In today’s scripture reading, Elijah escapes danger and the chaotic times of the ruling Ahab and Jezebel, and finds himself burnt out with no understanding of purpose.  He finds God in a mountaintop retreat after he hears “sheer silence”.  Today’s sermon explores how valuable sheer silence is for us today in maintain good brain health and also in finding God when we’ve become burnt out and losing sense of purpose.  I also reference a 'Ted lecture' by Dr. Daniel Amen on Brain Health that can be found at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKj1puoWCg

This Father's Day I took a definition of Fatherhood taken from a character from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, 100 Years of Solitude.  In this book Jose Aradio is a bit of a checked out Dad, because he's a bit fo a day dreamer.  One day he checks himself back in with the help of his wife and realizes how prescious he children are.  From that moment on he desperately wants to impart his love of science on his kids, and give them as many experiences and opportunities to develop them well informed adults.  I found this to be a good definition of the duties of good Dads but also the gift fathers provide to their children.  In the scripture reading from 1 Kings 21- 1-21 - King Ahab and his wife Jezebel try and take away a father's gift given to Naboth.  Our God is often called a heavenly Father who wants us, like Jose Arcadio, to have a life filled with experience and opportunity to grow and be nurtured into mature adults.  When something gets in the way of such a divine gift, God sends forth a Champion to speaks for us as prophets.  That might be Elijah, or even a certain special outsider from the planet Krypton!

Sermon by Guest Preacher - Cheryl Buchner