Written and preached by Rev. Natalie Shiras
January 15, 2012 1 Samuel 3:1-20
Dramatization of Hebrew scripture:
I wonder:
What is God’s purpose here?
What is happening for Eli? For Samuel?
How are we to distinguish the call of God?
In this text from the Hebrew scriptures, the old priest Eli had given up hope. The word of the Lord was rare. The work of the temple continued, the lamp of God still burning, but without vitality. Eli was exhausted and almost blind. He was lying down and could no longer see.
In contrast to the old man lying down, the boy heard his name being called, “Samuel, Samuel” which means in Hebrew “God has heard”. The boy jumped up and ran, three times! There was much that the old priest knew. He finally recognized that it was God calling. There was little that the young boy knew. But he responded to what he did know. He replied, “Here I am”.
God knows us inside and out. God is getting close. God wants us to get close. God wants us to know ourselves. How do we get to know ourselves? Like Samuel we listen to that often still small voice of God, the Holy Spirit whispering to us to draw us out. Sometimes we need other people around us to help interpret, like Eli did for Samuel.
January is a time to turn inward, sit by the fire with a cup of tea and be still for inner listening. What is God whispering to your heart? Is there someone who already has recognized something particular about you and values you in a way that rings true. How are you being called by God?
There had been no youth group at Church on the Hill for quite some time when I came for my first interview of the Search Committee on March 1, 2003. Unbeknownst to me the Search Committee had discussed the need to build up the activity of the youth. Youth work was not my strength. In fact I had not even listed it as a possibility for my ministry on my resume.
Young Brooks Sherman was serving on the search committee. I asked him this week what was his sense of the need of the church at that time. He replied, “The church intended to build a youth group. And I was looking for something beneficial for my spiritual growth as well as that of the youth—that they needed to be involved in the life of the church. I was 15 at the time. It opened my eyes to where people in my age group were. It definitely nourished me.”
Brooks went on to be a catalyst and a leader of the youth group. He would stop by the chapel after school and we would talk. He got kids to come to church. He remembers saying to his classmates, “Hey, buddy, you coming to church? I’m not doing it alone”. Then he said the youth got invested themselves and came to church on their own.
That first year we graduated six youth from the confirmation class. There would be 28 more confirmands in the years following and many service projects and several missions both domestically and abroad. It was that first call that young Brooks heard that began this youth ministry.
I give thanks to Brooks and Bob and Michael for their dramatic reading and all of you. God called you into this place and time.
How did you get here? How did you hear your name called? What are the plans God has for you?
(Pause for sharing testimonies of call within the congregation)
The circumstances of our lives are a way God communicates with us. God opens some doors and closes others. God may be telling us to slow down or reorder our priorities. The happy coincidences or frustrating impasses are often messages for us. Inner listening and prayer are ways to decode, “What is God saying to me in this situation?”
We often know what God is saying because we tingle. God said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something inIsraelthat will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.” That is the body’s wisdom. Is it a tingle of fear that is telling us ‘no” or is it a tingle of hope that is telling us “yes”? Sometimes it is both a tingle of fear and a tingle of hope.
Imagine a preschool where children can play safely. Imagine a church that is filled with people doing service in the community. Imagine good things and believe. God loves this community and wants us to tingle. The way to tingle is to open both your eyes and ears and watch and listen. Amen.
