The images are still stark in our mind’s eye from this fall:  people stranded on rooftops, signaling with anything they could make a flag from; people swimming through putrid water to save themselves and their families; people stranded without food, or water and growing hopeless.  People who had lost everything, who waited in vain for someone – anyone – FEMA, the city, the State –someone to come to their aid.  And to the horror of everyone watching CNN and other news, the truth gradually became evident:  that they were alone, and no help was coming.

            I don’t know about the rest of you, but for weeks now since Katrina (and Rita, and Stan and Wilma), I haven’t really been able to shake loose of the dismay I felt watching those images, at the idea that our nation was leaving our own citizens in a condition of misery and desolation such as probably no one sitting in this room today has ever experienced.  What kind of message is this: “You are alone; help is not on the way.”

            Or to point to another, quite different, feeling of despair, is how I felt on November 3, 2004 – the day after Election Day.  Now, I know that not everyone here will feel as I did, and that is fine.  But if you know me personally, you know that I was extremely disheartened last November.  I believe one of my colleagues referred to what we felt as “whipped puppy syndrome.”  Once again, help was not on the way, and an interminable 4 years stretched out ahead of us.  Perhaps I could best sum up the feeling as:  helplessness.

            I don’t know; maybe some of you are feeling some of that “whipped puppy” feeling.  Look around: civil liberties are being eroded; the government is actually debating the question of whether we can condone torture by agencies of the US government; so-called Christians all across this country are determined to beat back any civil rights gains made by GLBT persons, whether in anti-discrimination laws, or preventing our relationships from gaining equal rights.  While the federal budget grows higher and higher, inevitably burdening our children and grandchildren tomorrow with today’s excesses, Congress wants to cut Medicare, student loans, and food stamps to fund permanent tax cuts for the top 2% of Americans and to build a $300 million bridge in Alaska to serve 50 people.  No wonder I feel helpless and lost!  Even when we get a small victory – such as stopping the drilling in the Alaska wilderness last week, it always seems to be too little, too late – just a drop in the bucket.

            But you know, friends, I am here today to remind us that God calls us to be faithful, to keep on being people of faith and conscience, and not to give up, not to despair, not to lose hope.  If our hope were in Congress, then we would be in a sorry state, indeed.  But our hope is in God, whom the Scriptures tell us is Lord of heaven and earth.

            I’d like to bring you back for a moment to the Old Testament lesson from this morning.  The story was so long, I didn’t want to have [Margo] have to read the entire story, but let me share the background to the exchange [she] read between God and Elijah.

            Elijah, as you probably know, was a prophet of God in the days of the kings of Israel.  At this time, Ahab was the king in Israel, and his wife’s name was Jezebel.  And the Bible says that Ahab and Jezebel were evil.  I Kings 16 says, “Ahab … did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.”  And at the heart of Ahab’s evil was this:  that he encouraged the people of Israel to turn away from the true God and worship false gods.

            But throughout Ahab’s rule, there was a prophet of God in Israel, whose name was Elijah.  Now, as a bit of a parenthetical, a prophet, folks, isn’t an elected position, it isn’t an ordained position, or a hereditary role – mainly, a prophet is just someone who cannot just stand by, silent, and let evil and injustice happen.  A prophet is someone who must speak out when the people of God are going in the wrong direction, worshipping the wrong gods, embracing the wrong values, heading for the wrong goals.

            So this prophet, Elijah, was no favorite of Ahab and Jezebel.  He was a gnat, always pestering the king, like a rock in his shoe – always calling the people to turn away from Baal, and to give allegiance to the God of Israel.  And every time something went wrong, Ahab blamed Elijah.  A drought?  It must be Elijah’s fault.  A loss in battle?  Elijah!  Ahab even decided to have Elijah killed, but Elijah moved from place to place, and hid from Ahab for many years.

            Finally the day came when Elijah set up a showdown with the false priests of Ahab.  Elijah and the priests of Baal decided to have a dance-off, of sorts.  Only, of course, they weren’t really having a dance-off.  In reality, it was more of a magical competition.  Whose god is really listening and answering prayer – Baal, or God?  So Elijah and the priests of Baal build two separate altars – one to Baal, and one to God.  And Elijah dares them to call on their god to set fire to their offering.  Man, he taunted them like a professional athlete.  The story is pretty funny, and sometime you might want to read it, in I Kings 18.

            Well, needless to say, the 450 prophets of Baal aren’t able to make a thing happen.  But Elijah has a great success – after dousing the offering three times with water, Elijah prayed, and a great fire came down –burning up the offering, the wood, the altar, and even the water dripping down.  And the people of Israel saw what happened and turned away from Baal and acknowledged God again.

