Jesus is LORD I Samuel 3:1-20 Mark 2:23-3:6

This morning, as we sit here, Karen is graduating from the school where she has been studying in order to receive the credentials that will allow her to become a chaplain.  Her hard work and dedication brought to my mind my journey to ordination.

Many years ago, I, like other Candidates for Holy Orders, had to sit my canonical exams.  These were the oral exams – there were also several days of written ones.  Anyway, one area covered in the exams was called “contemporary society”.  “You know,” the examiners told me, “We’ve had a lot of eager and enthusiastic folks come through here, and many of them got ordained, but after a few years they burned out.  What are you going to do to keep from burning out?”  “Gee,” you think in your youth, “is that a possibility?  Can it happen to me?”, and I had to give my answer considerable thought, in fact, I had to sit that particular exam twice.

“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread… Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down.”

The Lord persists, calling again and yet again, “’Samuel! Samuel!’”, and each time the boy, who “did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him” runs to his mentor Eli.  This is not too surprising.  A child, new to the service of God, is certainly not expecting to hear the voice of the Lord calling his name.  His natural assumption is that he is being summoned by his mentor, Eli.

But what is going on with Eli?  What we miss, hearing this story thousands of years after the fact, is just how shocking things have become with him.  Eli has been in the Lord’s service for a very long time, but is described as one “whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see.” 

This might at first appear to be only a description of part of the aging process, but it is much more.  After years in the Temple, this elderly servant of God should know who is calling Samuel, but he doesn’t.  Why?  Has Eli lost interest, has he “burned out”, as my examiners would have put it? 

Greatly disappointing the Lord, Eli has even begun to ignore sinfulness within his own family, and because of this increasing laxity on his part, his inner vision, the light of God that is meant to be his guide and stay, to shine through him, has become increasingly obscured.  Though he has been in God’s service for a lifetime, Eli isn’t prepared for God, and isn’t expecting a divine revelation, and that’s why it takes three tries on God's part for Samuel, who needs Eli’s direction, to respond properly to God.  Eli’s failure to discern God’s call is shocking! 

One sabbath Jesus and his disciples were going through the grainfields; and as they made their way His disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

And, no surprise, the next thing you know, the Pharisees have started criticizing the disciples’ actions. The Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 

We shake our heads.  Don’t these fanatics ever give it a rest?  What we don’t stop to consider is – the Pharisees are right. 

Within every religion there are rules, the big ones, the commandments, and then the ones developed through time and tradition and added to “the rules” by governing bodies, such as the priests and elders.  While there are less traditional rules in the Congregational Church, we do know not to disrespect Holy Communion, to show up for church on Sunday, to keep the holy days of Christmas and Easter.  And we are well aware of Jesus’ commands to us to love God and to love one another as He has loved us. 

The temptation, of course, even for those of us in a denomination without a great deal of traditional “rules”, is to think our viewpoint is right. We think we know how to love, as long as it doesn’t take up too much of our time or cost us dearly in any way.  We know we should visit our sick relative, but it’s such a long drive, maybe a phone call?, but they talk forever and we don’t have the time.

Gosh, we should go to church on Sunday, but, hey, we can worship in a field, or on a nature walk, the logic being God created nature.  We somehow don’t realize that, for those of us who are physically able, there is a sacrifice of love in coming to church on Sunday, a sacrifice that is expected of us by God. 

We are meant to live within certain what the Church calls Christian disciplines – and boy do we ever dislike that word.  “Discipline” sounds, well, like punishment, so it’s hard for us to realize it is nothing of the kind.  It is the way we order, and that might be a better word with less negative connotations, the way we “order” our lives to get our egos out of God’s way.

Having made a poor showing on my first try at the oral exam on “contemporary society”, after thought, study, and prayer, I was allowed to return, retake and, fortunately, then pass that exam. St. Paul tells us, “What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 

The mistake we make as human beings is we really believe we, our thoughts and opinions, are right.  That’s how the Pharisees looked at things.  They lived by the rules – and so, they assumed that made them right.  It’s a wonderful, heady, powerful feeling, and it takes some years, and humility, to realize that the light that is to shine out of darkness isn’t our own personal, ego driven light, but “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.”   

We are meant to grow in this wisdom, and it can happen at any age, or it can happen again and again as we struggle for holiness.  

As our egos grow less aggressive, as we move out of God’s way and let God’s light shine through us, we face a new challenge, that of gaining new and deeper spiritual strength.  How is this done?

“Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, . . how he entered the house of God, . . . and ate the bread of the Presence?” 

As the fire of our ego grows dim, there is increasingly more room inside us for that greater fire which descended on Pentecost, and which is fed by prayer, by discipline, and by Holy Communion. 

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you.” 

Today, we come to receive communion, to be lit anew by the fire of the Love of God. “Let your light so shine before all people, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father which is in heaven.”

Let us pray:

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with Your most gracious favor, and further us with Your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in You, we may glorify Your holy Name, and finally, by Your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.