DAY 7

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A GREETING
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
(Psalm 56:3)

A READING
When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, ‘Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.’ Then she said, ‘Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?’ He said to Gehazi, ‘Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer; and lay my staff on the face of the child.’ Then the mother of the child said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave without you.’ So he rose up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. He came back to meet him and told him, ‘The child has not awakened.’When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and closed the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. While he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
(2 Kings 4:27-33;34b-35)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another,
a tender heart, and a humble mind.
(1 Peter 3:8)

A POEM
As I rode forth one day not long ago,
Pensive about my journey and distressed,
I met Love, like a traveller, humbly dressed,
Coming along my path, forlorn and slow...
When he caught sight of me he called my name
And said: 'from far away I bring your heart,
Where it has dwelt, according to my will,
And take it a new service to fulfill.'
Then I absorbed of him so great a part,
He vanished just as strangely as he came.
- from Canto IX of "La Vita Nuova" by Dante Alighieri

VERSE OF THE DAY
When you open your hands, they are filled with good things.
(Psalm 104:28b)

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Image by Giuseppe Milo

The books of 1st and 2nd Kings hold several stories in which the prophet Elijah or Elisha helps to restore life or bring healing to a woman and her child. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah provides oil for a meal that will be offered to him, and revives the woman's son. In the same chapter as todays' story, Elisha supplies oil to help prevent indentured slavery of a widow's son. He then next encounters a woman in the village of Shunem. In the verses just before the reading, the unnamed woman has insisted that the prophet take his rest in her home. Unlike the other women of the Kings' healing stories, her desire to uphold Elisha comes partly from her wealth and status. She arranges for a special room to be built for Elisha, a roofed guest room with a bed, a table and chair, and a lamp. She has no agenda in her hospitality, but we are told that she has sensed that he is a "holy man of God". Elisha is grateful and makes use of the room. As the story continues Elisha wants to repay the woman for her kindness. He promises her that she will have a son, despite that she has not been able to conceive. The boy is born but as we find in today's passage he has suddenly died. Grieving, the woman goes back to Elisha to try to understand why the child was both given to her and then taken away. Responding to her anguish, Elisha revives the child.

The kind of ‘awakening’ that we read here is the raising of someone from death, a form of storytelling we will explore as it becomes echoed elsewhere in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. On the surface, each of these seems to be about bringing someone back to life from death. But each story has its own unique context and nuances. The Shunammite woman’s essential question is to wonder why God’s prophet would help her find the answer to what she most prayed for, only for it to be taken for her at another time, bringing immeasurable grief?

For those of us who are suddenly blindsided by loss, these moments can be devastating. We may be feeling as if we have what we most desire -- and then suddenly it is gone. For people who live in war-torn regions, or in places of famine or strife, this is a regular part of life. For the rest of us, it is a part of life also, when things seem to turn suddenly upside down.

The Hebrew word ’hazaq’ is used several times in this story, meaning ‘to tie’, ‘to bind’, ‘to hold fast by joining’. The hospitality of the Shunammite woman joins her to Elisha, in essential passages of life and death. They have become friends. We overcome adversity through reliance on those who surround us and offer us care. We may not be able to have what we lost restored to us, but we feel the comfort of the strong loving arms of family and friends. Through their care, and in our own prayer, we feel the larger compassionate embrace of God, who instills in each of us the capacity for compassion, love and tenderness.

Who do you know who could benefit from feeling the loving embrace of God through your care? How might you reach out to them today?

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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
In the world of climate change, scientists and researchers are now talking about adaptation: how we can mitigate climate change impacts, while we work for longer term solutions. One such adaptation is the brainchild of a Lakakhi engineer named Sonam Wangchuk and is called the ice stupa, or ice cone. In Buddhism, a stupa is a circular structure that houses a relic that is used for meditation. Imitating the shape of a stupa, ice stupas are artificial glaciers. In the far northern part of India, desert farmers need water in April and May to grow barley and fruit trees for their communities. Until recent times, that water normally came from surrounding glaciers. Climate change has caused these to melt faster than they should or to recede and disappear. Wangchuk’s invention allows local villagers and monastery communities to come together to create man-made glaciers in the coldest part of winter by running pipes inside a hut-like structure of branches and frames. The water shoots out the top and freezes as it falls. It stays frozen until the spring, when it slowly starts to melt, providing water. Begun in 2014, the ice stupas have provided water for the planting of thousands of trees in Ladakh. The project has now spread to the Alps and the Andes, and is offering a way of helping farmers stay productive. It requires only pipes and local streams; there is no other environmental footprint. As Wangchuk says, however, it is not a long-term solution. For now, it allows farmers to continue doing what they've done for thousands of years. (This documentary offers an overview of how it works. This photo essay in the New Yorker, includes images of the people the ice stupas are for.)

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LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!