Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, November 7, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I didn’t know the phrase “take up the mantle” came from this story until I wrote a devotion on it a year or so ago. I sometimes don’t realize just how embedded Christianity is into U.S. culture until I come across something like this and go, “Oh, seriously? That’s where that comes from?” It’s a little wake-up call about privilege, honestly, when you realize that so many idioms, customs, and norms are from a tradition that only 64% of U.S. citizens claim to belong to (which doesn’t mean they are actively practicing).
Of course, no one has to be a practicing Christian to use the idiom—it’s a very practical image, after all. One leader sets aside their mantle—jacket, robe, hoodie, superhero cape, what-have-you—when they resign or retire or die, and someone else comes after them to pick up the work they left behind. We have lots of idioms that don’t come to us from Christianity. A “white elephant” has Thai origins. “Close but no cigar” comes from the U.S. carnival circuit. “Pass with flying colors” comes from warships in the 1600s. Maybe it’s not such a big deal. I think it’s just important to just recognize, when we can, what we take for granted in our language, especially when it’s something inconsequential like this, so that when it really matters, we can be intentional about making sure our words are healing rather than harmful to others.
What ideas, images, or stories from the Bible seem to pop up all over the place in my interactions with culture and media?
