[Propertalk] Proper 4 b 2018 part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

	So where does young Samuel fit into this picture? He’d been born
very late in his parents’ lives.

	He’d been dedicated by them to God’s work, without so much as a
“by-your-leave” to or from him. But he seemed to be a willing
member of the Temple staff, brought up by his parents to understand
how much God loved the people and how faithfulness to God above
everything else on Samuel’s part was what delighted God.

	There was Samuel. Everyone had gone home for the day. No doubt the
altar area had been cleaned up as much as is usually was. All was
quiet because those who lived within the Temple precincts were fast
asleep.

	THAT was when Samuel heard his name called.

	It must have been so confusing. His job was to wait on and to learn
from Eli so, naturally, he went running to him. But it hadn’t been
Eli.

	How often have WE been confused like that? We may feel a bit
unskilled and naïve, or we may be set in our ways. Whichever it may
be, we hear a call. We feel that we’re being encouraged to pay
attention, to go a certain way, to become aware of what’s happening
around us. We may hear that we’re to assume certain
responsibilities. Especially because of our faith background, we may
be inclined to assume that there was a clear-cut path to where we
needed to go. We may even think that because someone has a well-known
name that they must always be honoured, and believed, and trusted.

	Is this why God delivered the Levites from slavery in Egypt? For that
matter, is this why the human leaders, Moses, Aaron and, latterly,
Joshua, knocked themselves out?

	So often those who have resources and powers seem to want more.
There’s never enough. They’re never content. Those on the hard
pilgrimage through the desert complained and connived. Those who
settled in Israel complained and connived. Those who succeeded Aaron
in the finally-finished temple in Jerusalem complained and, yes,
connived too. And they each in turn made sure that they took advantage
of everyone they could.

	I wonder what Hannah, Samuel’s mother, thought when she left her
young son at the Temple. Would he be abused?

	I wonder what Eli thought as he took on Samuel as a member of his
staff.

	I wonder what Samuel himself thought.

	Then he heard that voice. After two trips in the middle of the night
to see Eli, he must have begun to be scared, I’m sure. Was it
because everyone else in the Temple had forfeited the right and
ability to hear God that Samuel was the only one to be blessed by God?

	It’s a scary thought for us, as it must have been for the
prophet-to-be. Yet we must persist. So soon after Pentecost, we must
be faithfully persistent in seeking the Spirit’s guidance. Each of
us will still hear God’s voice if we practice the life of merciful
selflessness and devotion. Even if we’ve heard that voice before, it
WILL sound again. There’s no telling WHAT we may hear, but it WILL
be special. It WILL be uniquely phrased for us. Just as God spoke to
Samuel, so God’s voice for us WILL be challenging, and it may well
contain disturbing warnings about those who claim authority but do not
have God’s blessing.

	Challenging – yes, God’s word is usually challenging, but
there’s nearly always the sound of excitement in it as well. One way
or another, there’s a message about love.

	Perhaps we will hear God address our understanding of the
commandments, just as those in Jesus’ company heard Him talk of
them.

	Perhaps we’ll need to rethink what we thought we knew, and
reconsider what and who we used to trust.  Perhaps we’ll even have
to reassess what we think God sounds like and how God calls.

	As Samuel discovered, there’s never a dull moment when we seek and
allow God to be a part of our lives.

	This was the thrust of what Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said in
the wedding homily he preached in Windsor Chapel just two weeks ago.
If it’s not about Love, then it’s not about God, it’s not about
the Gospel. If every single act that we do, from our first breath to
our last, is not rooted in mercy, and justice, and a humility that
comes from being awed that God is using us to further God’s reign;
if everything we do isn’t as focused, every day, on this, then it is
not of God, and stands to be condemned as much as Eli and his sons
were.

	Let me share what a good friend wrote a week or so ago.

	 “In the first grade (1941), I stole a nickel from a fat girl at
school and bragged about it to my parents at dinner. I was five.

	 “My parents abruptly ended the meal, drove me to the other side of
town, parked their 1939 Chevy in front of her house, and told me to
speak clearly and at a volume they could hear from the car when I
apologized to her.

	 “I have had 8 decades of experience with temptation. Some times I
have resisted; sometimes I have yielded; yet I claim no virtue for
never stealing again. I have never even been tempted to. …

	 “Yipes!” he went on. “I now remember another time I stole, in
my late 20's. How embarrassing to have forgotten.”

	 We as individuals and the Church as a whole are called to be filled
with joy at the knowledge and experience of God’s blessings. But we
can never relax our own standards to drift away from God’s; we can
never become joined at the hip to government, or movements, or
individuals. We are ALWAYS accountable to God, and God’s grace WILL
sustain us, no matter what’s happening around us. Just look how
richly Samuel was blessed, and was able to be an agent of reform and
blessing to the nation.

	 The story doesn’t end with a feeling of hopelessness, though. The
fact that Samuel not only heard but also that he responded to God’s
call brings relief. Similarly, the fact that Jesus’ disciples, in
addition to Jesus Himself, were encouraged to take care of their own
needs as well as those of others, showed their willingness to respond
to God’s call through Jesus.

	 It’s simply a matter of listening and of evaluating; comparing
what we hear with the highest understanding of righteousness we can
muster. God still speaks. God still calls. God still needs us!

	Let these words

	lay themselves

	like a blessing upon your heard,

	your shoulders,

	as if,

	like hands,

	they could pass on

	to you

	what you most need

	for this day, 1

	NOTE:

	[1] _“Blessing the Ordinary” _in_ __“Circle of Grace”_ by Jan
Richardson. Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, Florida © 2015, pages
179 - 80
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