Time for Renewal

As many of you already know, I am off work for a while right now (at least until January). I have ended up at a point of extreme burnout and exhaustion. Accumulated stress over time has simply been too much. I am not particularly happy about it and wish that things could be different right now. However, this is simply the way it is.

I take some comfort in knowing that I am not the first person to end up burned out. Even biblically, there is one example that I can think of, and that is Elijah. If you want to read the complete story, you'll find it in 1 Kings 18 and 19. However, I'll give you a summary here.

In Elijah's case, he has been serving as God's prophet, and the stress just gets to be too much. He heads out into the wilderness, sits down under a solitary broom tree and asks God to take away his life. Elijah is so fed up that he would rather die than continue!

However, God knows that Elijah does not need to die. Instead, Elijah needs some rest, some food, and some time alone in the wilderness. Elijah also needs spiritual renewal, which he receives through an experience on Mt. Horeb.

After 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, Elijah spends the night in a cave on Mt. Horeb. There, he has a little conversation with God in which God asks him what he is doing there. As it turns out, Elijah has been feeling as if he is the only one left in all of Israel who worships the Lord. However, God reassures Elijah that there are at least 7000 others just like him. Elijah is not nearly as isolated as he had thought!

At the same time, God is revealed to Elijah during his time on the mountain. There is a great clattering which consists of a great wind and an earthquake and a fire. However, God is not in any of those things. Next, there is "a sound of sheer silence," and it is in the quiet that God's power and presence are revealed to Elijah.

It is only after all of this that Elijah is ready to be sent out again. His physical needs are cared for, his spirit is renewed, and his time away helps him to regain some perspective on things.

It is the same kind of renewal that I seek right now - the kind of renewal that can only come from a complete break. Although I would like to be participating with you in a number of different things over the coming weeks, to do so only makes it more difficult to recover. Yet, my heart and my prayers remain with you.

I thank you for your prayers and support and for your patience during a very difficult time. I ask you to offer that same support to one another, to the members of church council, and to Pastor Don Engel while he is with you. I am grateful to him for his ministry with you while I am out of commission.

In the mean time, a blessed Advent and Christmas to you - the time of waiting, of hope, and of wonder. The peace of Christ be with you all!

In Christ,

Pastor Lynne H. Moore