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Glimpsing the Glorious
The Story of the Transfiguration of Jesus And the Ascension of Elijah the Prophet
2 Kings 2:1-18
Forest Home ChapelFebruary 19, 2012
Rebecca Dolch preaching
Introduction to the text
Today’s Bible readings are two of the wilder stories of the Bible.
In the Transfiguration story which we heard at the beginning of the service, Jesus
goes to the top of the mountain with 3 disciples. He turns into pure light,
radiance. Moses, who lived over 1300 years before Christ, shows up. So does
the prophet Elijah who lived 800 years before Christ. God’s voice is heard saying
: “This is my son, listen to him.”
Transfiguration is a mystical story that says:
Jesus is in the same league with God, Moses, and Elijah. He is divine. He is
above the need for death or even suffering.
And yet he still chooses to go down the mountain, into Jerusalem and he heads
toward his final days, his crucifixion, death and resurrection. He did it to show us
that we are more than human beings, formed from the dust of the earth. We too
are light.
The story we are about to hear is about Elijah the Prophet who lived 800 years
before Christ. He performed miracles, he took care of the poor, he fearlessly
critiqued the powerful rulers, he went up against the prophets of Baal, and he
heard God’s voice directly. Today’s Elijah story is about his ascension into
heaven without going through death. The picture on the front of your bulletin
shows Elijah going into heaven on the chariot and horses of fire.
His apprentice Elisha is with him throughout it all, and receives the mantle and
the responsibilities of Elijah.
Hear now the reading: The Ascension of Elijah Story 2 Kings 2:1-18
Today’s sermon is about Elijah the prophet.
Towards the end of Jesus’ ministry, he asks his disciples: “Who do people say
that I am?” His disciples replied that many people thought that Jesus was a
reincarnation of the Prophet Elijah, coming back to restore the political and
religious power of Israel, which was under Roman rule.
The question of today is: These are cool stories, but how do they have anything
to do with ordinary me?
----------Although we are ordinary folk, still, we get to have glimpses of the glorious.
 Hear spectacular music or stories that send chills up our spine.
 Now and then we are touched by love so deeply that our hearts crack
open, or tears fall.
 Sometimes in nature we feel connected to everything in the universe.
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We have Moment s of extreme insight when all the lights go on and we
“Get It.”
We experience things that are larger than we are--that awaken something in us
that is divine, immortal, perfect, completely fulfilled.
These glimpses of the glorious are pointing to what cultures and religions call by
many names: enlightenment, salvation, nirvana,
Numinous experiences, ascension, Christ consciousness, spiritual aliveness.
The purpose of these glimpses of the glorious is to remind us of our immortality –
we are Spirit, light, unity-all these rarified things that we can’t seem to hold onto
very long, but we know deep, deep inside is our God-given destiny.
These experiences change our life. If you read Asphalt Jesus, our book study for
March 26, you’ll witness his story of an experience of divine love that he had
sitting in his car with a friend one night when he was a teenager. It was a defining
moment.
These defining, glorious moments don’t last forever. But they give us a glimpse
of what we really want life to be like.
We say: I want that. I want that experience of profound peacefulness, or
Love with no judging all. Or a spiritual or scientific or poetic insight that gives
clarity to my life and maybe the life of thousands.
These glimpses of the glorious can become something towards which we orient
our lives. We want to live towards them. They become a goal or a vision of how
life can be.
And they can be the motivation for us to develop, mature, dream, commit. They
can help us shift our energies to grow in such a way that the energy of negativity
and dysfunction and difficulty and the dramas of life don’t run us over anymore.
82 year-old Bob McCune says it this way:” When there is negativity going on or
discord, he’ll say: don’t inhale it.” Don’t take it in or react to it, making you more
stirred up. In order to not inhale or react we need to develop that glorious part of
our being. Today I’m going to call it the ascended part of ourselves.
Ascension is an ancient Christian word. We read the NT story of the ascension of
Christ. And know that it is not only about a place, but about a state of being.
I believe that this ascended state is one goal of the Christian path.
