[Propertalk] Proper 6 b 2018 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

	 Somehow, Suzanne Farnham and others seemed, in a productive, gentle
way, to hit a nerve. It might be better to say that they found their
finger on the spiritual and emotional pulse of a great many
individuals. 

	 Some were struggling to make ends meet, to pay bills, to organize
time, to get out from under all those who were oppressing. Some, to
all intents and purposes, were doing reasonably well. They were fairly
stable economically, emotionally and physically. But they must have
felt that there was something more which they could be doing,
something different, perhaps, which could not only be satisfying to
them, but would make a difference in their various communities. 

	 That’s a very well-known and fascinating story in our first
reading this morning. Just as Samuel had warned, Saul had failed not
only the people, not only God, but also himself. No matter his name,
no matter his title, Saul had failed as king and Samuel was
heart-broken. 

	 What on earth was left for the prophet to do? 

	 Then God reached him in Samuel’s despair. God was able to sense
how to respond to the prophet’s anguish and to say that there WAS
something that could be done, no matter how disastrous the situation
looked. 

	 The good news wasn’t restricted to God reaching out to Samuel,
however. The Good News was also that Samuel was able to listen. No
matter how dark everything looked; no matter how hell-bent Saul seemed
to be intent on ruining everything that others had built up and
entrusted to him; no matter that there seemed to be no way that Samuel
could face people again; no matter WHAT had happened, somehow the
listening heart and the comforting voice of God was able to reach the
aging man and to assure him that he had value, that he had resources,
that he had a mission which when could yet fulfil. And this would be
possible because God would be with him every step of his life. 

	 I admit that this this is difficult to accept. When a celebrity, for
instance, who would appear to have everything, decides to end his or
her life, what sort of a signal does this send to others? 

	 I’m not trying to ignore or to belittle whatever difficulties and
problems were entangling those people’s lives with tentacles of
despair. The question remains, however, might there have been an ear,
or a heart, or lips that might have been able to have made a
difference? 

	 This is a question that rests heavily on the hearts and minds of
everyone, but especially parents, siblings, children, friends.
There’s often the nagging doubt that I, or we, might have been able
to notice something, to find some way to say something, to reach that
person with some sort of consolation to offer assurance. 

	 What does the experience of Samuel and the episode depicted in the
conversation of Jesus and the disciples say to this? 

	 In the first reading this morning, you can’t separate Saul from
Samuel. It might be easy to dwell solely on the prophet and to look at
the way that God was there for him, helping and coaxing him back into
life in society. But we can’t forget that it was the destructive
personality and actions of Saul which brought this on. Being right
about the feet of clay of human leaders didn’t make things easier
for Samuel, nor did Saul act and react in a vacuum. What one person
does inevitably impacts others, both near and far to that individual.
So surely Saul HAD to know that the way he behaved, the things he
said, the company he kept, and so on, MUST affect how those who came
and went in his court and across the nation, and that the effects
would not be positive. Or maybe he simply didn’t care. After all, he
WAS king.  

	 It’s little wonder that Samuel the prophet was depressed. It’s
little wonder that this must have made him wonder about taking his own
life. And it’s possible that similar feelings affect people in our
present-day society as much as it has others. 

	 So what are we – a congregation of God’s people, of Jesus’
siblings and of siblings to the world – what are we to do? 

	 Suzanne Farnham and her co-authors talk of the power of people who
are willing to interact with others on a deeply social, emotional and
spiritual way, not to pry, not to discomfit – because that CAN
happen – but simply to make themselves present as those careful
listeners who can make a tremendous difference, way out of proportion
from what we think we possess and offer. That’s where the analogy
with the seeds comes in from Jesus’ parable. It may be the slightest
smile, the reassuring breath, what we might not even notice, that is
the seed that becomes planted in the heart and the soul of a listener.
We may not know how what we might think of as being casual gesture
impacts another. THIS is what Suzanne is trying to encourage us to
consider. She’s not saying that everyone is able to help in this
way. But she is saying that we ought to consider what sort of an
inventory of gifts we have, and how they might best be used to bring
peace, and consolation, and relief from anxiety to individuals, to
groups, to nations. 

	 Suzanne wrote about congregations that, “By practicing discernment
in relation to a challenging issue of importance to all present, a
group learns how to conduct business and resolve group issues in a
mode of prayerful listening that draws members into a closer
relationship with God and one another even when the issue is
divisive.” 1 

	 This, then, is something that we can and should work on, both as
individuals and as a congregation. Some people talk of this as a
Ministry of Presence. Who knows, although we don’t read about it,
Samuel may have had one or two friends from his local religious
community, maybe a prophet-in-training, who were able to be the one or
ones to nurture the seed of love, of hope, of belief in himself that
God had already planted.  

	At the beginning, I said that there ARE no easy answers – but it
may take only ONE Seed, ONE Listening Heart, ONE Minister of Presence,
who can make the difference. 

	It only takes one – plus God. 

	NOTE: 

	1  Listening Hearts Ministries — Teaching people the practice of
spiritual ... listeninghearts.org/ [1] See the books “_Listening
Hearts: Discerning Call in Community”_ Farnham, Gill, McLean and
Ward, Morehouse Barlow ©1991, new material in 2011, and “Grounded
in God”, revised edition, by Farnham, Hull and McLean, Morehouse
Barlow © 1996.

Links:
------
[1] http://listeninghearts.org/

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