When I was originally planning this sermon, I had no idea what this week would bring, but it was truly a week of very big changes for some of our church family as well as a myriad of smaller changes for us all, thus it is with a different mindset than I had at its inception that I share it with you today. But in some ways that makes it more timely.
I had planned all along to share with you a bit about the training I went to in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago. I feel it is only fair to share with you what I learn when I go on study leave. What I learned in the approximately 46 hours of class and worship I shared with about 55 others in the span of six days will take far more than one sermon, but it is a good time to share the general concept of dealing with transitions, which is what I went to learn. I did not take Interim Ministry training because I have plans to leave you, but because I recognized that the whole program is about the ministry of turning change into transition. Life is full of change. We don’t get to or have to remain static in any one moment. That is a comfort in times of pain and a pain in times of comfort, but it is always a reality. Each moment passes us by and has some impact. Each event in our lives causes some kind of change, whether we like it or not. How those changes happen in terms of timing and preparation will have a great impact on how smooth or difficult they are, but beyond what we cannot control about change lies the process of transition – how we deal with the change.
In our Scriptures for today we read two stories of life change and transition. The first is from 2 Kings and is, in part, about one of the biggest life changes there is: death. In the story we read, we learn about the death of Elijah, but not just about the obvious change that happened for Elijah, but also about some portion of the effect the process had on Elisha, who had been mentored by Elijah.
It is interesting and significant that the focus in this story is less on the one dying than on the one left behind. When death occurs, the change for the one who dies is complete. The effect on that one is obvious. However, the ones left behind go through a huge change as well, and dealing with that change is a big transition. How death occurs, and when makes a difference, surely. It is brutally hard when a child grows to adulthood and watches a parent decline and eventually fail. But it is a harder experience, still, when the parent does not live a long and full life or when the death is sudden and unexpected. Timing and preparation make a huge difference in the transition that occurs when someone we love dies.
In our passage from 2 Kings today, we see some of the preparation. We see Elijah telling Elisha again and again that he will soon die. Elijah does not try to hide the truth, but is gently matter of fact about it and repeats it until it becomes real. He is preparing others for the change to come, helping them transition well even while he is still living. And Elisha has an easier transition than he might have otherwise. He gets the chance to walk and talk with Elijah knowing that their time is short. He gets a chance to adjust to the idea of the unavoidable change. He gets a chance to think about what he will miss most and what he would keep if he could. He gets a chance to prepare to mourn but also to prepare for the transition that will take place in his life as he takes on a new role when Elijah dies.
This story is a great example of transition that is done well with grace. There is time to prepare, which is a help. But there is more than that. There is no secret keeping, but transparency. There is acknowledgement of feelings and a process for grief. There is time to celebrate the past and an opportunity to begin planning for the future. In all the traveling about, there is a renewed linkage to the larger community. There is a raising up of new leadership and a commitment to the future. In the end, when we read of Elijah being taken up by the whirlwind with the fiery chariots, there is a sense of closure. It is a healthy process for transition. One can get a sense that, though Elisha will certainly mourn, he is prepared to move ahead with the ministry left to him when the time for mourning has ended. If we were to read further, we would find a calm acceptance of Elijah’s death by Elisha. There is a peace about how the story concludes and a sense that the ministry passed from one to another would go on.
Contrast that 2 Kings story with our New Testament story from Acts 9. Saul is rushing about to persecute the followers of The Way, the new religious sect Judaism that he believes is so dangerous and blasphemous that it must be wiped out completely. He is a man with a mission and has no doubts about where he is going or what he is doing. All of a sudden, BLAM! He’s hit with this light, falls to the ground, and hears the voice of the Lord Himself telling him he’s got it all wrong.
Unlike the bystanders in the story from 2 Kings, the traveling companions of Saul do not repeat what is already known but stand there dumbstruck. They say not a word. Communication is not open. And just to make matters more interesting, when Saul is finally able to get up, he realizes he can’t see a thing. Those who have been traveling with him now suddenly have to be leaders, at least for a time, without warning or training or even a say in it all. This is one huge and sudden change and is enough to rattle anyone, even one as strong as Saul. This transition will certainly be messier than for Elijah and Elisha, but we see the Lord guiding the process if we look carefully, even while those directly involved struggle.
