6/19/22 "When Life Leaves You Under the Broom Tree by Nancy E. Petty
I Kings 19:1-15a
Sometimes life has a way of leaving us under the broom tree. The broom tree: those places in our lives that leave us bone-tired of the injustices in the world, or the hopelessness we can feel when it comes to changing systems of racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry, the polarization of politics in America, and the realization and fact that it wasn’t until 2021 that a US President commemorated the emancipation of enslaved African Americans making June 19 a federal holiday (156 years later). And while we now celebrate Juneteenth, freedom has still not come for many black and brown bodies in America. Broom tree places: the despair that can accompany grief, the ending of a relationship, a devastating health report, relapse…again, the stuck-ness of an unfulfilling job, another church, school, supermarket shooting, police brutality against black and brown bodies. Broom tree places: those feelings of unworthiness, the lack of a sense of belonging, the unrelenting thoughts of self-harm, the paralyzing feelings that come with social anxiety, remembrances of childhood trauma, or that gnawing empty feeling inside.
Like Elijah, sometimes life leaves us under the broom tree. It is there that we cry out for relief: “It is enough.” We cry out to God or the gods of mercy to take it all away. For a time, we just want everything to stop. We want the chaos in our minds to go away. We want the world to stop spinning. We want to crawl in our beds, pull the covers over our heads and stay there until…well, until.
This is exactly where we encounter Elijah this morning—sitting under the broom tree (in the bed with the covers pulled over his head) deeply depressed and in despair. We see into the window of his internal struggles, his fears and doubts, and his withdrawal from the world that troubles him.
Elijah’s experience under that broom left me with a question: Where do we draw strength when life leaves us under the broom tree? What helps us get up and go again, engage in this one life that we have been given? Is it simply a nap and a snack as the story would suggest? Or, is there more to tease out of Elijah’s story that might help us when we find ourselves sitting under our broom trees.
The first verse [of 1 Kings 19] reviews the excitement of 1 Kings 18, with Ahab’s report to Jezebel that Elijah killed all her prophets with the sword. We learn in the story that Elijah has taken this action because he believes that God’s people have “forsaken,” broken their covenant with God and defiled God’s altars. As he himself says, “He has been zealous for the Lord.” Upon hearing what Elijah has done, Jezebel responds by sending a messenger to Elijah with a death threat that she vows will be fulfilled in one day. Elijah is afraid and flees for his life. He goes to Beersheba which is under Judah’s control, meaning that legally, it is beyond Jezebel’s reach. But he doesn’t stop there. He continues his flight into the wilderness. Geographically he is safe, in the land where Jezebel does not rule. He is also safe for the time being because Jezebel’s death threat was supposed to be fulfilled in one day, and now Elijah is two days into his fleeing. And yet, Elijah’s words and actions belie any sense of relief or safety. He sits under a broom tree in the desert, more likely a large bush, and asks to die, telling God, “It is too much.”
Now, there are at least two sermons in this story relevant for our time: we live in a nation that is constantly breaking its covenants and defiling the altars of justice and equality; and we are living in a time when people are making the decision to exercise violence when they don’t like what’s happening. The narrative holds accountability for both the Israelites and Elijah in this story—and those are sermons we need to hear. But that’s not my focus this morning. The Moral Mass Assembly in Washington DC preached that sermon yesterday. My focus this morning is more pastoral. Where do we draw strength when we find ourselves under the broom tree? I’m most interested in this question not because the other sermons that could be preached out of this text are not important. They are. But it seems to me that if we are to address these times in which we are living and ultimately find alternatives to the injustices we are facing in this nation and the inner struggles we face as individuals—times marked by covenant-breaking with our fellow beings and creation as well as resorting to violence when things don’t go our way—we need to discover where we will find the strength necessary to get up and face the daily challenges before us to be whole people and to make this world a more just place for all.
While I don’t have definitive answers to my question, “Where does our strength come from when we are under the broom tree?” (I imagine for different folks it comes from different places), I do sense some clues in the two conversations Elijah has in our narrative. As Elijah sleeps under the tree, an angel appears, touches Elijah, and says to him, “Get up and eat.” Surprisingly, Elijah finds at his head a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. We are told that he Elijah ate and drank, and then laid back down again. A second time the angel came, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” Once again, we are told that he got up and ate and drank. But this time he didn’t go back to sleep. The text says, “He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
Obviously, physical food and water are necessary for the strength to keep going. If the physical body is not nourished, it is impossible to get up and go. Likewise, rest, physical rest, is necessary for strength building. Life becomes overwhelming if you are tired all the time. That is why Ian wanted me to title this sermon, “A Nap and A Snack.” But I am wondering if, in addition to the nap and snack, if Elijah found strength, spiritual strength, in the visit and conversation with the angel.
