"Speak, Lord"-Sermon for Proper 4, I Samuel 3:1-10
I recently received an email from a fellow St. Julianite, meaning a fellow participant in our family of faith, that included a theological quandary. And, I love these sorts of emails, as I love nothing more than thinking about God with you. The word theology, which sounds super fancy, churchy and even heady, is derived from the contraction of two Greek words, Theos and logos, which could be loosely translated as God words…or perhaps even God talk…and as we can all talk to God in prayer and all talk about God with others…we can all do theology, even if, we are not all professional theologians or members of the clergy. And, Jonathan and I love to talk about God with you, and we always welcome your questions and your insights. I sometimes think God’s wisdom and revelation is actually understood and voiced best by the non-professionals…people just like each of you. Thus, I assure you, over the years, I have learned about and been shaped by God as much by you, as you by me. And, for that, I am grateful beyond words…for talking God with me.…and, more so, for being, nothing less than, a living expression of God’s voice in my own life.
Which, take me back to the theological quandary from that fellow St. Julianite. This person was asking me, essentially, does God still speak to us today. Like the 12 year old boy Samuel in our Old Testament lesson this morning who heard God’s voice in the temple in Shiloh some 3000 plus years ago, does God still call out to us, speak to us, reveal new insight and wisdom to us for the living of our days…for understanding our purpose and mission…how to make choices, especially when they are hard…how to best spend our time and money…how to use and grow our gifts and talents…how to, as our Vision Statement reads, love all well. Does God have anything to say to us about any of this…or not? And, I think this is a really good and fair question.
Though, perhaps, based on my vocation as a priest…and what I have already shared, you might think, and you would be correct, that I do believe that God still speaks to us today. Still, I think it is entirely reasonable to understand why some may feel differently. For the world is full of people living sometimes quiet and sometimes very noisy lives of desperation, confusion and seemingly without direction. Loneliness is now described by our public health officials as an epidemic. Many experience losses that have no reasonable explanation…they just hurt…leaving us with lots of questions, lots of pain…and no easy answers. Thus, the injustices, the lack of empathy, the selfishness, the suffering, the disappointments, that we, those we love, and those well beyond ourselves actually experience can reasonably lead some to believe that God has turned off the phone…or put in the “do not disturb” mode. Maybe God spoke to Samuel…but not now and not to me…if God ever, even, spoke.
And, though I truly understand such sentiments and am deeply sympathetic of those whose suffering and life experience lead them to a different conclusion than my own, I want to humbly suggest that, as already noted, my own experience leads me to believe that God is still speaking today. And, I think that is our world best hope. Though I will be the first to admit that sometimes it is hard to discern God’s voice among all the noise we are constantly bombarded by, that I believe that God not only continues to speak…but God speaks to us very personally, intimately even…and those words are rooted in life and love alone. Thus, the question for me is how does God speak to us and, further, how do we learn to hear and trust that voice. And, to this end, I think our Old Testament lesson today may help us discover some answers.
Now, I note that though God speaks to Samuel, Samuel doesn’t actually recognize the voice he hears as God’s. He thinks he is hearing his mentor, Eli’s, voice, which makes great sense, as we spend most of our lives hearing and responding to other human voices. And, it is then Eli, whose physical sight is dulled with age but whose spiritual sight remains fine-tuned, who first perceives that the voice speaking to Samuel is God’s…not his. And, so he gives young Samuel some advice. He says, next time you hear that voice, say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
You see, what I think Eli is doing for Samuel here is shifting his expectations and challenging him to think beyond the world as he has come to know it and perceive it. It, again, makes great sense for Samuel to assume the voice he hears is Eli’s…the only other person in the room. But, perhaps, just perhaps there is more happening all around us, all of the time, than what we first might perceive…perhaps infinitely more. Thus, Eli is encouraging Samuel to think theologically…meaning to see the world as infused with God’s supernatural presence. And, I think that same invitation sits before each of us today. That is to see the world, in which we live and move and have our being, as a thin space. And, a thin space is a spiritual description that recognizes that the natural and supernatural are always intertwined…that, by God’s Spirit, there are zero degrees of separation that stand between us and the divine. God is communicating with us, revealing God’s self to us, always, if only, like Jesus so often says, we have the spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear.
