Saturday, January 14, 2012

Ears Tingling, First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY, 1/15/2012, by Rev Steven R Mitchell

Ears Tingling
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 1/15/2012
Based on 1 Samuel 3:1-11 & John 1:43-51

“11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.” When I read this particular verse, I recall the movie, “The Music Man”, particularly the scenes where the women of the town are talking amongst themselves about the recent events concerning the newly arrived salesman, Professor Hill. As onlookers we are only privy to what they are saying through the song’s lyrics, “Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, Cheep cheep cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more.” Everyone’s ears in River City, Iowa were a tinglin’ with news about the extraordinary events that were happening since Professor Hill came upon the scene.
This morning’s scriptures are some of the most ear tingling selections of the lectionary readings for this year, as it explores the topic of hearing, listening, and responding to the calling of the Lord. We have three main characters, a small boy (Samuel) who represents those who do not yet know the Lord, an aging priest (Eli) who has served the Lord for many years, and (Nathanael) a man most likely in his mid to late twenties and is described as a man with no deceit.
In the story with Samuel and Eli, we have a young boy who has been given up by his mother, Hannah, to live a life of serving God in the temple located in the town of Shiloh. Samuel was an answer to prayers put forth by Hannah, who had for a number of years asked God to send her a child. As soon as Samuel was house broke, his mother presented him to the Priest Eli, so that Eli could mentor him in serving the Lord. In many respects that is what we celebrate this morning through the baptism of young Jason Martin. As a part of a much larger family of faith, we are an “Eli”, committing ourselves to help Jason grow up in the teachings of the church, helping him develop his relationship with God.
Eli, is described as growing in years, so much so, his eye sight was becoming dim. This could be just a description of the physical aspects of Eli, but I wonder if it is not also a metaphor for what was happening in Israel, as the beginning of this chapter starts off with the observation, “In those days the word of the LORD was rare.” We also read that Eli was not hearing the voice that Samuel was hearing that evening.
So here we have a seasoned man of faith and a newbie. Both are in the service of God; one who doesn’t seem to be able to hear God’s calling, the other, too new to recognize the calling of God. What an inspiration to us within the church, for are we not a group that also hosts a wide range of spiritual experiences! Here we have a young boy who is being called by God, “Samuel, Samuel”, but doesn’t recognize that it is God calling to him. Eli doesn’t hear this voice that Samuel is hearing but eventually recognizes that God must want to speak through Samuel. Neither are in a position to listen to God without the help of the other.
In contrast to this shared community, we live in a country that prides itself on “individualism”. We are taught to live on our own, make our own decisions, become the master of our fate; we are heavily influenced by the document we call, “The Declaration of Independence.” Yet, when we have big decisions to make within our lives, is it not prudent to seek out the opinions and advise of others? As Congregationalists, do we not believe in corporate decision making? As a part of our discernment process we not only look to scripture for guidance, but we as a denomination, as a congregation, also consider historical teachings of the church.
As a minister, I cannot tell you how often I hear people say in one form or another, “I don’t need the church to be spiritual”, or “I can be close to God out in the wilderness”. There is truth in what is said, you don’t need church to have a relationship with God. Yet, when and where do we generally take the time out within our busy lives in order to feed our spirituality? Where is it that we most frequently open our bibles and read from it, or be in conversation specifically dealing with the word of God? The majority of the time is in community, at church.
This leads me to the story with Nathanael. Here is a man described by Jesus as an Israelite who has no deceit. Yet, upon meeting Jesus, being introduced to Jesus by his own brother, Nathanael does not immediately recognized Jesus as being, “the one he has been waiting all his life to meet.” In fact, his first response upon being told that Jesus was from Nazareth was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” What a slap in the face that must have been to Jesus. It would be similar to going up to a Muslim and saying, “How can you know the word of God, you are Muslim.”
Nathanael had a pre-conceived understanding that the “Messiah” was to come out of Bethlehem, out of the family of David, in other words, the long awaited King would come from a more prestigious setting than from a poverty stricken, no nothing town of Nazareth. A town that not only had a just few hundred inhabitants but was up north in the “other kingdom”, not coming from Judea where the prophets of old had said the Messiah would come from.
How often do we deny ourselves the joy of hearing God, of seeing miracles, because of pre-conceived ideas? Of the way it is suppose to happen? Of not being able to hear God, when God calls to us? That is a strong argument for a community of faith needing to meet regularly, to study together, to discuss what we read, and of sharing the experiences that we have, so that we can through collaboration hear what God is trying to say to us.
God is constantly trying to speak to us. God is calling “Samuel, Samuel” all the time. God comes to us every day, just as Jesus came up to Nathanael, but like Nathanael, our pre-conceived idea’s, our already made up minds on how things are suppose to look, we the opportunity of God speaking to us.
An unfortunate fact for a large portion of the church in our country is that we have forgotten that God speaks through many voices: through the voices of children, through the voices of the dis-enfranchised, voices that come through the arts and sciences, even through the voice of our environment. We need to be open enough to collaborate with all these differing voices in order for us to hear what God is trying to tell us.
I suppose the true question is, “Are we truly willing to open ourselves to listen to the calling of God?” Will we be able to say as did Samuel, “Here I am Lord. Speak for your servant is listening”? Let us be ready to have our ears tingle! Amen.

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