Consider for a minute the idea that the angel in this story represents or is symbolic of community. Imagine that this angel who showed up for Elijah, offering him sustenance in physical form, and spiritual encouragement by simply showing up, giving him the strength to eventually get up and carry on—a reminder to him that he was not alone.
Consider the idea that this angel represented to Elijah a sense of belonging—a connection to someone or something beyond himself. Community offers that to us—a sense of belonging, human connection and touch, a sharing of thoughts and values and purpose that reminds us that we are not alone in this world. And it is this realm of community—this sense of belonging and connection and sharing—that we find strength when life leaves us under the broom tree. I have often said that I don’t know how people without community get through difficult times. Now I know that church is not the only place to find community. And yet, in my own life, my church community (this church) is the place that has held me, carried me, supported me, challenged me, and given me the strength, both physical and spiritual, to get up and go when life felt like too much. The strength I have found from this community didn’t come in dramatic actions, although there have been those moments. The times when I was under the broom tree, the strength I have received from this faith community has come in one-on-one meaningful conversations, in watching others live their most authentic lives, in brief notes written on handmade cards, in a community of people extending grace instead of judgment, in challenging conversations and decisions that drew us closer to one another as a people with the purpose of doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly. At its best, community offers us the strength physically and spiritually to get up and face the challenges before us. We are, my friends, angels to one another. You may never know, but don’t underestimate, the strength you might offer to someone with whom you share community. And when you find yourself under the broom tree, don’t be afraid to reach out to the many angels in this or another community that cares for you.
The second clue to this question, “Where do we find strength when life leaves us under the broom tree?” comes in Elijah’s encounter with God at the mouth of the cave. Sometimes the only place we can find the strength we need is in solitude with God. The psalmist called this time the dark night of the soul. For Jacob it was wrestling with the stranger all night and walking away with a limp. Forty days Moses spent time alone with God on the top of the mountain seeking clarity. And then there is Jesus who often retreated from others to draw strength in the presence of God alone. When life leaves us under the broom tree sometimes our strength comes in finding space to be alone and listen for God’s spirit to speak to us. In a world full of noise and family commitments and job responsibilities and all kinds of voices shouting their advice to us, it can be a challenge to make space for alone time with God—the kind of quiet time that offers us spiritual strength for the journey. In the sheer silence, Elijah experiences God’s presence. Surely, that connection gave him strength even as he continued to fear and doubt.
It is my experience that in these moments of solitude when I am at my lowest, that I feel the presence of God, and my faith and trust in God is strengthened and deepened. I will also tell you that placing myself in these moments and times at the mouth of the cave alone are the times I fight the most. In those times, the metaphorical splitting of the mountains, the breaking of my emotional rocks in pieces before God, the wind and earthquakes and fire that can be so scary makes it really difficult to sit solitude/quietness with God. But when that sheer silence comes, meaning that I have quieted my mind and soul and made space for God’s voice, there is an affirmation of God’s presence and my soul finds strength. My fear and doubt and insecurity is not erased. Notice that even after his encounter with God, Elijah is still fearing for his life. I don’t know about Elijah, but I find strength in facing my fear and doubt and insecurity knowing that I am not alone, that God/Spirit/Love goes with me.
Our text ends with God telling Elijah, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus…” The story doesn’t have an ending for us this morning. In a sense it has a beginning. Go, return on you way…the last clue to where we find our strength when life leaves us under the broom tree. We eventually get up and continue the journey, taking life one day at a time—day-by-day.
I’ll end with this story from Midrash. A king asked his son to hire two people to fill a deep pit. The first, upon looking into the pit, exclaimed in despair: How can I fill so deep a cavern? The other, a wise worker, said: What concern is it of mine that the pit is so deep? I am hired by the day and I shall therefore perform my day’s work.
The midrash continues, So God says to us: What concern of yours is it that the Torah is so extensive and that there is so much to learn? You are hired to do My work from day to day. All I expect of you is to perform a full day’s work.
We find strength when we take one day at a time doing what God is calling us to do. Life can get overwhelming so fast when we try and live in the future. Strength comes in getting up and facing today—being fully present to today.
And so, when life leaves you under the broom tree think of Elijah’s story: draw strength from the angels--your community; risk going to the mouth of the cave to draw strength from time alone with God; and rely on the strength found in being present to the day that is before you. And remember…God is always ready to take your hand and lead you on.
