BATMAN?!

I’m so glad I was at church this morning.  I walked in, and was met by a diminutive Batman, haring down the aisle.  Then the church warden walked in with what looked like a dead animal (faux fur cape).  What WAS going on?!

The answer was a dramatisation of Elijah, how he got fed during a famine - this can be found in the Old Testament - the first half of the Bible -1 Kings Chapter 17.

And “Batman”?  He was one of the ravens who brought the prophet Elijah (Church Warden - duly decked out in fur cape and leather belt) enough bread to keep him alive.  His only source of water, a brook through the Kerith Ravine - slowly dried up.  The two little boys complete with beaks and black capes which they flapped enthusiastically, raced around church, finding bread and bringing it to Elijah.

You can imagine, there was lots of laughter.  The stream - running down the middle of the aisle - had now run dry, so the Lord told Elijah to move on outside the boundaries of Israel.- the front of Church standing in for Zarephath - where he was met by a widow, an old crone (retired teacher - my! she’s aged a bit, long white locks and bent back) gathering sticks.

Elijah asked the widow for water and bread.  I can just imagine how unfair this seemed to her - she’s just about to cook a last meal for herself and her son and has just enough for the two of them - and no one else - and there’s this chap asking her to make a small loaf for him, before she even begins to cook for herself and her son!

But God promised, through Elijah, that if she does that, then the jar of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not run dry until the Lord sends rain again.  She did what was asked of her, and the flour and oil did not run out.

This reminds me of what was shared with me, years ago, by someone who knew the lady concerned personally.  The newly widowed lady was buttering a lot of sliced loaves, for the refreshments after the funeral of her husband.

Beside her, in the kitchen, was a man who talked incessantly about how stupid the dear departed’s faith was, and how useless it was for her to go on believing that she would see her husband again.  Having finished buttering multiple plates of bread, she turned to him and said,

“Well, I just had half a small packet of butter, and when I saw it running out, I prayed to the Lord, and look how many slices of bread have been buttered since.  It should have run out, a long way back.  I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for answering my prayer.  And I leave the rest in His faithful hands.”