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The Rev. Frank
Logue Speak Lord, I’m Listening
Return with me to our Old Testament lesson for this morning. Scripture tells us that the setting is nighttime in the Tabernacle. This is the tent, which served as a portable Temple for Israel while wandering in the wilderness. Generations have passed and no permanent structure has been built. The grand Temple will come in two generations with King Solomon. For now, the priests work in the confines of the aging tent, which surrounds the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the fullness of God’s glory resides on earth. Had we read this morning’s story in context, we would know that God has just passed judgment on the House of Eli for his sons do not respect their jobs, the tabernacle, or the God they are to worship. Eli’s sons were the priests and they showed nothing but contempt for either the people for whom they were to mediate or the God they were to serve. God has told Eli that judgment is coming and though God had hoped that Eli’s descendants would forever serve as priests, they will be removed from their jobs. Yet, as the story we read today opens, Eli is still in charge as we learn that the boy Samuel still serves under Eli. Then we get a section of very rich narrative as the Bible relates the details of the story in an evocative way that tells much more. Notice how much sight and perception play a role in this story. For example, we are told that visions were not widespread, Eli’s eyesight has grown dim, the lamp of the Lord has not yet gone out, and the Lord had not yet been revealed to Samuel. This constellation of imagery all relates to sight and it is hard not to read something into this emphasis on seeing and perception. Eli’s eyesight has grown dim we are told and surely the text means just this. He is an old man and perhaps cataracts or other problems now cloud his vision. Yet, we also know from the previous chapter that his vision is also clouded by his love for his sons. Eli does not see the evil they have done so clearly as others do. Eli, who once saw the world through God’s eyes, has now had his spiritual vision dim with his physical eyesight. But we are told that the lamp of the Lord had not yet gone out. Once again, this is a practical matter in that the priests were to light lamps each sunset that would burn through the night. If properly filled with oil, the lamps would not go out until a new day had dawned. This is the richly poetic way that scripture tells its tales. We could be told “The lamp, which is Eli will soon go out, but not until a new day has dawned with Samuel.” While that is true, it is much less intriguingly suggestive than the way the Bible so sparingly conveys so much. Instead of just telling us that Eli doesn’t get God anymore because he’s too focused on his family to see the truth, we get an evocative story that brings us into a scene to experience it ourselves. We are asked to watch, look and listen as the Word of the Lord makes a new way to get through to the people of Israel. Had we been reading the story in context, we would also know that Samuel is not just any child. He was the longed-for child of an old couple, Hannah and Elkanah. While Elkanah had children by another wife, Hannah longed for a child of her own flesh, praying faithfully for a child for years. Certainly there are some of us here this morning who know that pain of longing for a child. And this was Hannah’s ongoing loss. She felt the lack of a child of her own deeply. When God granted her prayers, through a blessing from Eli, Hannah dedicated her son to God. She brought him to Eli to raise when he had just been weaned. Samuel grew up in the tabernacle, before the presence of the Lord. And yet we learn that despite his upbringing, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. This is more than a bit disheartening. In my own ministry, I have been much involved with children. Before seminary, Victoria and I worked with children’s church for several years and also with a high school youth group. I continue to work with children of all ages. And yet, I find here in scripture, a boy dedicated to God, living in the tabernacle, and yet not knowing the Lord. Clearly Eli had dropped the ball. It is certainly true that sitting here in church this morning does not make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage would make you a car, or lying in a garden would make you a vegetable. Actually you have to lie on a couch and watch TV all day to become a vegetable. To become a Christian, you need to actively seek out a relationship with God. And despite being raised in the tabernacle, no one had prepared Samuel for his night time encounter. Samuel is sleeping in the inner court, near the Ark of the Covenant. If you’ve seen the movie Raider’s of the Lost Ark, that’s what we are talking about here. The Ark of the Covenant gave a focus for worship. But Israel knew that God was not confined to the Ark. Just as we know today that God is present with us everywhere, and yet we find God particularly here at King of Peace. Likewise, the Hebrews knew that their Lord was with them everywhere and most