2 Epiphany, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

2 Epiphany, Yr B (2024)                                                              The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

I Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)                                                          St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

John 1:43-51

In the name of the one, holy, and living God:

in whom we live, and move, and have our being.  Amen.

Have you ever gotten to the end of your day

and felt like you were just then sitting down for the first time?

Even if you had been sitting at a computer all day…

Your time – your day – your mind

had been so busy

that you hadn’t had the opportunity to even take one moment to pause,

                   take a deep breath,

                                    and listen.

Listen to anything…your heartbeat,

            your breath,

                        the bird singing outside,

                                    the hum of silence in your ears

                 what your partner or colleague actually said to you?!

Today’s Scriptures contain stories of taking the time to listen

            and to listen deeply…

                        to God

                                    and to one another.

Today’s Scriptures offer us invitations…

The invitation to see light in the midst of darkness,

            the invitation to hear God’s voice in the midst of silence,

    the invitation to look within ourselves,

            summon some courage,

                        and step out beyond the limited scope of our vision.

_______________________________

In the first book of Samuel, the author makes this observation:

“The word of the Lord was rare in those days;

visions were not widespread.” (I Sam 3:1)

Eli, the temple priest, has become so old that his world is one of total darkness. 

He can no longer even see the hand in front of his face;

and his sons - his rightful heirs and aids –

       are corrupt to the core and nowhere to be seen…

at least not when most needed.

So, assisting him in his duties is the 12-year old Samuel.

Now, Samuel was promised to God’s service by his mother, Hannah, from before his birth. 

For nine years now,

since Samuel was three,

he has served Eli in the most sacred of spaces. 

Only the priest is allowed in the Holy of Holies,

yet Samuel sleeps every night next to the Ark of the Covenant.

“Samuel! Samuel!” rings out his name,

disturbing his sleep.

Immediately the boy jumps up thinking that Eli is in need.

“Here I am.  What is it?”

“I did not call,” says Eli.  “Go lie down.”

We are told that at this point in his life Samuel did not yet know God;

the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 

It is remarkable to think that although Samuel had lived next to the Ark

 and served in the Temple for 9 years,

        he did not yet know God.

Apparently, knowing God requires more than just being present…

 knowing God requires relationship.

Three times the call comes,

each with Samuel rushing to Eli’s side. 

Then in the midst of the darkness, Eli understands. 

It is God.

Go.

            Lie down.

                                 Wait.

                                                Listen.

“Samuel!

Samuel!”

“Speak, Holy One, for your servant is listening.”

Listening…

            We often get so busy that we forget this art.

So lost is the gift of listening in our culture

that we now pay people to do it for us;

       listening is that important.

Eli listened to Samuel,

and in listening discerned the call of God.

Eli then invited Samuel himself to listen….

            to listen in the dark stillness of the night.

Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us that the central Jewish declaration of faith is not the “I believe” that Christians have adopted, but “Hear, O Israel.”

The focus is on the ears, not the lips –

            The focus in on listening,

not speaking.

She says, “Even now, some Christians have trouble listening to God. 

“Many of us prefer to speak. 

“Our corporate prayers are punctuated with phrases such as ‘Hear us, Lord’

or ‘Lord, hear our prayer,’

       as if the burden to listen were on God and not us. 

“We name our concerns,

giving God suggestions on what to do about them. 

“What reversal of power might occur if we turned the process around,

naming our concerns

        and asking God to tell us what to do about them?

“‘Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening.’” (When God is Silent, pp. 49-50)

In our Gospel reading we again hear such invitations to listen

            and to enter into relationship with God.

Jesus calls to Philip, “Follow me.”

Philip then calls to Nathanael, “Come and see.”

These are invitations to enter into relationship with the living God.

Nathanael, however, was a bit skeptical. 

He knew Jesus came from Nazareth,

and Nazareth was the backwater, good-for-nothing area of the land. 

How could the long-awaited Messiah come from such a place?

How was this possible?

He had no issue acknowledging his skepticism,

and yet he accepted the invitation to relationship

       and himself proclaimed Jesus as none other than “the Son of God”… “the King of Israel.”

Preacher Fred Craddock has this to say about hearing God’s voice:

 “The voice of God in Jesus was not a shout. 

In him, the revelation of God comes to us as a whisper.” (Preaching, p. 57)

So, this means for us that in order to catch the whisper, we must hush,

lean forward,

         and trust that what we hear is the voice of God. (Taylor, When God is Silent, p. 57)

God calls us again and again –

through complete strangers   

through friends and family,

                                    in the events of our daily lives,

       sometimes even in the dark stillness of the night…

if only we will pause

            and listen.

Richard Rohr relates this story:

“When I was on retreat at Thomas Merton’s hermitage at Gethsemani Abbey in 1985,

I had a chance encounter that has stayed with me all these years.

“I was walking down a little trail when I recognized a recluse,

what you might call a hermit’s hermit, coming toward me.

“Not wanting to intrude on his deep silence,

I bowed my head and moved to the side of the path, intending to walk past him.

“But as we neared each other, he said, “Richard!”

“That surprised me.

He was supposed to be silent.

How did he know who I was?

“Richard, you get chances to preach and I don’t.

Tell the people one thing.”

“Pointing to the sky, he said, “God is not ‘out there’!”

“Then he said, “God bless you,” and abruptly continued down the path.

Reflecting on this encounter Rohr says,

“The belief that God is “out there” is the basic dualism that is tearing us all apart.

“Our view of God as separate and distant has harmed our relationships with sexuality, food, possessions, money, animals, nature, politics, and our own incarnate selves.

“This loss explains why we live such distraught and divided lives.

“Jesus came to put it all together for us and in us.

“He was saying, in effect, “To be human is good!

The material and the physical can be trusted and enjoyed.

       This physical world is the hiding place of God and the revelation place of God!” 

(from Rohr’s daily meditations from the Center for Action and Contemplation)

This world in which we live is what we’ve got,

            and it is created in the image of God!

God enfleshed in Jesus shows us God’s nature.

God continues to speak to us daily…nightly…

            in our own silence,

                        through each other,

                 and through this world in which we live.

But we must stop,

                                    be quiet,

                                                        wait,

                                                                        and listen.

I invite you this week to take time each day – if even just a moment –

            to pause and say: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

You just might be surprised by what you hear!

Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.