This Sunday the Revised Common Lectionary begins a series of Hebrew Bible readings from the Elijah/Elisha cycle. Whenever this series comes around, I am reminded of the year of my pastoral internship. Being a bit of a liturgical purist at the time, I was slightly shocked to find that my supervising priest eliminated Hebrew Bible lessons for the entire summer. When I asked him why, he replied that he felt that three readings were too much for summer services, and besides (and here's the rub):

<start (approximate) quote>   
   If you read all those fantastic stories, 
   then you just have to explain them away.
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Do you? I think not, even if I don't take them as 100% literal truth. I am indebted to John Spong for clarifying my thinking here. I once heard him suggest that questions about whether or not a particular biblical event "actually happened" can only divide. On the one hand, some will say, "Of course it happened. It's in the Bible." And others will say with equal certainty "Of course not. It's impossible according to our scientific understanding." Spong suggested that the question which both sides can deal with is "What does it mean?"

Disciplines such as canonical or rhetorical criticism ask questions like this.
   Why is this story told here?
   Why is it told in this specific way?
   What point does the storyteller wish to make?

The Elijah/Elisha cycle contains some of the most vivid, dramatic, and awe-inspiring scenes in the canon. Reading it in worship invites us into a worldview in which God is present and active, where people expect to see signs of the divine in ordinary life.