The Rev. Dr. Brenda Pelc-Faszcza is pastor of The First Congregational Church of Canton Center, CT and a lecturer at Yale Divinity School.

Scripture: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 (CEB)

Now the Lord was going to take Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, and Elijah and Elisha were leaving Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So both of them went on together. Fifty members from the group of prophets also went along, but they stood at a distance. Both Elijah and Elisha stood beside the Jordan River. Elijah then took his coat, rolled it up, and hit the water. Then the water was divided in two! Both of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “What do you want me to do for you before I’m taken away from you?”

Elisha said, “Let me have twice your spirit.”

Elijah said, “You’ve made a difficult request. If you can see me when I’m taken from you, then it will be yours. If you don’t see me, it won’t happen.”

They were walking along, talking, when suddenly a fiery chariot and fiery horses appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went to heaven in a windstorm.

Elisha was watching, and he cried out, “Oh, my father, my father! Israel’s chariots and its riders!” When he could no longer see him, Elisha took hold of his clothes and ripped them in two.

Then Elisha picked up the coat that had fallen from Elijah. He went back and stood beside the banks of the Jordan River. He took the coat that had fallen from Elijah and hit the water. He said, “Where is the Lord, Elijah’s God?” And when he hit the water, it divided in two! Then Elisha crossed over.

2nd Reference: Seed, Blossom, Fruit

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live
so that that which came to me as seed
goes on to the next as blossom
and that which came
to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
                            - Dawn Markova
 

Reflection: Many Somebodies

Deep in our sacred stories
is the memory of mantle-passing,
of one taking up a role, an identity, a vocation
handed on by another who has inhabited it first.
Think Elijah and Elisha.
Think relay race:
one runner completes her leg of the race, baton in hand,
and then hands it off to the next one,
who awaits it with outstretched hand,
grabs it firmly and starts her own run,
only to hand it off again when her part is complete.
Multiple runners, one race.
Think Jesus and the disciples,
think the early church becoming the established church over time,
think the established church becoming the not-so-established church
over more time, with more forms and more runners.
Think you and me.
Multiple bearers of the ministries, one ministry.
 
The thing about having your place in the whole project
is that you can’t be afraid,
since fear of failing is responsible
for unused gifts, for unlived lives, and for gaps in the race.
I will not die an unlived life, the poet writes.
I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days…
to allow my living to make me less afraid…
I choose to risk my significance
so that that which came to me as seed
goes on to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom
goes on as fruit.
 
All our forms of love, work, creativity, courage, care
are never free-standing things
that just somehow arise or arrive on their own.
They are always part of a long, living garden of seeds, blossoms and fruit,
a much bigger and longer web of human hopes, aspirations and commitments
than just ours,
always somehow growing in places where fear of them
could have been just as likely.
Somebody before us has called us forward,
somebody before us has encouraged and nurtured us,
somebody before us has challenged and taught us,
somebody before us has handed off a role, a place, a ministry.
Maybe many somebodies.
 
Somebody after us awaits the call we’ll help them hear,
somebody after us looks for our encouragement and befriending,
somebody after us needs our challenge and teaching,
somebody after us awaits the precious and valuable gift
we will have helped to plant.
Maybe many somebodies.
 
I choose to risk my significance
so that that which came to me as seed
goes on to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom
goes on as fruit.
 
May it be so with us.

PRAYER

May all that we do, God of love and hope, be done in love and hope,
faithful toward all that is yet to be.  Amen.
 

New Prayer Requests:

We ask churches and church leaders to join us in the following prayers either by sharing them during worship, printing them in bulletins, or sharing them in some other way. To make a prayer request, please contact Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane at cochranem@sneucc.org

Prayers of Intercession:

• For the people of Ukraine whose lives continue to be shattered by war
• For those grieving or suffering due to mass shootings. There have been 277 mass shootings in 2022 to date
• For those effected by the flooding in Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding region

Prayers of Joy and Thanksgiving:

• For all the years during which I have been able to serve you through this devotion. It has been an honor and privilege to work with the many gifted authors who write these reflections, and a joy to bring them to all the readers each Monday. I leave you in the good hands of Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, your new Starting With Scripture editor. — Drew Page

 This Week in History:

June 23, 1972 (50 years ago) Title IX is acted into federal law. The law prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees on the bases of sex. One key aspect of the law corrected imbalances in the ways resources were allocated toward women's sports. Since 1972, women's scholastic sports have grown exponentially. Today, the law has come under scrutiny for it's impact - or lack of -  on transgender students' rights. The Biden administration has indicated it wants the same protections for transgender students that the Title IX law gave to women 50 years ago.

“Study the past if you would define the future.”
— Confucius