Looking for “Love” in All the Wrong Places!
Luke 8:26–39  1 Kings 19:1-15a
Preached by the Reverend Kathy Peters
June 20, 2010

Elijah has tried the best that he can, been faithful to what God has called him to do, and he is in trouble again…running for his life again. Who can blame him when he says enough is enough God….let’s just end it all now.  Who would blame him if at the very least he just quit the prophecy business, went off to some quiet town in the hills and lived the rest of his life in obscurity?
Jesus too is in trouble…again. He listens to the cries of a man who has been plagued by demons or perhaps in our day would have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Jesus hears his cries and sends the demons into the swine and then over a hill and into a lake to drown…an odd story to our ears to be sure but for this morning I want us to look at the reaction of the people. They want Jesus to get out of town! They are afraid …of change?  of such an awesome display of compassion and healing? of the fact that this possessed man was no longer who they had assumed him to be?…whatever the reason…….Jesus is in trouble again and who would blame him if he got in that boat and sailed away to a quiet place where he could live the rest of his life in obscurity.
We’ve all been there in Elijah and Jesus place…doing the best that we can and yet life is not the smooth path that we had hoped it would be. Folks are mad at us or disappointed in us or we just feel we can’t measure up to anyone’s expectations including our own and we might be tempted to say enough is enough God and run to the hills or just sail away from it all.

Of course we know that neither one of these men went away permanently but they did get away from all that crowded their lives to a place where they might look for and find God.
The familiar words from I Kings say it so well  and are worth hearing again “(God) said, "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 before the Lord, 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 a sound of sheer silence.”  (I Kings 19:11-12) God was in the silence and Elijah (and Jesus as well) paused long enough to truly hear!
Sarah Verasco of the CT Conference staff wrote a poem about this scripture passage:     (Spirit Calendar ctucc.org 6/16/2010)
As strange as this may sound,      I sometimes forget how much I enjoy        and need       silence.
Like the pause            after a beautiful and moving       piece of music,       silence
allows for deepening.         And filling.                For savoring and truly tasting.
I am wholly convinced that our God who so deeply hears    the cries of the poor
heals us           forms us and        sets our hearts aflame      in      silence

So yes this is the time of the year for my “take time to sit on the porch ..in silence….and ‘hear’ God”  sermon. Yes we need to be about God’s work and being God’s people but if we do not take any time, to pause…in silence…. away from the business and busyness of life…we run the risk of “missing” God or at the very least looking for God and God’s love in all the wrong places. If we only seek to see God in the wind and earthquake and fire of our lives, if we only think to find God in the deeply moving mountain top experiences, if we wait on God to make some spectacular cure or to swoop in and fix all that is not perfect in our lives …..we just might miss him!

The song “Looking for love in all the wrong places” came to mind as I thought about these Bible passages.  Yes I was tempted to sing for you all but the best way I can appreciate the choir is to resist the temptation!

But Waylon Jennings words do speak to our theme: 

“I've spent a lifetime looking for you
Single bars and good time lovers, never true
Playing a fools game, hoping to win
Telling those sweet lies and losing again.

I was looking for love in all the wrong places
Looking for love in too many faces
Searching your eyes, looking for traces
Of what.. I'm dreaming of...”

Obviously Jennings is talking about finding his “true love”…..but his words do speak of that search to find fulfillment, love and even God’s grace in all the wrong places…whatever the bars, the “good” times, the lies of our particular lives might be.  

We search and search yet “it” ..whatever our it might be ….is just not happening for us and we wonder like Elijah…where are you, God and what is your point!

But then in this country western song at least there is a happy ending…..love is found

“You came a'knocking at my heart's door..
You're everything I've been looking for..”

God is quietly knocking at our heart’s door, inviting us …often in the silence to be still and dare to know God’s presence.

God, often in the guise of unlikely “angels” also provides the sustenance …….like to Elijah …..of the cake and water we need to make it through another day. Not only can our busyness get in the way of being open to God’s presence and love and care but also our sense that we need to do this living stuff all on our own. Our sense that it all depends on us and our constant effort can lead us to miss the angels that God sends to care for us!

So run for the hills, sail away on a boat or just sit on the front porch and listen……God’s still small voice will be heard.  And in the most challenging moments of life be well aware  and open to  the angels in your midst!

Ted Loder’s beautiful prayer sums it up:

How silently,
how silently
the wondrous gift is given.
I would be silent now,
Lord,
and expectant...
     that I may receive
          the gift I need,
               so I may become the gifts others need.  (from Guerrilla’s of Grace  LuraMedia  1984)   Amen.