry in and through the church.

Our lesson today from 2 Kings 2 has two famous biblical prophets who are writing important chapters in their lives---chapters that overlap and inform each other.  One prophet is Elijah, the person featured in our Old Testament lessons from the past three Sundays.  The other prophet is Elisha, the person who takes over from Elijah and continues the prophetic work he began.  Elijah is living in the concluding chapter of his life; Elisha is living in the defining chapter of this life.  Let's take a closer look at each of these prophets and the chapter of their lives.

ELIJAH: THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER

First, we see Elijah in the concluding chapter of his life.  The lesson from 2 Kings begins with these words: "Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal."  Elijah has been a great prophet of Israel for a number of years, but now he can see the end.  So he sets out on a journey with his servant Elisha from Gilgal to Bethel to the Jordan River.  At each stop he is reminded that the Lord will soon take him away.

Elijah's time has come because of the Lord, not because he has somehow lost it as prophet.  In fact, when he comes to the Jordan River he takes off his mantle, his cloak, and strikes the water so that he and Elisha can cross it on dry ground.  Apparently, Elijah still has the power that comes from the Spirit of God resting on him.  And as he walks on the other side of the river, a chariot and horses of fire descend, taking him up into heaven.  What an impressive concluding chapter this is to Elijah's life and work as a prophet.

Some of you here today are in the same chapter of life as Elijah was in 2 Kings 2: the concluding one.  Of course, one day all of us will be living in that chapter.  For those of us who sense we might be in the concluding chapter, I want to tell you a story.  In 1990 I interviewed to be the rector of the Episcopal Church in North Hollywood.  I was not chosen, but I did become friends with the senior warden named Wicks.  Several years later he retired from a successful law practice in LA, and then disappeared from view.  When I began my doctoral program at Trinity, I discovered what had happened to him: after retirement he had gone to be the volunteer administrative officer at the seminary, overseeing the finances and personnel of the school.  We got together for lunch and I asked him why he was doing this work rather than taking it easy.  Here is his reply: "The Lord put it upon my heart to finish well."  If you are either living in or close to living in the last chapter of you life, I offer you these words of advice from my friend Wicks: Finish well.  That is exactly what Elijah did in the concluding chapter of his life.

ELISHA: THE DEFINING CHAPTER

Second, we see Elisha in the defining chapter of his life.  Today's lesson is not the first time we read about Elisha.  He originally appears in 1 Kings 19.19, immediately after God speaks to Elijah in that "still, small voice" on Mount Horeb: "So he set out from there, and found Elisah son of Shaphat, who was plowing...Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle over him."  And from that day on the young Elisha follows the older prophet as his servant and disciple.

In today's lesson, Elisha must now decide if he is going to take over Elijah's work as a prophet.  Shortly before he is taken up into heaven, Elijah asks him this question: "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you."  And what does Elisha ask for?  He wants to succeed the prophet as the eldest son would succeed his father, doing what he did with the same power (that is the meaning of his answer, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit").  And Elisha does just that, as we read at the end of today's lesson: "He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, ‘Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?'  When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over."  Elisha has now written the defining chapter of his life---from this day on he will be a prophet like Elijah.

For many of us here today, the defining chapter of our live was written a while ago, probably in our twenties or early thirties.  That was certainly the case with me: I decided to follow Christ as my Lord and Savior at 20, I decided to go to seminary and enter the ordained ministry at 21, I decided to be a pastoral rather than a scholar at 25---each of these were crucial decisions that shaped the rest of my life.  And this is why I have such a burden for the college age and young adults of this society: so many of them are writing the defining chapter of their lives without the benefit of a Christian faith and Christian Church.  What is the age with the smallest percentage of church involvement in this country?  20-34 year olds, many of whom are writing the defining chapter of their lives!  Like Elisha in today's lesson, these young adults need Elijahs to come along and teach them the ways of the Lord while they are deciding what direction to go in.

Here is my question to you this morning: what chapter of your life are you living in now?  Are you in the concluding chapter like Elijah?  If so, finish well.  Are you in the defining chapter like Elisha?  If so, you may need an Elijah to help you make those defining decisions of your life.  The Lord has something specific for you to do in each chapter of your life.  What chapter of life are you living in?