It is not about being better than everybody else, or indifferent to pain and
suffering, or unconnected to people and the journey of being human. Or that you
set yourself apart and never serve in community.
The path of ascension is being very, very connected to God. To the healing,
loving, liberating, empowering, transformational power of Jesus Christ.
Would you like to go there today?
If so, hang on. Because the story of the ascension of Elijah into the heaven, via
chariot of fire, gives us directions about how to point our feet in the direction of
ascension. Glorious light right now.
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Get out your golden papers
The Ascension of Elijah Story 2 Kings 2:1-18
The first thing that is asked for is
1. A double portion of spirit
Elisha made a powerful request:
“Let me inherit a double portion, a double share of your Spirit.”
Why did he ask for a double portion of Elijah’s Spirit? Did he want to be twice as
powerful as Elijah? No, the double portion was the portion of inheritance that the
first born son received at the death of his father. He received a double portion
because as the eldest he inherited the respect and the leadership of his tribe or
family, and he also inherited the responsibility of taking care of the members of
his family.
So to ask for a double portion of Spirit was to ask for the spiritual awareness and
power and responsibility which Elijah had. To ask for a double portion of his
Spirit was to ask for the ascension consciousness.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave this teaching: Ask, and you will receive;
seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened.
It is fine to pray to God to ask for things: healing, prosperity, guidance, safety and
deliverance and forgiveness, for ourselves for others for nations, communities,
but the Elijah story teaches us to pray for God’s spirit to be upon us in the
situation we are dealing with. Double portion. Enough for us and for the people
around us.
A double portion of spirit is what we need if we are in any kind of leadership
moment. Doesn’t mean you have to be a professor or CEO. For example, Bud’s
mom is 92, she has dementia, she can’t walk without assistance and she sleeps
most of the time. But for some reason, it seems to me that she has a double
portion of Spirit. Because all of the staff says: She is one of the sweetest people
in the world and we love to be around her. One form of leadership is how your
spirit impacts other people even if you don’t open your mouth.
Let’s ask God for a double portion of Spirit. Why not? It is an unselfish request,
really. Because it serves others as well as enhancing our own life.
This congregation is discerning how we want to show up in this era of our life
together. Let’s ask for a double portion of the Spirit of Christ.
When a congregation has a vision and spiritual fire, everybody who comes here
is affected. And everyone we reach out to is affected.
McDonalds asks you if you want to supersize your hamburger and drink order.
Let’s ask for a double portion of the spirit for this congregation. It’s a lot more
healthy for everybody.
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The ascension of Elijah story gives us more instruction on how to keep moving
toward the glorious life, the ascended state.
2. Keep Company with people who desire the higher path.
Elisha followed Elijah around for years as his apprentice. Watching, listening,
learning, obeying. The last days of Elijah were a mini tour of the Promised Land.
Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, the Jordan River. At each place, Elijah said: OK, you can
stay here, I am going to leave and ascend, You don’t have to keep following me.
Elisha said to Elijah
“As the Lord lives, your life upon it, I will not leave you”
Keep company with people who desire the higher path. May or may not be
Christian or even religious people, but keep with people who are seeking the
values and life that we associate with Christ: wisdom, compassion, selflessness,
light, attunement to higher reality in any of its forms.
Story of little 4 year old boy crossing the street with his grandmother. They stop,
look both ways, and the little boy says:
“Ok, we can go now, darling.” Where did he pick that up?
He hung out day after day with people who said things like that.
One reason people come to church is to find other people who want this
ascension consciousness, this life that is pointed towards the glorious light.
We have had two weeks of Bible study on Thursday mornings. When you put 9
people together on a spiritual quest, it is amazing what you learn together, and
learn from each other. I love this Bible study group. So much light and energy
being generated. You can still come—6 more of these. Plus we can start other
groups. Bible study, companions in Christ groups, whatever the spirit leads us to
do.
Point is: If you want to live in the glorious light of life, keep company with people
who desire higher realms.
3. Use your Spiritual Mantle/Cloak/Identity
“Elisha picked up the cloak which had fallen from Elijah.”
The “mantle” was the uniform of the prophet, a symbol of his identity, his power.