Saul did as he was told, but there is a sign of difficulty of even this first part of the transition. We are told Saul lived as a blind man for three days and nights, not even eating or drinking. Scripture does not say he fasted, but that he did not eat or drink. Now it might well have been a fast, but it also could have been a reaction of shock. As Barnes says in his notes on the New Testament, “We are to remember, also, that Paul had yet no assurance of forgiveness. He was arrested, alarmed, convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and humbled, but he had no comfort. He was brought to the dust, and left to three painful days of darkness and suspense, before it was told him what he was to do. In this painful and perplexing state, it was natural that he should abstain from food.” He had literally heard the voice of the Lord and seen Him, he had been proven as wrong as he could be, and he had been struck blind, no longer able do for himself but reliant on the kindness and help of others. He didn’t know how to cope with this huge change on his own and needed the help of others.
As is so often the case with sudden changes, Saul’s life change has great impact on others, even on some he did not know. Ananias, a stranger to Saul and one he would have been seeking to persecute, is called upon by the Lord to attend to Saul. Ananias tries to get out of doing this task he does not relish, just as we might do when someone else’s life change affects us. So Ananias makes excuses to God about Saul’s past persecution, as if God wasn’t aware of it, thinking this might get him out of the extra work of helping Saul turn change into transition. But rather than answering his fears, God simply tells him to go. “Go thy way. This is often the only answer that we obtain to the suggestion of our doubts and hesitations about duty. God tells us still to do what he requires, with an assurance only that his commands are just, and that there are good reasons for them.”[1] Often we must do what has to be done without understanding why it falls to us or even truly understanding what needs to be done. This lack of transparency makes transition more difficult, though when the one holding back information is the Lord we can trust that all will be well and we’d best go.
So Ananias, called to some kind of leadership he doesn’t understand, reluctantly does as he is commanded, washing the scales from Saul’s eyes. Ananias is blessed enough to see the fruits of his faithfulness as Saul experiences more change. He is baptized into The Way and regains his appetite and strength. Saul spends time studying with the very ones he once persecuted and preaching the One he denied. We learn later that even his identity, his name, is changed. With the help of a new leader raised up to the particular task of transitional ministry, Saul begins to be equipped for what God has in store for him next. He still has much work to do, repairing the links with the community of believers and making plans for the future, but the transition resulting from change is now smoother than when he was first converted there in the middle of a dusty road.
Saul still has to prove himself to the community which struggles to accept such a radical and sudden change, and, as we know from much of the rest of the New Testament, he struggles even as Paul to convince them and others of his faithfulness, devotion, and right to preach the Gospel for many years to come. But eventually Paul becomes an accepted and even lauded member of the community of believers. Because the change was so sudden and radical, perhaps also because there was less transparency and communication during the transition process, the transition is much difficult for all the parties involved in Saul’s conversion than Elijah’s death. And it seemingly takes more time to reach closure and a plan for moving into the future. But the transition does eventually take place.
Many of the steps remain the same in these two stories of change and transition, and those steps are true in our time, too. The truth must be told and accepted; communication is vital. History must be dealt with and a new identity must be sought. New leaders must be raised up and the links with the larger community must be strengthened. Finally, a commitment to and plan for the future must be achieved before there is closure.
The death of Elijah, though sad in many ways, has good preparation, repetition of what is to come, careful planning, acceptance, intentional, communally shared grief and a smooth transition to new leadership and the future. The conversion of Saul is sudden and without warning. It leads to a more complex and even difficult transition, even though the change from non-believer and persecutor to baptized believer and preacher of the Word is a positive one. How change takes place has a great impact on how transition flows, but the steps of transition must take place. When the steps are completed, there is closure and a greater sense of peace.
Life is never stagnant. Change happens every day in our lives. Something ends and something else begins. Even when the something that begins is good, like a new marriage or the birth of a child or a new job, changes cause stress and can be difficult. Changes happen, and whether there is a smoother or more difficult is, in part, a function of how we deal with not the event itself, but the transition from one way of living to another. We learned it in the training I attended and see it in the stories of Scripture and our own lives. We cannot always control what changes happen in our lives or when, but we can take control of how we deal with all those everyday changes. We can choose to make them smoother, leading to a more certain sense of closure and peace. In His own Word, God has shown us how.