Transfiguration of the Lord (March 2, 2003)

    “What Looks Like an Ending Is Really a Beginning”    Dr. Julie Adkins

Text:  2 Kings 2:1-12                

 

SERMON

Our Old Testament lesson this morning

            marks the end of the life and ministry of Elijah the prophet.

Taken by a whirlwind into heaven,

            to be with God,

                        whom he had served faithfully for so many years.

For Elijah, it is the end.

But for Elisha, it is the beginning.

            Now you probably know,

                        he’s already been hanging around with Elijah for some time.

            But now, for the first time,

                        he takes over Elijah’s job.

Elijah has left behind his mantle, his cloak,

            the symbol of his office,

                        his calling to be God’s prophet.

Now that mantle belongs to Elisha …

            and along with it, the job of prophecy.

This story shows us a moment of great sadness

            coupled with great excitement and anticipation.

Elijah is gone,

            and Elisha must move on ahead, without him.

  

It occurs to me that

            most of the significant events in our lives

                        are like this one.,

They are both endings and beginnings.

Maybe that’s what makes them significant events!

They mark the transition

            between one phase of life and another.

Graduation may be

            the end of high school and the beginning of college,

            or the end of school altogether and the beginning of full-time work.

Getting married, or partnered,

            is the end of living alone, or with your parents,

            and the beginning of life with that one special person,

                        and all the new joys and challenges that entails.

The birth of a child is a wonderful new beginning,

            yet it also brings an end to a whole lot of free time,

                        and the end of a good night’s sleep, at least for a while!

  

Even death itself, which seems so final,

            has a way of offering us fresh beginnings.

For the person who has died,

            there is of course the beginning of a new life in the presence of God.

But even for those who are left behind,

            there is the possibility of something new,

                        if we can be open to it.

At first, that “something new” is lonely,

            and painful, and completely unwelcome.

But new opportunities have a way of finding us,

            and new relationships with people we might not otherwise have met,

                        and options we might not have chosen

                                    if we had that other person to consider.

Something new and good can emerge, eventually,

            out of something sad.

  

I suppose that’s one way we could define

            the difference between an optimist and a pessimist:

A pessimist sees only

            that something has come to an end.

An optimist sees only

            that something new has begun.

The terribly tricky thing about being a Christian –

            well, one of the terribly tricky things –

                        is that we always have to juggle those two perspectives.

We know that life sometimes hurts us,

            and that good things do come to an end.

And yet we also know that there is much to celebrate,

            that God makes all things new,

                        and that there is hope for the future.

We know that what looks like – and is – an ending,

            is also the beginning of something new.

  

One of the most wonderful things I learned in seminary

            was in the area of Christian educational theory, of all places!

Now if you’ve ever been forced to study education (!),

            you know that there are numerous educational psychologists

                        whose work you get to study,

            and each of them divides human life up into a series of stages

                        that we – hopefully – progress through.

Jean Piaget talks about children in

            sensorimotor stage, and concrete operational stage, and all that …

Lawrence Kohlberg talks about each stage as

            a place where we make unconscious decisions

                        about the world and our place in it …

            in infancy, the question is “trust vs.mistrust”:

                        in young adulthood, it’s “intimacy vs. isolation.”

There’s even a specifically Christian outline,

            in a book by James Fowler called Stages of Faith.

And all of it is very good,

            and useful in its place.

But what’s really interesting,

            and what I think is so wonderful,

            is that they have come to find out

                        that it doesn’t matter nearly so much what stage you’re in

                                    at any given moment.

What’s crucial is how you make the transition

            between the different stages.

It’s as if the stages are merely resting places

            between periods of growth,

            and what’s really important is those transitions,

                        those times of endings and beginnings,

                        leaving something behind and pushing on ahead.

  

So, for example,

            when your toddler goes through the “Terrible Twos” –

                        that delightful time when it seems that

                        the only two words in their vocabulary

                                    are “Why?” and “No!” –

            that’s not so much a stage as it is

                        negotiating the transition between two stages.

The end of total dependence on parents,

            and the beginning of self-assertion and independence.

  

Junior high age, usually,

            marks the end of when you

                        go by what your parents think and say,

            and the beginning of caring a great deal

                        about what everyone your own age thinks.

And you’re negotiating a transition that has everything to do with

            how you will make decisions as an adult,

                        and who or what will influence you.

  

Mid-life crisis can be a painful transition between

            the end of youthful idealism,

                        and pseudo-adult cynicism,

            and the beginning of a mature realism that looks for a balance.

It’s the end the beginning of our lives,

            and the beginning of the end of our lives.

We begin to realize that there are probably

            more years of life behind us

                        than there are before us.

Obviously, if one makes the transition well,

            it doesn’t have to be a “crisis,”

                        but for many of us, it is.

  

How we make these transitions, and many others,

            directly affects our future happiness,

                        and success, and well-being.

Moving through endings and beginnings

            is necessary for our growth.

  

And yet, we all know that there are certain transitions,

            certain endings,

                        that we would just as soon live without!

Like the death of someone dear to us,

            especially when it was unexpected.

Like a divorce,

            or any kind of break in a long-term relationship.

Like losing a job suddenly,

            and having to live on the edge for a while

                        until we find something else.

What makes these even harder

            is that they are unpredictable to a certain extent.

We don’t know when they will happen,

            or even, in some cases, if they will happen.

So often, we have no time to prepare.

Everyone has to live through the junior-high years.

            Not everyone will have to live through a divorce.

Everyone will experience transitions of some kind in mid-life, if we live that long.

            Not everyone will experience being laid off unexpectedly.

Often, therefore, in these unpredictable crises,

            we may feel more alone.

There may not be anyone around us

            who really knows what we are going through.

We may not know where to look

            for support, or guidance, or help.

We may feel a sense of hopelessness.

The end of whatever it was

            may have come so quickly that we had no chance to look ahead,

                        much less to plan and prepare for, a new beginning.

We feel lost, adrift, scared.

  

And I really think

            that the only thing that gets us through such a time

                        with any degree of healing and wholeness

            is our Christian faith.

A faith which allows us to grieve the loss of what was,

            but which also affirms God’s gift of what will be.

 

Listen to what Lloyd Ogilvie has to say …

This is from his book, Lord of the Impossible:

            “When we think we have no next move,

                        God is about to make [God’s] big move.

              So often what we consider the worst

                        is but the last stage of preparation for the best.

              Our sense of hopelessness

                        is the prelude to the birth of genuine hope.

              What seems like the end

                        is only a phase of a new beginning …

              We are not finished

                        because God is not finished with us!”
How true that is!

We are offered new beginnings throughout our lives,

            and even beyond this life.

Our endings are transfigured into new beginnings.

Even the worst endings we can imagine

            can be taken by God

                        and made into something new.

  

Elisha’s life and ministry did not end

            when his friend and mentor was taken from him.

Our lives and ministries do not end

            when a loved one dies, or when our hearing goes,

                        or when we quit working,

                                    or can no longer drive at night,

                                    or if our church burns down,

                                                            or if the neighborhood changes around us!

“Behold,” says God,

            “I make all things new.”

As long as we are willing to be made new

            and to take the risk of new beginnings,

                        they will always be offered to us.

Because God has faith in us!

Thanks be to God –

            even for endings –

                        but especially for beginnings.

Amen.

 

© 2003 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)