[ hold :: this space ]

NYLTC Worship, station 6

I Kings 19:12

And after all this, a sound of sheer silence…

The conference room was darkened. There were two candles at its entrance, placed next to the Bible reading. There were cushions on the floor. 

A looped clip from the Zen TV DVD was playing, of a dandelion blowing in the wind. Bliss’s “Song for Olabi” was playing in the background.

People were invited to do nothing.

After about 20 minutes, when everyone had gathered in the space, the following poem by Anna Mackenzie was read, and we finished with a prayer:

Maybe this was Elijah’s prayer at the mouth of the cave.
And maybe this is yours, too.

We, without a future

So, if we are to be turned inside out,
and upside down,
with even our pockets shaken,
just to check what is rattling
and left behind,
we pray that you will keep faith with us,
and we with you,
holding our hands as we weep,
giving us strength to continue,
and showing us beacons
along the way
to becoming new.

We are not fighting you God,
even if it feels like it,
but we need your help and company,
as we struggle on.
Fighting back
and starting over.

Prayer:

God of the still, silent voice, be our company into an unknown future.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Go in peace, and the God of peace go with you.
 

NYLTC Worship, station 5

I Kings 19: 11-12

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.

One side of the floor of the long passageway was covered in newspapers. Each of the following phrases were printed onto long strips of paper, then placed on top of the newspapers, moving down the passageway, telling the next part of the story:

Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces.

But the Lord was not in the wind

And after the wind an earthquake

But the Lord was not in the earthquake

And after the earthquake a fire

But the Lord was not in the fire

And after the fire an atomic bomb

But the Lord was not in the atomic bomb

And after the atomic bomb a tsunami

But the Lord was not in the tsunami

And after the tsunami a terrorist attack

But the Lord was not in the terrorist attack

And after the terrorist attack a war on terror

But the Lord was not in the war on terror…

And after all this, a sound of sheer silence

NYLTC Worship, station 4

I Kings 19:8-10 

Elijah went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying “What are  you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

Outside the chapel is a long passageway down to the conference hall. The entrance to the passage way was “wrapped” in 10 metres of black fabric, which draped around the entrance way and walls, and pooled on the floor. There were black pens on the floor, along with the following reading and invitation: 

Elijah told God his story.

We all have a story that we need to tell God.

What’s yours?

Write it on the walls of the cave with pens.

No-one else will read it.
but it sits in the company of the stories written
alongside it.

And then when you are ready, move through the cave

For the Lord is about to pass by.
 

NYLTC worship, station 3

I Kings 19:4-8 

He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all–to just die: "Enough of this, GOD! Take my life–I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!" Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush.

Suddenly an angel shook him awake and said, "Get up and eat!"

He looked around and, to his surprise, right by his head were a loaf of bread baked on some coals and a jug of water. He ate the meal and went back to sleep.

The angel of GOD came back, shook him awake again, and said, "Get up and eat some more–you’ve got a long journey ahead of you."

He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out.

We used the chapel for this station. We set out fabric to cover the floor, put loaves of bread and jugs of water with glasses on the fabric, along with felt tip markers. As background music, we played Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Answer’… "Cast me gently into morning, for the night has been unkind…" 

Elijah travelled all day and lay down in the wilderness to sleep

there was no end in sight for his journey

and no-one walking alongside him.

Just Elijah and the rocks and the sand.

So when he woke in the morning and found bread and water by his head he knew he had been visited by angels.

        They couldn’t take Elijah out of this journey

        But they could give him the strength to go on.

            Sit and eat some bread.
            Drink some water.

                Think about the angels who offer you bread and water on
                your journey.

                        Write their names onto the cloth as a prayer of
                        thanks to God
 

NYLTC worship, station 2

I Kings 19:3

When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey.  

This space was set up simply with a pile of rocks next to a large expanse of sand, and the following words:

Elijah escaped into the wilderness

        It’s in the wilderness that we’re stripped back to our most
        vulnerable.

        Why would we be faithful when this fear and desolation is the           
        result?

        Who is this God who lets this happen?

Hold a stone.

Invest in it your anger, your questions, your frustrations with God… with all that is unfair and unjust in life.

        And put it in the sand.

                Let it become part of the landscape of our journey.

 NYLTC worship, station 1

1 Kings 19:1 -3

Ahab reported to Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the massacre of the prophets. Jezebel immediately sent a messenger to Elijah with her threat: "The gods will get you for this and I’ll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you’ll be as dead as any one of those prophets."
When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life…

We set up the gathering room as an urban desert - photocopied street maps covered the floor, along with newspaper stories of refugees. We covered large boxes with black and white enlarged photos of city buildings. A screen showed an animation of a city scape, with the words "Be still… stop running… wait" written over the top. There were bowls of sand placed around the floor, with the following words:

It’s hard to imagine Elijah’s despair.

        (though maybe not for you.
        - maybe you know it all too well:

        we all have times we run)

                He was a refugee in an enemy state.

So this is a story about Elijah, 3000 years ago

    And a story about Damir’s flee to a refugee camp in Sudan
           
            And Rahib’s desperate run from neo-nazi’s in England

                  And of the countless others who are running from                                 governments
                           or families
                           or violence
                           or repression

Sprinkle some sand on the map while you make a prayer for those in our world who search for a wilderness to run to.
                   
 

We led worship on a few weeks ago at a youth leadership training weekend… Elijah and his run from religious persecution towards God’s still, silent voice.