"Rise Up! Listen" - Sermon, January 14, 2018
Community UMC,
Quincy
“Rise Up! Listen”
Pastor Andrew
Davis
January 14, 2018
1 Samuel 3: 1-20
How
many of you have heard things, just out of
the blue? How about hearing your name
called in a crowd of people, only to turn and not see anyone that you know? It can be a little startling, to say the
least. Of course, there are times I have
just heard things at random, which will result in getting a little frustrated.
I like to know who’s calling my name and see who it is, so that perhaps we can
engage a little further.
As we began our series, “Rise Up!” last week, we talked about how God
speaks to us, whether it is through other people, through dreams, through an
audible voice out of nowhere, or other signs. I
shared last week that a few months ago in the midst of several natural
disasters and unrest, a friend of mine from seminary posted on Facebook, “Jehovah
(another name for God) is speaking; are we listening” so it’s natural that today we talk about listening
when God speaks. Just as I asked last
week and will ask again this week; when God is speaking, are we listening?
For instance in our scripture this morning, we
encounter young Samuel, a boy who is
training to be a priest who hears a voice at random calling his name. Except Samuel thinks it is the voice of the
elder priest Eli, whom Samuel is learning what it means to serve God
under. Samuel does the right thing in
coming to Eli with the response, “here I am,” Although Eli says it’s not him
until Eli realizes that it’s God who is calling young Samuel and encourages
Samuel to listen and respond with “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1
Sam. 3: 9, NRSV). Although what is
interesting is that Eli can’t exactly see, as his vision has left him, yet he
perceives that it is God who is calling Samuel (1 Sam. 3: 8, NRSV). As Samuel follows Eli’s instructions and
responds to God’s calling and receives a vision from God , just imagine having
to deliver harsh news, such as Samuel must do with Eli. Talk about a difficult task for a young boy,
yet Samuel does it and Eli’s response is fairly stoic, as Eli says “it is the
Lord; let him do what seems good to him” (1 Sam. 3: 18, NRSV).
What makes this whole story intriguing is that
Samuel is hearing God’s voice in a time when God’s voice was pretty much
silent, when there weren’t too many visions from God, and the world at the time
is kind of in a general sense of upheaval and unrest. Something is happening when God calls Samuel
in the midst of the lack of visions, although some of the scholarship and notes
also liken Eli’s blindness to the spiritual blindness at the time. Like some of the other heroes of our faith,
God sets Samuel apart for service,
starting with Samuel’s miraculous birth in chapter 1 of 1 Samuel. Samuel’s mother, Hannah had been barren until
God listened to her prayer, although Eli thought Hannah was drunk when he
witnessed her praying for a child; however, we have seen other miraculous
births happen with previously barren women in a couple other accounts in The
Bible, such as Sarah in Genesis, or Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke. As Samuel grows up, he ultimately becomes a
priest then a prophet. Like attending
seminary to learn the basics of being a pastor, Samuel first he has to learn to
listen for and how to respond to God’s voice.
Just as Samuel has to learn to hear the voice of
God, it’s a skill we too will learn along the way on our journey of faith, no
matter what form God’s voice comes through.
As Rev. Dr. B. Kevin Smalls explains, “listening, of course, is a
critical part of the Christian faith.”[i] Especially deep, reflective listening. While reflective listening is a skill that is
still one of my many growing edges, I learned the importance of listening and
even made some mistakes by not always listening carefully and reflectively
along the way during my ministry internship a few years ago. While I was serving as music director and
seminary intern at Hope Presbyterian Church in Mitchellville, MD, our church
ministered to a nearby retirement community and each Sunday after church,
Pastor Dottie (who many of you met in October) and I would go and visit some of
our members who lived in the community that couldn’t make it to church. During the three years I did visitations
there on a regular basis, deep, reflective listening was a skill I began
learning, sometimes failed at, and still try to apply it in pastoral care
situations when I can. Except, I’ll be
completely honest that deep listening is a skill I’m
still learning, as I have yet to master it.
It’s a skill some of us have already, or a skill many of us are still
learning too. At the same time, We’re all learning to listen to God’s voice
together, just as Samuel learned from Eli!!