In this last story, Elijah is getting ready to cross over the Jordan River. He takes
off his cloak, strikes the water, and the water parts in order for him to cross.
When he ascends into heaven, he leaves his mantle, or his cloak behind for
Elisha to take up and use.
Everyone of us has a mantle, a calling, a gift, something that we have been given
to use for the benefit of other people. It does not have to be fancy or have PhD
or REV. associated with it.
The two important things about a gift is that God gave it to you, and that you use
it. The beauty is, when you use the gifts you’ve been given, you have
experiences of living in that glorious light.
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4. Develop Spiritual Fire
“Suddenly there appeared chariots of fire and horses of fire.”
Fire always accompanied Elijah—One story of Elijah is that he wanted to prove
to the prophets of Baal that God was the only true and powerful God. So he built
an altar, put a few measly sticks of stove wood on it, poured twelve pots of water
on the sticks, and then called on the power of God to light a fire intense enough
to cook an entire bull. That is a lot of fire.
In today’s story, when Elijah ascends into heaven, his disciple Elisha sees horses
and chariots of fire coming for him. Horses and chariots were the ultimate
symbols of a warrior king. But chariots and horses of fire were the ultimate
symbols of the power of God. Remember the story of Pentecost--the holy spirit
appears like tongues of fire over people’s head.
Fire in the Elijah stories is a symbol for the powerful presence of God. Symbol for
his passion for the things of God and the path of God.
Fire is also a symbol for the glorified light body which we have and which showed
up in Jesus when he went up the Mount of transfiguration and turned into pure
light as a foreshadowing of what was to come. The halo around Jesus in the
pictures is the symbol of the spiritual energy, passion, life force, spiritual fire that
he embodied.
In order to be open to the ascended spirit of Elijah, of Christ, we have to allow
ourselves to be on fire. Passionate about what we stand for.
Let our life be juicy as possible.
Told by Hazrat Inayat Khan, a great spiritual teacher of the last century, in his
book MASTERY.
A thief was caught by the authorities who were going to execute him. But a
spiritual teacher intervened and saved his life.
The thief asks: What shall I do—I owe you my life?
And the teacher says: become the greatest thief in the whole country.
So he trained himself in every art that thieves needed: agility, ability to see in the
dark, ability to be completely still and then to make movements that are so
lightening quick that no one else can see.
He learned how to take great risks, how to size up and discern all the
possibilities and dangers of each situation. He learned what was of value and
worth the risk and what was not. He trained to become incredibly strong and
wise. He was able to discern who to steal from and who needed to keep what
they had.
Quite soon he was the very best thief in the business. Other thieves wanted to
train with him and work with him. And soon he had organized all of the thieves in
the nation and they were clever and loyal and could steal almost anything from
anybody.
So he went back to the wise teacher and said: I have done what you asked, now
what shall I do?
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And the teacher said: Evil, tyrants have taken over the country. Now I want you
and your people to overthrow them and to rule with honor and justice and
concern for all.
And the thief and his band took over the evil tyrants and brought forth a peaceful,
prosperous, and just realm.
Today is a day of glimpsing the glorious. In such a way that it wakes us up
to say: I want to move in the direction of light.
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4 things on your gold paper.
Choose one that you’d like to focus on this week.
ask God for a double portion of Spirit.
Keep Company with people who seek the higher realms.
Use the mantle that has been given to you to empower others.
Do everything in your power to stay fired up and well lit.
Because Elijah showed us, and Jesus showed us, we are made of the glorious
light of God.
And that is the good news of the gospel.
HANDOUT:
THE ASCENSION OF ELIJAH THE PROPHET
(2 Kings 2:1-16a)
1. Ask for a double portion of Spirit
Elisha made a big request:
“Let me inherit a double portion of your Spirit.”
2. Keep Company with people who desire the higher path.
Elisha said to Elijah
“As the Lord lives, your life upon it, I will not leave you”
3. Use your Spiritual Mantle/Cloak/Identity
“Elisha picked up the cloak which had fallen from Elijah.”
4. Develop Spiritual Fire
“Suddenly there appeared chariots of fire and horses of fire.”