            Meanwhile, Ahab and Jezebel are FURIOUS with Elijah.  And Jezebel sends this message to Elijah, telling him, “I am so going to kill you when I get my hands on you.”  So Elijah went into the wilderness, where he hid out on Mount Horeb.  This is where we pick up the story.

God calls out to Elijah, asking him “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  And Elijah answers:  “I have worked very hard for you, the true God, but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, have turned away from worshipping you, and killed all the prophets.  Except me.  I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me, too.”

            I’m the only one.  No one else cares, no one else is doing anything, everybody else is just standing around with their thumbs in their ears, and I’m out here busting my butt for you, God.  Let’s have a little help here!  I am ALL ALONE.

            It isn’t hard to hear the despair and helplessness in Elijah’s words.  Help is not coming.  I am completely alone.  Even the victory Elijah’d just had, wasn’t enough.  Maybe it would never be enough.

            But.  Listen to the final words of God as he gives Elijah instructions how to proceed.  “Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel – whose knees have not bowed down to Baal.”

            Wake up, Elijah!  You are not the only one! You are NOT ALONE!  There are 7,000 out there, just like you – people of God who have remained faithful to the truth, who love God, who love justice, who have not given in to the pressure to pursue false gods.

            Friends, the pressure in our day to follow false gods is no less than it was in Elijah’s day.  If anything, perhaps it is greater.  But it is so much more subtle.  Our false gods don’t have names like Baal; they don’t have altars in the town square.  You didn’t drive past the First Reformed Church of Baal on your way here this morning!

            No, I think you have to look in different places to find our false gods.  Maybe you look in a megachurch meeting somewhere at this very hour, televised to tens of thousands, preaching that being big means that they are successful and have earned God’s favor.  Maybe you look at the false prophets who tell you that God wants you to prosper.  Or those who tell you that it is OK if 45 million people in this country don’t have health insurance because my family is covered.  That it doesn’t matter if Congress passes a budget bill that cuts $50 billion from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Food Stamps – because they’ll make up for it by cutting $60 billion in taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans.

            Every week we are called to bow down to the false god that tells us if we can just pass a constitutional amendment so gays can’t have the same marriage rights as straights, everything will be FINE in our country and our marriages will stop falling apart.  That as long as we make sure our kids have plenty of activities to go to after school, it won’t matter that we are poisoning them with arsenic in the water, toxins in the air, cyanide in the parks they play in, or global warming.  That it doesn’t matter that children are getting shot and killed in drug battles right here in Minneapolis/St. Paul – because maybe it isn’t happening in my neighborhood.  That we can insulate ourselves by living in the suburbs and driving our SUV’s and remembering never, ever, to talk politics with our neighbors.

            Friends, it is high time for the Church of Jesus Christ to stand up and speak for God.  It is high time for us to stop paying attention to the values of Pat Robertson and James Dobson, and start paying attention to what is important to God.  It is time for us to speak up, clearly and distinctly for the values of the Bible, rather than the values of television and radio preachers and politicians who care only for where the next campaign contribution is coming from. 

This is what God says: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  “Care for the foreigner in your midst, for you were once foreigners and exiles yourselves.”  “Do not forget, when you have come to the land that I have promised to you, that it was I, the Lord your God who brought you here.  When you have grown wealthy and have plenty, do not forget me and say to yourselves, my own strength and my prowess have brought me this wealth.”  “Let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream.”  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

            But these are not the “values” of the false gods.  And Jesus said to them:  “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and perform miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”

            Friends, Elijah was overwhelmed that so many of his countrymen had turned away from God to false prophets, with false messages.  And I have to admit that in our day, too – it is easy to grow discouraged, easy to be overwhelmed by the false gods to whom so many around us have bowed down.  But I promise you this – just as God preserved 7,000 in Elijah’s day, you need to know that He has preserved a faithful remnant in every age.  Just as God told this to Elijah, so he would be renewed and encouraged to go on speaking the truth and proclaiming God’s values, so God says it to us today.  “There are 7,000 out there who haven’t bowed down to Baal!”  Hold on!

            As I was thinking of this sermon, I kept thinking of the spiritual, “Hold On!”  Keep your eyes on the prize – hold on!  “Got my hand on the gospel plow, wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.  Keep your eyes on the prize – hold on!”  We ARE God’s prophets.  Look around – you see any other Elijah, other than you and me?  We are God’s prophets today.  So set your hand on the plow – look ahead – speak the true message of God – and HOLD ON!