Readings:
1 Samuel 3:1-20, Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51
Audio:
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Holy and Loving God, write a message on our hearts. Bless us, direct us, and send us out, living letters of the Word. AMEN.
From today’s Old Testament reading, “Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called.”
I am struck by an image Ellen Roberds used in this pulpit a week ago: the image of the Clergy person who is a central figure in one’s life, the priest or pastor who was present for so many life events that she or he becomes legend in our own minds and souls. Many of us are blessed with that person and for me, that person is Ted Gulick. Ted was my bishop. Ted married Ellen and me, buried my father, and ordained me to the Deaconate and the Priesthood. Ted was not perfect. A few years ago, I planned all of the worship for the national Episcopal Youth Event, an event attended by over a thousand youth and most of the bishops in the Church. And during the opening Eucharist, while all the bishops in their liturgical finery were processing in, Ted passed me. I was a nervous wreck and as he passed, Ted leaned in to whisper something in my ear. I was hoping for some nugget of wisdom, some morsel of solace, but instead he said, “make me look good!” Still, when Ted preached, I thought he was preaching to me and me alone – so much so that I made an utter fool out of myself one Sunday when he was making his official visitation to my first parish and he preached this fantastic sermon and I approached him afterwards, a sniveling wreck and said something like, “thank you SO MUCH for preaching about me today,” and he replied, very deadpan, “I wasn’t preaching about you.” Oops. Perhaps one day I will learn that it isn’t all about me.
At my ordination to the Deaconate he did preach to me, or at least I assume so, and he preached about call. He preached about how God had called my fellow ordinand and I to do good work in the World and accomplish great things in the Church. He recalled the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” He reminded us that we had been called to listen for the Holy Spirit, and to find our voice, and to speak out, for we had been called by God. God calls.
We hear two great stories from the scripture this morning about call. First is the story of call of Samuel, who was sleeping in the Temple next to the Ark of the Covenant (an interesting choice - hasn't he seen Indiana Jones?), and he hears a voice. And he assumes it is his friend and mentor Eli who is old and infirm and he runs to him and says, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli had not called out to Samuel and after this happens three times they both realize that God must be calling and so the fourth time, Samuel replies to God and says, “speak, for your servant is listening.”
The second story is from the Gospel. It is a couple days after Jesus’ baptism, as we heard and celebrated last week, and Jesus is in Galilee. He finds Philip and he calls him. He simply says, “follow me.” No great discourse, no miraculously persuasive argument, just drop everything and "follow me." And they do.
Call is a very personal endeavor. God made us in the image of God, God gave each of us particular talents to do good work, so, if we are listening, God inspires us and reminds us to use these gifts. God calls. Sometimes it is difficult to hear God’s call, sometimes it is difficult to understand God’s call, and sometimes there are earthly impediments to respond to God’s call, but God calls. God calls each of us and God calls again and again and again until we answer.
However, with call, as with many things with God, there’s a rub. For God does call you. God calls you to do amazing things. As the song goes, the Lord of sea and sky asks whom shall I send and you are the answer. God calls you, but … but, God’s call isn’t about you. God’s call is not a cosmic pat on the head merely to confirm how special you are. Don’t get me wrong, God loves you. God loves you unconditionally. God knows every nook and cranny of your soul, even the parts you are ashamed or afraid of and God still loves you without exception. And for that cosmic fact I am very thankful. But God’s call is not to merely to sit around and bask in the glory of how wonderful it is to be called. God’s call is about action.
When we are called by God, we are called to do something. We are called to go out into this broken world, a world not unlike the world described in the Old Testament, where word of God is rare, visions is not widespread, and our eyesight has grown dim. [At 9, Please pardon the plug, but one could go to the Great Hall after this service and learn from Katy and Bailey Leopard about some of Calvary’s outreach efforts and how God is calling you to participate.] God made us and God gave us these gifts to do something, to make a difference, to make a difference for someone else who is hurting, who is struggling, who is searching. God calls us to respond.
On this weekend when we remember the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, I am reminded of a passage from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He wrote, “There was a time when the church was very powerful … In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were … God-intoxicated.”
Be disturbers. Be intoxicated. Respond to God’s call. Know that through you great things will happen. Be the embodiment of the Epiphany or our God. And when you respond to God’s call, not only will you see great things, as Jesus said in today’s Gospel. But, as Jesus says later in John’s Gospel, “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.”
God calls and God’s call is good. But, God calls us to do, and that can change the world for good. AMEN.