I recently had another St. Julianite…someone other than the person who sent me the great question before us today…who described to me a recent miracle, a profound and moving miracle, experienced in their family. And, this person went on to describe how this broke them open to God being an alive and active presence in their life in a whole new way. I could tell through this person’s words that something entirely new was being birthed into their life…a new revelation and nothing would ever be the same. This person beginning to see their faith as more than healthy habits around which one can organize a life…to seeing their faith as a relationship with the living God who personally cares about them and is an actual presence at work in their life. It was like they were seeing or hearing for the very first time…the joy and wonder was palpable.
And, in my own life, I will never forget a moment when, early on as a young priest, I was leading a group of college students from UT on a pilgrimage to Ireland. It was our first full day there. Our guides had led us on a tour of the town we were staying in called Glendalough, which was the home of a 7th century saint named Kevin. Part of the tour was through an ancient cemetery that contained several very old and very beautiful Celtic crosses. At the end of the day, we retired to the local pub for dinner. And, as I took my seat at the table still tired from jetlag and a long day on our feet…ready to settle into to some local grub, a pint, and good conversation regaling the events of the day, an image…a vision of one of the Celtic crosses we had visited earlier in the day burst into my head…not just a memory…but more like the image was demanding something of me…saying something to me. I tried with all of my might to dismiss the image. I just wanted to order dinner. I didn’t want to do anything else. But, the vision would not let me go. Not knowing what to do or what to say to the others around the table, I just got up and walked out the front door to the confused looks of my dinner companions…my face clearly suggesting something was going on. With my feet more than my mind leading the way, I began to walk toward the cemetery. I wanted to stop and turn around and return to dinner…I felt almost foolish…but something continued to compel me forward. I walked without pausing the 15 mins or so to the cross whose image would not leave my mind. And, once I arrived, I saw hunched over, at the foot of the Celtic cross, one of my students in uncontrollable tears. I believe the powerful image was God speaking to me in a place beyond words…saying get up and go to the cross…I have something important for you to do. And, what unfolded was a time of prayer with God and a very meaningful conversation for the both of us.
And, like Eli for Samuel, I share these stories to invite all of us to think theologically…that is to see the world with theological imagination…to believe that there is always more to the moment than what the six senses might perceive…to not just believe but expect that God is fully alive and present in the moment…seeking to say something to us…to reveal something to us…to break our hearts wide open to a new life, suffused with eternal love. God is speaking to us, typically not with words like we are so used to hearing, but through intuition, dreams, miracles, visions, moments of creativity and clarity that did not previously exist in us. Old Eli perceived what young Samuel could not imagine…that the God who makes all things and suffuses all things with life and love…was actually personally speaking to him. Eli, who, again, had lost his physical sight to old age could still see and think with profound theological imagination, was helping Samuel, who would grow up to become God’s prophet for all of Israel in one of its most important times in their history, Eli was encouraging Samuel to see and hear with that same theological imagination and expectation. And, again, now that same invitation sits before us as well…to expect God’s presence in our midst…to think with theological imagination…to tune up our spiritual sight and hearing…to see the world as a thin space…to expect God to speak to us…often in ways and at times that we don’t expect.
And, I will note that, though experiences like the miracle described to me and the vision I had in Ireland are powerful reminders that God continues to reveal Godself and speak to us today in profound ways, God is also speaking to us in transformative ways in what might be perceived as the less dramatic moments in life but, nonetheless, still thin spaces…like when our hearts are moved, broken open and grown…by music, art, a sermon, a good book, a shared meal, a rich conversation, a bible study, through the wisdom of our young people, a listening ear that allows us to hear God’s voice in our own, a simple prayer like the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, an act of service done by or for us…the list is really unending…if we allow our theological imagination to lead the way.
For God is, indeed, present at all times and in all places whispering sweetly words of life and love into our hearts. And, as God speaks to us, we do find purpose and direction and hope and peace, and we are filled with a palpable joy and wonder…and nothing will be the same. So, may Eli’s refrain shared with Samuel always be our own…especially when feeling lost, lonely, confused, scared, frustrated or uncertain… “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” God is already speaking in reply. Amen.