Sermon:  "A Prophet's Calling"
Date:   January 15, 2012
Minister:  The Rev. Susan Bjork

Lesson:  1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20

 

Open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts, O God, so that we might perceive and respond to your calling to each of us.  May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.  Amen.

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At the beginning of today’s story of the call of Samuel, we are told that “The word of the Lord was rare in those days and visions were not wide-spread.”  This ought to be our first clue that both the characters featured in the story and we, the readers, are about to experience something important and revelatory.

It was in the dark of night, before the temple lamp had burned out at dawn, and the young Samuel was asleep in the tent at Shiloh which served as the temple where the ark of God was housed. 

Suddenly, Samuel is awakened by someone calling his name.  Thinking that his teacher, the old priest Eli, is calling for help, he goes to him.  But Eli tells him it wasn’t him calling and to go back to bed.  Twice more this happens, but by the third time, it is Eli who begins to understand what is really going on.  And so Eli instructs his young apprentice on what to say when God appears to him for a fourth time: “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

We didn’t read the next part of the story in which God tells Samuel that the time has come to cut off the house of Eli because Eli’s sons had been blasphemous and corrupt and Eli, himself, could no longer control them.  It might seem to us like a pretty harsh judgment.

After this revelation, Samuel is obviously hesitant to tell Eli what was said.  But with astonishing graciousness, Eli, urges him to tell him what happened.  And so Samuel does.  Now perhaps Eli saw this coming or perhaps he himself didn’t want his immoral sons to have any more power and authority, but Eli also shows great humility in accepting this judgment as God’s will.

And after this first experience in prophecy, we are told that Samuel grew up to be a great prophet of the Lord who was trustworthy and honest, and who brought the once “rare” word of the Lord back into the present by speaking for God to all of Israel.

This story, both the calling of Samuel and the removal of authority from Eli’s family, primarily serves the purpose of establishing Samuel’s authority as God’s prophet of the day.  And eventually, Samuel would be the one who would help establish the important monarchy of David.

Scholar Bruce Birch mentions that “Samuel is called by God in a time of spiritual desolation, religious corruption, political danger, and social upheaval.  The word of the Lord is rare; the sons of Eli are corrupt; the Philistines are about to threaten Israel’s survival; the pressures to move toward kingship will soon grow to overwhelming.”

Birch continues, “If the context for Samuel’s experience is harsh, so too is the message he is told to bring… Samuel is called to deliver a harsh message of judgment that is necessary if there is to be a hopeful new beginning for Israel in this trying time...  The call is to a prophetic task.”

“This text reminds us,” writes Birch, “of the spiritual challenges and social transformations that God’s call brings.  We are urged not only to discern God’s voice but to listen to what it asks of us as well.  We are called to become the channel for God’s prophetic word to our own time.”

In reading this story of Samuel’s calling as a prophet, and thinking about the context which Birch describes, I can’t help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on this day of his birth.  He too was called to become a channel for God’s prophetic word and work in his own time.  He too was called to deliver a difficult message that was often not well received. 

Like Samuel, King was called to leadership in a time of spiritual desolation, in his case, blatant, legally-sanctioned racism, exemplified by segregation.  And it was in the midst of that experience that he dared to speak aloud in Washington of his now well-known dream that his children would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Like Samuel, King was called to confront the corruption of religion in his own time as well.  And one way he did so was in his honest and still theologically and practically challenging, yet inspiring, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, in which he wrote the following (and more) to some of his fellow white clergy in August of 1963:

I had the strange feeling when I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery several years ago that we would have the support of the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some few have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and with deep moral concern serve as the channel through which our just grievances could get to the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers say, follow this decree because integration is morally right…  In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with," and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.

There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.  In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

I have read this letter several times before and King’s words continue challenge me deeply as I consider how I, as a Christian, and now a clergy person, have or have not been on the side of God’s justice throughout my life.

How have I or have I not been an ally for those who have been disenfranchised, marginalized, or otherwise cast aside by society?

How have I or have I not spoken up against bigotry in its many forms?  

How have I or have I not paid attention to the needs of the poor and sought to eradicate poverty?  

How have I or have I not moved beyond the comfort of charity into the challenge of seeking justice, willing to let go of some of my own privilege and power in order for others to have a place at the table too? 

How have I or have I not been bold and courageous enough to heed God’s call to me?

They may not always be easy for us to hear, but the prophetic words of those called by God to speak out against evil and injustice ought to be taken seriously by people of faith.

Just like the prophet Samuel, Martin Luther King Jr. was called to a difficult prophetic task in a time of real political danger and social upheaval.  His boldness and honesty helped create real change in the world and continues to move many to hope and to action.  Yet, as we know, King’s prophetic witness also cost him his life.

It is said that on the day before his death in 1968, King summed up his understanding of his whole ministry, both inside and outside the church, by saying “I just want to do God’s will.”

You know, just like Samuel, in those times when the word of God seems rare or feels distant, sometimes we need to hear God’s call a few times before it’s clear.  And sometimes we need those around us to boldly speak truth to power and call us to work together for good, even in tough times. 

We need the prophetic witness of people like Martin Luther King Jr. to call us back to what is most important because beyond the judgment that is difficult to hear, and after the self-reflection that is necessary in response, is a gracious and ultimately liberating hope for a new beginning and a new way forward into a better future together.

We are given great hope and new opportunities to live out our unique call each day by our forgiving and compassionate God whose love surpasses our knowledge.

I’d like to conclude this morning with a few final words of hope from Dr. King, spoken in his address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1967:

I have decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to [humanity’s] problems.  And I'm going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about it in some circles today.  And I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. 

For I have seen too much hate.  I've seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South.  I've seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. 

I have decided to love.  If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we aren't moving wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love.  [The one] who hates does not know God, but [the one] who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.

Amen.