particularly in the tabernacle where they came to offer sacrifices and to worship. What follows is a three-fold call, with the Lord calling to Samuel in the night and Samuel thinking that it must be Eli. After the third time, perception comes back to Eli and he realizes that Samuel is now hearing the Word of the Lord. Eli then teaches Samuel how to respond to God. Samuel says, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, say, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” Interestingly, while Samuel is faithful, he does alter the formula. Eli taught him to say, Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” The difference is not that he did not say the word "Lord." As I have mentioned before, when our translations use the word "Lord" in small capitals as is done here, the Hebrew is actually "Yahweh," the name of God given Moses. That name too sacred to say. Eli, tells Samuel to say, “Speak Yahweh, for your servant is listening.” This response flows out of the relationship Eli has had with God for decades now. He speaks to God on a first-name basis and teaches Samuel to do the same. But, emphasizing how Samuel does not yet know the Lord, he also does not use the name of God to address his new Lord. Now that we have dug deeper into the text itself, this is the point of the sermon where I turn to the “so what?” portion. Yes, we know what this Old Testament lesson says and we have paid close attention to the sacred text. But what does this have to do with your week this week? The easy way out is to say that the passage tells us that God is calling to us and we do not always hear God’s voice. We need to be attentive to God’s call on our lives, for God does have a vocation, a call for each of us if we will but hear it. This is certainly true, but it misses the dire circumstances of Samuel’s call. Bruce Birch[1], a professor at Wesleyan seminary in Washington D.C., notes that Samuel’s call is quite specific and none too easy. He writes,
In that setting Samuel is called to the very difficult task of mediating between God and man. Samuel is not just given a nice warm feeling one night in the Temple and then left to go about his business as usual. Samuel is roused from sleep to enter into a relationship with the Lord in whose presence he has lived. Samuel is then given the task of rousing all Israel from its complacency to enter more fully into being the people God has called them to be. So while this story certainly tells of how we should each open our eyes to the presence of God, the story is much more about God’s abiding presence in spite of the ways the people God has entrusted dropping the ball. The harsh news is that God’s plan was for Eli and his sons and grandsons and so on to serve as priests. But when Eli’s sons proved faithless and Eli did not get them to change their lives, God persisted, not through Eli’s family, but in spite of them. God said in the previous chapter of 1 Samuel, “’I promised that your house and your father’s house would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares, “Far be it from me!’” The harsh news is that God’s will does move forward, with or without you. God wanted Eli’s sons to be part of the plan, but God would not wait on them alone. For example, God is reaching out in love to Camden County. King of Peace is blessed to be a part of what God is doing here, but God will reach out in love to our neighbors with or without us or maybe even in spite of us. Even if we are faithful, that too does not assure our ongoing life as a congregation. We are not given the promise that King of Peace will thrive and grow. We are given the promise that the King of Peace will continue to be present to Camden County whether we are here or not. And as an individual, God has a vocation for you, tasks for you and you can be blessed to serve God, or you can cause God to move on. God will reach out in love to those around you and God will do it with or without you. The call to Samuel is not merely a warm fuzzy encounter with God. Samuel’s call comes because Eli’s sons have been unfaithful. Samuel is now called. The results will not depend upon Samuel. In fact, none of us are ever held responsible for the results. What we are responsible to God for is our faithfulness. Had Eli’s sons remained faithful to God, God’s promise would never have departed from them no matter how Israel reacted to their ministry. Likewise, King of Peace is responsible not for the results of our ministry. King of Peace is responsible for being deeply faithful to God. And you too are not held accountable for accomplishing great things for God. You are called to be faithful to the ways in which you feel God is leading you. For the answer Eli gave to Samuel was not, “Name the job and I’ll get it done.” The answer Eli gave to Samuel is the one God gives to us this morning. When we feel that God is trying to get through to us, no matter what the task, our reply is to be, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” Amen. [1] In The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume II in which professor Birch is the commentator on 1 and 2 Samuel.
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