A Message from the Bishop - October 2022A

Dear Friends,

We read in the Daily Lectionary this week about the prophet Elijah and King Ahab, who ruled over the nation of Israel some 800 years before Jesus. Ahab was the worst of the kings Israel had ever had. He had married Jezebel, a Baal worshiper, and he wholeheartedly joined Jezebel in serving this false god. He built a temple for Baal in his capital city, Samaria, and he led his people into apostasy and idolatry.

But then, God raised up Elijah. When things get worse than ever, God raises up a voice, a leader, a deliverer. God is never without faithful ones who know him and obey him and speak for him.

Elijah had prophesied to King Ahab that there would be no rain for years to come. God had warned Israel that drought would be one of the consequences of national rebellion against his law (e.g., Deuteronomy 22:28). This drought was not only judgment against a sinful people, it also demonstrated God’s power over Baal, the fertility god.

This drought and famine lasted 3½ years, and Elijah was affected by it, too. Even the innocent suffer the consequences of the sinful actions of others. Being faithful to God doesn’t mean you’ll never have hard times.

The Lord sent Elijah to go east of the Jordan River, to a ravine where there was a little stream. There he was fed by birds, which brought him bread and meat, morning and evening, and he drank from the stream.

The stream eventually dried up, and then the Lord did a tremendously significant thing. He sent Elijah on to Zarephath of Sidon, which was ruled by Jezebel’s father, Ethbaal, the pagan king of Sidon. Our God is powerful, even in Baal’s “territory.”

There the Lord commanded a widow to provide Elijah with food. He met her gathering firewood on which to cook her last meal before she and her son starved to death.

Elijah asked her for water to drink and, please, a piece of bread. He told her not to be afraid, “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth’” (1 Kings 17:14). And God miraculously provided for her and her son and for Elijah.

Zarephath was along the coast, north of Israel in what is now Lebanon. Jesus refers to this event in Luke 4, where he said, “…there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luke 4:25-26).

As Jesus emphasized, God sent Elijah to Zarephath to show us God’s love for Gentiles, for all people. Our God is a missionary God.

Recently, a large number from our diocese joined in the New Wineskins Global Missions Conference at the Ridgecrest in Western North Carolina. Some of the DOMA attendees are shown here:

Photo credit: Mary Amendolia Gardner

We heard challenging teaching and powerful testimonies from those who are taking the Gospel to some of the least reached peoples here at home and around the world. Several of the speakers were missionaries of our own diocese.

New Wineskins, held every three years, is an extraordinary opportunity to meet and and interact with Anglicans who are on fire for the spread of the Kingdom—to learn, to share, and to hear from God about his call on our own lives.

 When the recordings of speakers and breakout sessions are posted, we’ll let you know in an upcoming issue of The Messenger. Some of them would be ideal for a small group to watch and discuss.

The dates for the 2025 New Wineskins are not yet available, but let me plant the idea of you and your church sending a team to experience it together and bring back to your church a renewed passion for mission.

As I’ve shared with our clergy, I urge each of our churches to establish an intentional partnership with a church or diocese overseas. This could involve support of a long-term missionary, but it should also include developing a meaningful connection with indigenous church leadership. If you would like help in making such a link, please contact me or our diocesan global missions advocate, the Rev. Katie Hamlin.

May the Lord fan into flame the fire of mission in each one of us.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey