In addition to the story I shared earlier from Jim Wallis, this past week I read another story by social activist and theologian Jim Wallis about asking a young woman out on a date. Jim was raised as a southern Baptist, and lived in a fairly conservative environment. He decided that as a date with this young woman they would go to the local theatre to watch The Sound of Music. Jim had, in his teenage mind, assumed this to be a safe choice …
When he arrived to pick the young woman up, her father was blocking the door and insisting that his daughter could not go to see The Sound of Music because it would “trample on everything we believe, and everything we raise you to be.”
The father went on to insist that if his daughter went to the movies, then started dancing, then drinking and smoking, she would no longer be a Christian, and then there would be nothing to differentiate her and her family from the world – there would be nothing that said “We’re Christian.”
Now, aside from struggling with all of this happening because of The Sound of Music … the issue that Wallis raises is the struggle with what it is that makes us who we are. How do we live our faith? What defines us as Christians? What are being called to be and to do in the world by God?
How do we live our faith in a world of rapid and even breath-taking change?
These are the types of questions that we may not even be aware of facing, but that we need to face all the time … our world is experiencing change at a rate that seems unbelievable and we are called to be people of faith …
But then we look around us and … well, let’s be brutally honest – we aren’t the “in place” to be seen on a Sunday morning. The hockey rink and the Sunday morning brunch buffets have a greater appeal that we do … we have in many respects become a quaint anachronism in our world – a source of life’s ritutals like baptisms, weddings and funerals, and a place where older folks hang out …
I for one, however believe that in owning the perception of the world around us – and accepting that we are not the cool, hip place to be seen, we are opening the door to tremendous possibility and transformative change … as we wrestle with what it means to be people of faith – followers of Christ – members of the Body of Christ in the world – as we struggle to define this experience we are able to live IN the world, rather than isolate ourselves from it and hide from it. Our readings this morning are about being called and commissioned by God not to hide away from the world, but to share God’s message of transformative hope to the world around us.
Samuel, Phillip, and Nathaniel didn’t hide from the world. Instead they responded to their invitation – their call – by stepping into the world with courage and faith, and they shared the message by living it. Something new was unfolding and they shared it …
Let’s look at the call of Samuel for a moment – but rather than the perspective of Samuel and the new order he represents, let’s take a moment to consider the story from Eli’s perspective …
Eli was the good and faithful servant of Yahweh. He had been a priest in the temple for many years – he was part of the establishment (the way things are). He was a member of the dynasty that saw father and son presiding at worship for generations …
Eli was a comfortable and familiar leader in a structured society and culture that prided itself on things being maintained as they are – the proverbial status quo … Then suddenly in the pre-dawn hours one morning he is awaken by his young servant standing by his bedside asking “what do you want?”
Eli, no doubt irritated said – “I didn’t call you boy, go back to sleep …” and sent young Samuel on his way … Repeatedly the young man arrived at Eli’s bedside saying – “what do you want?” And repeatedly Eli sent him back, until in his sleep deprived brain he thought – “Hang on, maybe Yahweh is speaking to him …”
And so this time, Eli said – “Boy, when you hear your name being called say ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening,’ And listen to what is then said …”
Samuel does as Eli asks, and Eli’s world crashes around him …
The rendering of the prophecy to Eli from the Contemporary English Bible is scathing and blunt … it reads: ... I am going to do something in Israel that will shock everyone who hears about it! I will punish Eli and his family, just as I have promised. He knew that his sons refused to respect me, and he let them get away with it, even though I said I would punish his family for ever. I warned Eli that sacrifices or offerings could never make things right ! HIs family has done too many disgusting things.
It is pretty hard to miss the harsh judgement that is being handed down on Eli and his sons … the dynasty that Eli was part of is about to end – the way things were is not going to be the way things are – tremendous change is about to unfold over not just Eli and his children, but the whole of the nation of Israel. God is about to turn things upside down …
And yet, Eli says simply – “He is the Lord, and he will do what is right …”
With profound and breath-taking grace and acceptance (at least here) Eli hears what God is about to do and offers no resistance … he accepts it …
This story – this moment of tremendous change – is a pivotal story for us in the modern church, but rather than considering it from Eli’s perspective we arrogantly assume the story from Samuel’s perspective. We are called to serve God. We are called to go out into the world in faith and “DO.” We become like the father in Wallis’ story who wants to remain isolate and different from the world around us – we hide away …
If we consider the story from Eli’s perspective we stand in a challenging place where we have to consider that rather than being called to “do something” in the name of God, perhaps we are being TOLD that our ways of doing things, the old order we cherish and value, the dynasty we embody – the status quo is about to change – dramatically and harshly, and God is about to do something new …
For the modern Church this is a bitter pill to swallow … we want to attract new members, and we want to grow and prosper, but we want to have the new while maintaining the old … we want to have the best of both worlds. Maybe trying to hold on to the way things WERE is not what God wants of us, or for us … maybe the whisper we fail to hear is the one that came to Eli and said – “your family has done too many disgusting things …” and the time has come to change …
Do we dare think it? Do we even dare to say it aloud?
Or do we want to close our eyes and our ears and keep things the way they are forever and ever amen ?
The story of Samuel and Eli arriving in our lectionary cycle in this moment is apt and appropriate … in a couple of short days the United States of America will inaugurate a black man as president. This moment is as enormous as the inauguration of Nelson Mandela almost two decades ago.
To return to Jim Wallis, I am mindful of that moment in the story I shared with the Gospel reading, when standing in the bright South African sunshine the day Mandela became president and the world said – “we knew it was inevitable.” Wallis notes that it wasn’t inevitable – that there were many deep dark days in the midst of the battle against Apartheid what seemed inevitable was that the battle would be lost and Apartheid would prevail … yet, Wallis and others clung to the Biblical teaching that says – “hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change.”
Faith is about HOPE … today we stand in a Hope filled place where something new is unfolding around us. Politically, spiritually, economically … things are changing, and where there is change there is possibility, and possibility is about transformation - and transformation is about resurrection.
That day in South Africa when the world said – “this was inevitable”, Wallis and others remembered the dark days when voices like Desmond Tutu kept saying – “that which opposes the will of God, cannot stand …” when they dared to confront the South African army and security forces with the open invitation to come and join the winning side …
Samuel, in our Old Testament story was on the winning side, and he carried a message to Eli that things were about to change …
Jesus came to Phillip and Nathaniel with the invitation to join the winning side because things were about to change …
The story of South Africa is about change – dramatic life altering change. Faith is about change – dramatic life altering change.
In our world today we face tremendous and enormous change. We can fight it – or we can have the courage to be like Eli and accept it … and with our acceptance, be part of the process that helps that change come into being …
In our Church today we face a choice … we can cling to the way things are – the status quo and try to maintain the delusion of things being okay … or like Eli, we can respond to the voice calling in the night by embracing that change – a change that comes from God – but letting go of the past and accepting that we’re heading into the unknown …
I offer no illusions that the road ahead will be easy nor comfortable – it will be a difficult path with many challenges … the difference between us and Eli is that we do not stand in God’s judgement the way he and his sons did. We merely stand on the verge of tremendous change and where there is change there is potential for the resurrection to break through and re-create things.
One of my favourite sayings is – “to discover new lands, you must lose sight of the familiar shore for a long time …”
The call of Samuel, Nathanial and Phillip is about losing sight of the shore and trusting God to guide us to new lands … we can cling to the shore desperately maintaining what has been – or we can let go and trust in God to see us through … The choice is ours to make – the call has been offered … the call to something new …
May it be so – thanks be to God – let us pray …
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