Go & Tell
2 Epiphany B 2012
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today we’re going to talk about one of those “churchy” words we throw around all the time but don’t often examine very closely. Our wonderful first reading about little Samuel hearing God’s voice in the nighttime in the temple is so rich. It suggests we spend some time on our churchy word.
What word is that? It’s “call.” Samuel is called in the middle of the night by God. But he doesn’t know it’s God, does he? He thinks it’s his mentor, the almost-blind priest Eli, calling him. And it takes Eli, the almost-blind priest, three tries to realize what’s happening to Samuel. For in those days, “the word of the Lord was rare…visions were not widespread.” And Eli was practically blind in spirit.
Eli had stopped listening for God’s voice. So God had to keep trying to get through. And it’s interesting what God had to say to little Samuel. It had to have been a tough thing for a little kid to hear. God gave a harsh judgment on the sons of Eli and on Eli himself when he spoke to little Samuel. Eli’s sons were committing grave sins against God and God’s people when they were watching over the Temple.
God’s voice rang out in the middle of the night to a little boy. And the little boy couldn’t identify whose voice it was.
So think for a minute—has God appeared in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day to any of us? And how would we know it’s God’s voice, in the first place?
The answer to the first question is a definite YES. Each of us has had times when perhaps we didn’t hear a voice or see a vision, but certainly we felt a very strong inner push we couldn’t deny or turn off.
That’s one of the signs that God is calling. It’s an undeniable inner urge we can’t run away from—because God follows wherever we go, and God doesn’t let up on something important. When God wants to make something clear, he makes something clear. It might take a lot of time, and it might be subtle. But in the end it’s unmistakable.
Here’s a good illustration of a call coming slowly -- and finally becoming clear. This is from an article about Stephen Colbert that appeared in the NYT Magazine last weekend. This little snippet speaks of how he heard his calling to be an entertainer. Quote:
“Colbert went to Hampden-Sydney College, in Virginia, one of the few places he could get in. He majored in philosophy and was miserable and depressed much of the time. ‘Belated grieving is what it was, and it lasted till I got out of college,’ he said. The one thing he enjoyed was acting in plays, and eventually he told himself, ‘You’d be crazy not to take that as a hint. It’s the only thing you work hard at.’”
(Charles McGrath, “How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?” New York Times Magazine, January 8, 2012, p. 25)
* * *
Obviously, calls are not just for the clergy. And they’re not just in churchy contexts. We are called to all kinds of things, our whole lives long, by the slow, inexorable, voice of God.
Now, another sign that what we’re hearing is from God is a real call is that it may require us to go way out of our comfort zone. I was reading a book the other day that said that it’s likely that something comes from God if it seems at first crazy or wacky. “Were it not crazy and unusual … we would have figured the question or challenge out / ourselves and we would be discerning our own logic rather than the movement of God. It is God who breaks through with unusual and unexpected demands.” (Gil Rendle
and Alice Mann, Holy Conversations, The Alban Institute, 2003, p. 25.)
Interesting. So sometimes God’s thoughts get through to us and take us to places we’d never thought we’d go. Take it from me; sometimes God’s suggestions are downright appalling.
We may need a lot of time to sort out what God’s saying to us. It’s not always
easy to tell where the pushes are originating. That’s why it’s always good to check with other people about what you think you’re being called to do. Discernment happens better in a group than alone. Look at Samuel. He needed Eli to help him figure out where that voice was coming from.
When we’re called to something, there is never a guarantee that it will be realized smoothly. There’s often some struggle or at least some stretching as we endeavor to realize the call.
I was thinking that in my life I’ve had four very strong times of being called. First was my marriage. No doubts about that. Next was the urge to have children. It was insistent and irresistible. No doubts. Third was the call to the priesthood. That was one of those wacky ones that wouldn’t go away, and it was a struggle to get there. But looking back on the last nine years I wouldn’t trade being a priest for all the tea in China.
And now for the fourth call.
Barry and I are in the midst of responding to one of those appalling calls. During a phone chat with my friend Martha Hoffman, who started the NGO called Call to Care Uganda, I couldn’t resist asking her if I couldn’t go with her this summer on her next Uganda trip. My brain was fighting this one tooth and nail. But my gut wouldn’t let up. “Go! Go!” I kept hearing and sensing. And the call was confirmed by a talk with Martha’s present rector who urged me to make the trip.
Then it was confirmed by Barry, who has been thoroughly supportive and even wants to come along as well. We’ll go in later July and early August. We’ll be out in the bush, working at a little school, teaching a week of science enrichment for the kids and helping to build an outbuilding.
What in the world is God doing here? I have no idea, but I am thinking maybe we’ll establish a contact or two there and find a way to involve our parish in helping around the world. Our parish used to help a school outside the capital, the Kigata School. Maybe we’ll reestablish some contacts with Uganda. We’ll see.
This is something I would not have done for almost all my life. It is risky. We need to get a ton of immunizations for weird diseases. We could get malaria while we’re there—someone from Call to Care Uganda did that a few years back. But he’s going again anyway. We will be in a country that borders South Sudan, Congo, and Nigeria, all of which are on the State Department’s “Do Not Travel List”.
This is just the kind of wacky and appalling thing that God suggests now and then. I’m trusting it will be all right, and that the parish might benefit because of whatever will happen. It’s going to be in God’s hands and we’ll try to trust that.
Now, our gospel today follows up with the idea of call and it gives us the wording of the ultimate calling of all our lives, and that is these 3 little words-- “come and see.” Earlier in the gospel of Mark / Jesus tells a curious Simon and Andrew to come and see. Here in this passage Philip tells Nathaniel to come and see.
A podcast I was listening to from Luther Seminary said that “Come and See” is the call that each of us hears / to live the Christian life. Come and see. Come and investigate, come and experience the fullness of God in Jesus, come and establish a lively relationship with him as our God and our Savior and our friend, come and worship him, come and see how much fuller life is / when our faith is lively and we’re in strong relationship with God and with each other.
(www.workingpreacher.org
podcast for January 15, 2012)
And then don’t stop there. We never end the process. “Come and see” naturally develops into “Go and Tell.” Go and tell friends about the richness of the life of faith. Go and tell family members about the hope of the life to come. Come and see, go and tell.
And through it all, keep open to the slow, weird, and sometimes appalling movements of God working within us and despite us. Come and see, go and tell.
Amen.
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