Monday Scripture: 2 Kings 2
The Greatest Generation
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As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Elisha saw this and cried out,
“My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
And Elisha saw him no more.
Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
He took struck the water with the cloak.
“Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked.
When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said,
“The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.”
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Elisha picked up the mantle of his mentor and used it.
He learned how to act like Elijah by watching him, living with him, listening to him, loving him.
We are fast losing our greatest generation of Americans.
Their mantles have fallen all round us.
Some have been enshrined.
Some forgotten.
All are aching to be rediscovered and reclaimed.
And soon my generation will be shuffling off this mortal coil.
We dare not trust gravity to distribute the mantles we have lately inherited.
Tell their stories.
Show their power.
Pass them on to the young warriors, for soon they too will be elders.
Strike the waters and cry out,
Where now is the God of the Greatest Generation?
Let the warriors see that the Spirit is upon you.
Then pass on that mantle.