1 Kings 19:1-18 on November 2nd, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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For all the saints. Today is a day we remember those saints who had an impact on our lives. While there are some days on the church calendar that are dedicated to one particular historical person, today is less about the famous figures of faith and more about the people that we ourselves have known and loved. It's not about those heroes that everyone recognizes, it's about those we know and those we miss the most. We celebrate those in our lives who have inspired us in our relationship with God through their relationship with us.
All Saints Sunday is about your mom, your husband, your grandparents, your children, your siblings, your friends, your saints. The hard part about today is that we are remembering them because they have died. These are the saints that have gone before us. Those memories, while often wonderful, can bring pain along with them. The memories, the good times, the sad times, the palpable grief that comes with missing our loved ones. And often with grief comes the questions, why didn't God intervene? Why won't God ease the pain? These are sorrow, help us feel normal again. We ask God to show up, to be present, to end a way that convinces us that everything will be alright. We want God to move mountains, to burn bright before us, or at least show up.
And here is where Elijah's story can be helpful to us. Right now, Elijah is on the run. Previously, he was riding high after showing up the prophets of Baal. But now, Jessabella is out to do to him what he did to her prophets. That is annihilate him. So he's scared. He's alone. He wants to die. He runs to Mount Horib, the mountain of God, the very same mountain that Moses ascended to receive the Ten Commandments. Surely God is here, right? God will show up. God will save the day. And indeed that is what Elijah is told. Kind of go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by. And that's just what Elijah wanted. A powerful sign, a convincing presence, a mighty deed assuring him that God would put things just as Elijah wanted. He wouldn't need to be grief-grief stricken anymore.
And there's a strong wind. So strong that it broke apart the rocks. But God was not in the wind. Next there was an earthquake that shook the whole mountain. But God was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake was a blazing fire burning hot. But God was not in the fire. Where was God? And then nothing. The sound of sheer silence. A gentle, quiet whisper. A still small voice. At other times to other people like Moses, God had shown up in magnificent, miraculous monumental ways. And there's this huge buildup where we expect God to be. But God is not in any of those grand gestures. God shows up in ways that Elijah and we don't expect. Here God shows up in a way very different from those other ways, very different than expected.
And an interesting thing to me is that the two of the three ways that God does not show up here are things that we closely align with the Holy Spirit. Fire, wind. But here that is not the way that God is made known. Which then brings us to here and now. How is the spirit showing up today? Is it like with Moses, with Elijah and ways all together different? Elijah felt abandoned but God was still showing up just in new ways. At the end of our lesson, Elijah is tasked with appointing his successor, Elijah. And this isn't so much firing of Elijah. Rather this is God saying, you still got work to do. What are you doing here? I called you to be there. Elijah learned that God's presence isn't just confined to one kind of moment. The same is true for us at St. Philip. The spirit is showing up in new ways, some as loud as choppsaws and power drills and some as quiet as new ways to love and serve others. God is calling us forward to a renovated sanctuary and with it new ways to worship and welcome. The spirit's still, small voice is coaxing us into a new season of life together where we will care for others in our midst. From the stranger, serve our neighbor and expand God's table for all.
Through it all, we like Elijah have lots of work to do and lots to learn about how God is still showing up. At the end of the day, Elijah is not alone. There are thousands more. He's not done. And because of God's work in Christ Jesus, that's also true for the saints, and that is true for us too. In our grief and our death, God keeps speaking, loudly, quietly, God is there. And God speaks of that love that transforms. It forms us from lonely, broken human beings into the forgiven, redeemed saints of God. That good news gets whispered. It gets sung. It gets shouted. It gets told. That is the story after all for you and for all the saints. Amen.