This week, we take a look at what it means to be called by the light that is God's love in the world. What does our calling look like? How do we respond? Perhaps most importantly, we think about what it means to be the Church.
Rather than looking at the stories of Jesus calling his first disciples, we look to the calling of Samuel instead (see 1 Samuel 3:1-10). What can we learn about our own calling from this story? What can we learn about the calling of others? What can their stories tell us about ourselves?
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During the season following Epiphany, we often focus on the revelation of Jesus becoming known to the world, the recognition of Jesus as God in the world with us. While we most explicitly focus on this on Epiphany Sunday, this theme continues throughout this season between Epiphany and Lent. All through this season, we find small reminders of Jesus becoming known to the world and the light of God’s love spreading.
And so it may come as a slight surprise that we turn to a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today. But even though this particular reading is not about Jesus, it plays into an important part of Jesus’ ministry in the world.
After his baptism, we know that Jesus spent forty days fasting in the wilderness in preparation for beginning his ministry. We’ll come back to that topic in a few weeks when Lent begins. However, upon returning from his fast, Jesus begins his ministry by calling his followers. In the gospel reading appointed for today, Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael to be his followers, and over the next few weeks we will see him call others as well.
Our reading today is also about calling. I chose this reading today of the calling of Samuel because I think we may be able to relate to it a little better than the story of Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael. In the gospel story, Philip and Nathanael had heard about Jesus and sought him out. When they met him, he was able to prove to them who he is.
But our reading about Samuel is a little different. Samuel is learning from Eli how to be a servant of God. While he is sleeping one night, God comes to Samuel and calls out to him. Not recognizing the voice hears, he assumes it is Eli and goes to see what he needs. But Eli is not the one that called him. Three times this happens before Eli recognizes God at work and tells Samuel what is going on. When God comes a fourth time, Samuel says, “Speak. Your servant is listening.”
For us living in an age when Jesus is not physically roaming the countryside performing miracles, this may be a little closer to our experience of Jesus’ calling. Sometimes the voice of Jesus comes and we are not able to recognize who is calling or where the voice is coming from. In our world, there are distractions, doubts, and fears that may keep us from hearing the call in our lives or keep us from recognizing the call when it comes. Sometimes it is only through our relationships with other persons of faith that we can understand the voice that we are hearing.
I am guessing that for most of us, this is a lot closer to the truth than the story in the gospel of Jesus calling his followers. Think about it for a moment. Are you here because Jesus appeared before you and somehow proved to you miraculously who he is? Or are you here because you heard a quiet voice calling your name, a voice that perhaps you didn’t even recognize, and another person of faith helped you recognize it as the voice of God?
I can guess how we each would answer that question. What may be harder to answer is the question of what it means to be called by the light. What are we called for? Who are we called to be?
When we look at the story of Samuel and his mentor, Eli, we see that they were called to different things even as there are some commonalities. It is also the same for us. We are all here because at some point we heard God calling us.
God has called us to do and to be something in the world. God did not call out to Samuel just so Samuel could claim to have heard God calling. Jesus did not call Philip and Nathanael simply so they could say they have a personal relationship with Jesus. God calls us for a purpose. Jesus calls us to participate in the ministry that he started in the world.
When we read the stories of the prophets foretelling the messiah, as we read the gospel stories about Jesus coming into the world, we hear that Jesus comes into the world to be a light to nations. Jesus in the world is good news for all people. So what does it mean for us to be called by that light? What do we learn about our calling from the life and ministry of Jesus?
Jesus came into the world to serve others. Aside from the teaching that Jesus does, the bulk of his ministry revolves around healing the sick and feeding the hungry. His earliest followers learn from him and go forth doing the same. And so it is with us still today.
Jesus did not call his followers solely for their own benefit. He didn’t call Peter and tell him to sit back and take it easy. He called Peter and James and John to be fishers of people. He called them to help spread the ministry he was doing.
And yet, not everyone who encounters Jesus receives a call. There are many that Jesus fed along the way, there are plenty that Jesus healed who never followed in his footsteps. Jesus heals ten lepers. Only one of the ten returned to offer thanks, and even that one did not become one of Jesus’ followers. Perhaps there are those in our world who are healed and offer thanks without receiving a call to follow Jesus.
But I have to wonder, is that all the church is? Is the church simply a place to show up and offer thanks to God and go on about our business because our faith has made us whole? Or are we the church because we have been called and we show up to follow Jesus? What does it mean to be the Church?
As we consider our calling and purpose this weekend, I am reminded that tomorrow our nation remembers and celebrates a man who heard God calling and went where he was called to go. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., lived a life dedicated to following the path that Jesus set before him. He sought justice for God’s people. He sought release from the bondage of sin and the literal bondage that so many still struggle with to this day. He called on the church to live up to its calling to follow the example that Jesus has left to us.
In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King responds to concerns raised by some clergymen regarding his participation in protests in Birmingham and his subsequent arrest. Over the course of 20 pages, Dr. King talks about his ministry among the people, the purpose of his work, and his hopes for the future. Near the end of the letter, he expresses concern for what may become of the church.
"But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust."
As convicting as these words were over 55 years ago, they continue to convict those of us in the church today. We continue to have many of the same hopes and same fears. We continue to struggle with many of the same realities in the world around us. We continue to wonder why younger people are not showing up as they once did.
If you have not read it recently, I encourage to take the time to read the entire text of Dr. King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail." There is much there for us in the Church still today to consider about what it means to be called and what that should look like in the world. While some of us like to think that the purpose of Dr. King's work and ministry are things of the past, I think that as you read this letter you will learn that there are truths there that remain relevant to both the Church and the wider world today.
Of particular concern for us in the church, especially considering recent events in our own time, is Dr. King's words against a lukewarm church that is more concerned with the absence of tension than with the presence of justice. As we consider our place in the world, are we more interested in maintaining what makes us comfortable, even if it might mean oppression for others? Or are we willing to stand up and call out the injustice of the world?
In the end, the question comes down to how we understand who we as the Church are called to be. Are we called to be a people who follow Jesus, who follow his example and continue his ministry?
We are here today because we were called and claimed by God, even though the specifics of that calling may look different for each of us. Some of us were called to preach, some to teach, some to spread God’s love in places of work in the world. No matter the specifics, the goal is the same.
In the midst of life’s doubts and fears and distractions, God calls out to us with love. God speaks, and in doing so God shows us how to love one another unconditionally.
As we close today, there is a hymn that I think most of us recognize. It is a hymn about calling, a hymn about answering that call. It is a hymn that brings me to tears every time I hear it. While “Here I Am, Lord” is based on the call of Isaiah, it fits well with the call of Samuel and the call that many of us have heard and responded to. If you have time, take a moment now to listen to it now and consider the calling you have received and how you answer it.