While we touched upon it some during Advent in
the relationship between young Mary and her older cousin Elizabeth, the
relationship between Eli and Samuel is similar, as Eli mentors Samuel in
showing him how to listen for God’s voice.
Professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible, Dr. Valerie Bridgman at
Methodist Theological School in Ohio explains that
Though no ordinary,
off-the-street person, Eli’s role in Samuel’s
calling does remind us that we learn how to discern God’s voice and call in
proximity to people who have come before us. They help attune our ears and
heart to hear from God. Who mentors us to listen for the voice, what Howard
Thurman called “the sound of the genuine” that’s in all of us?1 How do we prepare to hear it completely in order to
respond to it fully? Who are the Elis in our lives?[ii]
The people in this church who came
before us listened to God’s voice
throughout the years, then taught those who came along to listen to God’s
voice. We too are part of the story of
this church today, as we continue listening to God’s voice and are now teaching
our younger generations what it means to rise up and listen for God’s
voice. This past December when Charlotte
shared the Christmas story, there was an amazing sense of wonder in many of the
kids as she taught them the story of how Jesus was born and to see them listen
to the story inspired me. And seeing
more children come who are eager to listen to God’s story and become a part of
that story today has been amazing.
When I was appointed as pastor here
in Quincy by Bishop Warner Brown almost two years ago, we did not really have
any children regularly attending,
maybe two or three, yet one of the goals of our church was to engage with
younger families, something that is being realized and will continue evolving. When we live into the great invitation by
Jesus to come and see, and when we intently listen to God’s voice and pay
attention to the nudgings of the Holy Spirit, it’s amazing what can happen in
our church. Last week, we have realized
that we need to EXPAND our Sunday School and we have some serious momentum
going for us because we are listening to God’s call in our church and
community. In order to keep that
momentum going, we as a church have an opportunity to be like Eli was to
Samuel, in mentoring our younger generations, teaching them how we are all a
part of God’s story, and how to listen for God’s voice. Rev. Dr. B. Kevin Smalls explains that
we learn all throughout the Bible that both the
young and the old are sacred gifts. Joel prophesied that the old will dream
dreams and the young will see visions. It is a sacred gift to know that the
greatest miracles may be born out of interaction between the young and the old:
Ruth and Naomi, Mary and Elizabeth, and of course Samuel and Eli. The one link
that is possible to bridge these generational gaps is that of listening. What
narratives can be used to illustrate the power of two generations sitting
together at the same table, bound by the voice of God, who finds a way to make
community among them?[iii]
On
the other hand, there are a few little challenges as to what Rev. Dr. Smalls
just said. While the interaction between
the young and old can be sacred in the internal work of the church, there are
times when there can and will be a little conflict and tension between the old
and the young, although it can be a healthy conflict and tension. It still takes listening to each other and as
B. Kevin Smalls explains, carefully listening to each other as a way of
creating inter-generational community with each other. As Bishop Warner Brown said in a sermon one
time at Annual Conference, nothing makes him sadder than when we fail to listen
to our younger generations. It makes me
sad too, as I’ve been through that before, although as I get older, I also
realize that listening is a two way streak, although that’s where we teach and
mentor.
Sometimes, when we come from another generation,
we have certain expectations of each other, as well as different cultural
norms, although I also invite us to challenge our norms and expectations and
deeply listen to each other each other.
Instead of trying to impose our own values and expectations on one
another or argue about what’s right and wrong with each generation or what’s
the best way to do things based on what we already know, let’s try to listen to and understand one another by
creating and cultivating authentic relationships with each other. Eli did not simply shrug Samuel off, but
instead when Eli realized what was happening, he encouraged Samuel to listen
and listen carefully for God’s voice, and that’s something we all should be
striving to do; encouraging each other to listen to God’s voice by mentoring
each other.
As we rise up and listen this week, then get
ready to move with the Spirit next week, when have you heard the voice of God,
whether it’s a whisper in the night, a dream, an act of nature, or through
another person? And how will you help
mentor others to listen to God’s voice, or are you looking for someone to
mentor you along the way? Like Eli
encouraged Samuel, let’s encourage each other to listen carefully for God’s
voice among us this week and beyond!!
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