All talk and no action? 1 Kings 18:17-39

The only thing that stood in the way of complete happiness for a house full of mice was a mean old cat that lived there. One day, the mice gathered together to brainstorm how they would solve this problem. They deserved a safe home after all. They voted on a brilliant idea, and decided that they would place a bell around the neck of the cat. As the cat approached they would hear the cat and know they needed to run away. Everyone would be much safer. The mice all cheered and applauded the idea. They felt much better until one mouse asked a question. "So, which one of you is going to put the bell around the cat's neck?" The mice fell silent at this question. See, they were all talk and no action.

In our reading for this upcoming Sunday we hear about Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal on their home turf. There is one of him, and 450 of them. Baal is the god of thunder and lightning and the bull is his religious symbol. Elijah has the prophets of Baal split a bull in two and set up two bonfires. He instructs them to call for Baal to ignite their bull, but nothing happens. He gives them all day with their hometown advantage, but still nothing. Not a spark, no action, not even a word. He begins to taunt them. Elijah knew that Baal was all talk and no action.

At the end of the day he tells them to cover his bonfire with water. He builds a trench around it and has them soak it until the water filled the trench. He called out, and God ignited the fire, demonstrating what a God of action looks like.

If Elijah looked at our churches now, he may have similar critique to the one he had of Baal. Baal was all talk, no action, but often, so are our churches. Baal was the god of lightning, but called forth no lightning. Our God is the God of the poor, widowed, orphaned, and the sick, yet our churches, the Body, fail to act. This scripture is a call to action for our church, get to work being the body, we all need to hear this!

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