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RSSThe Spirit's Power in a Teacher
by The Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
6/29/2007
Pentecost 5, Proper 8 in Year C
2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14 or 1Kings 19:15-16,19-21
Psalm 77:1-2,11-20 or 16
Galatians 5:1,13-25
Luke 9:51-62
When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other... -- II Kings 2:14
And so Elisha inherits a double portion of Elijah's power, power that makes the impossible possible: he can cross a river on dry land, just like Moses and the Hebrews of old.
We see that God has given Elisha power that emerges from his relationship with Elijah. Elijah taught him what he knew, and now he would become even more of a blessing than his master was -- surely it is this for which all teaching hopes, that the student will surpass the teacher.
Did Elisha do that? Surpass his teacher? Well, it is Elijah we remember today, not his pupil; Elijah for whom a place is still set at many a Passover table to this very day. But, at the very least, the writer reminds us that the transference of the spirit's power from one to another in no way reduces its power. A teacher expands the field of knowledge by communicating it to a student. It is like fire: there is more light when you give some light away, not less.
Today, 100 million children worldwide are not in school. 70% of them are girls. Because education is so closely linked to so many other issues -- a person with at least a primary education is less vulnerable to disease and contributes more to the community than one without schooling, no matter where he or she lives. Education is the key that unlocks the prison of poverty.
Throughout Africa -- in Zambia, in Congo, in South Africa and many other African nations, as well as in South and Central America, in Southern Asia, ERD and its local partners support schools and what is needed to enable children to attend them. We also provide education for adults: job training, education in agricultural method, medical training and training in sanitation methods for community leaders in remote villages where there is no doctor for miles.
It is not impossible for the world to be a much, much better place than it is. Like Elisha -- who may or may not have surpassed his master -- we have the spiritual power to do much more, and we can give that power to others without losing a bit of it.
