1 Samuel 3: 1-10

Mat= thew 25: 34-46

Hea= ring Voices

Eli= zabeth Macaulay

Jan= uary 15, 2006

I have done a lot of thinking about chu= rch, lately. I do all the time, tr= uth be told. I serve the church beca= use I believe in the power and promise of the church.

As the Body of Hope in the world. As mouthpiece for justice. As a place where those of us tryin= g to squeeze some serenity out of life can gather to pray and worship and dream = and love and laugh and remember that this pain we so often feel is not all ther= e is to life.

There is more to life. Richness and sacred power. And the church is here to remind u= s of that “more”.

Last week I shared with you some information about this church. I talked about the challenge we share with every church I know of: how do we remember our mission? How do we remember that we are cal= led to be proclaimers of grace when heat bills and staff bills and other costs call for a commitment on our part?

How do we stay connected to the pulse of promise even as we try to pay our bills?

What I realized is that part of our ans= wer lies in this morning’s scripture lesson.

The account of Samuel and Eli and the v= oice of God breaking into the mundane are reminders of why it is worth the somet= imes so much effort it takes to be an engaged part of faith community.

It’s worth it because we need each other. Not because we are the= same, but because we are different from each other. And in our differences we are rich= er and more whole.

Samuel is the child of Hannah. His name means “I asked God = for him” because Hannah had prayed long for a child. So much did Hannah long for a son,= she promised that the son would be given to a life of service to God. And so he was. After he was weaned, Samuel served= God through his work with Eli in the temple.

Eli’s own sons were a profound disappointment. They abused t= he trust of the people and stole from those who came to the temple seeking God’s help. But Samuel, Samuel grew to be a mighty prophet. A man who spoke the word of God, even when others didn’t want = to hear it.

Early in his life, serving Eli in the temple, Samuel hears a voice calling him by name. “Samuel, Samuel.”=

Thinking it to be Eli calling for him, Samuel runs to Eli to find out what Eli wants from him. It wasn’t me calling, he hea= rs Eli say, so he goes back to bed.

But again, Samuel hears a voice calling= him by name, and again and yet again he runs to Eli in order to answer the voic= e he thinks is Eli’s.

But the voice calling to Samuel is not Eli‘s. It is the voice = of God. But Samuel didn’t = or couldn’t recognize it. =

It took a wise older man to unpack the mystery for the young Samuel.

Eli tells Samuel it is God who is speak= ing to him, and he instructs Samuel to invite God to speak, to tell God that he= is ready to listen.

The power of = this interaction has lived with me all week.

Because this power. The power of helping each other to= hear the voice of God speaking to our hearts and in our lives. THAT is a profound gift of being c= hurch.

Where else in our culture do we get the chance to help each other listen for God?&= nbsp; We live in a time when community is a very fluid thing. It is rare that generations live w= ithin touching distance of each other.

But here in this place. On Sunday mornings and Wednesday n= ights and throughout the week, we gather around Bibles and cookies and tables and= we help each other hear the voice of God.

And that is sacred midwifing of soul. And it is powerful and precious. We remind ourselves that God speak= s yet, and we remind each other to listen for and hear that voice.

A few years ago a movie came out called “Bowling for Columbine”. It is a powerful look at how it is we as a people of the United Stat= es have lost the art of listening to each other - especially those who are different from ourselves. We = live in gated communities and we gobble up stories in the tabloids and news media that prey on our fear of each other.

There was an article in yesterday’= ;s Star Tribune about the costs of such fear.= The article explored the phenomena that parents are afraid to let our children play anymore, because we have been taught to fear so thoroughly. And our children have been infecte= d by our fear. Even as we have bec= ome a global community, the world of our children has grown small.

Anyway, in the movie, the film maker, Michael Moore, interviews rock singer Marilyn Manson. Now, this man, Marilyn Manson, is a mother’s fear magnet. He is decked out in black, with white face paint criss-crossed with black stripes. His eyes are e= erie, and the lyrics of his music are violent and so bitter with anger.

Michael Moore interviewed Marilyn Manson because he became the target for a lot of blame following the shootings at Columbine High School. He was pointed to as the epitome of what was wrong in our culture and how it is our young get warped by the entertainment industry.

In the interview, Manson was asked by M= oore about all of that. Manson didn’t agree that he and his artistic expression were to blame. And I came to respect him more in = the course of his conversation with Michael Moore.

At the end of the interview, Moore asked him, what would he, Manson, say to the youth of America if he could say anything at all?

Manson replied in this way:<= /span>

I wouldn̵= 7;t say anything to them….. I would listen to them.

The power of his wisdom is so strong, m= aybe all the greater because I feared him so much that I wasn’t all that willing to listen.

Manson reminds us that we are so often afraid, too busy, too inwardly focused, to listen to each other. And we miss so much.

Because God speaks through the people we encounter if we would but listen. There are prophets in our midst.&nb= sp; People who are hearing and acting upon sacred promptings and we so o= ften get so mired in our own convictions that we forget that God speaks in amazi= ng ways through the most (perhaps) unlikely people. People different than we are.=

So often we seek to dis empower and minimize people we are afraid of by distancing ourselves from them. The differences between us seem so= scary - between generations, between races, between orientations, between classes= - that we create fear ghettoes that make us feel safe.

And we are impoverished as a result. And= we imperil our future as a result.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior spent a lifetime trying to help our culture see the power of the things that unite us and the vision for what it means to build a variegated community of people. He said:

There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel t= hat they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People w= ho have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't ha= ve it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

When we don’t listen to whole populations of people because they are different than we are, and thus insp= ire fear in us, we jeopardize our stakeholders, we jeopardize our future. We deny our connection as the one = Body of Christ.

And this forg= etting happens to us all.

This past week, I was working at my desk. It was a day when my do= or was open and I heard someone at the front desk area ask if the pastor was in. Now, when that happens it can be a= sales call or a request for help, and sometimes it can be a frustration because I have my own agenda, thank you very much, and want to get the work done that= I have convinced myself is so very important.

So a woman was escorted back to my office. And she came in and introduced herself to me. I f= igured it was a sales or promotional issue, and prepared myself to be a good liste= ner.

Well, she was a part of a group called “Moms in Touch”. = They are a group that meets weekly to pray for our public schools. They pray for teachers and student= s and faculty and for the school community. The group, Mom’s in Touch, was offering a workshop for a day.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> She mentioned that one of our chur= ch members, a woman I respect very much, was a member of the group and had suggested that maybe RUMC would be interested in participating.<= /span>

Was I interested in helping them spread= the word about this event? The day would be spent learning about prayer and how to join in this ministry. Well, it sounded good and very pow= erful to me.

So I looked at the brochure, and my hea= rt lurched. The event was being held at Grace Church, and was partially suppor= ted by Grace Church.

Now, I have some pain around that church because of a recent meeting held for pastors there. Clergy from throughout the metro a= rea were invited to Grace Church to join with other clergy who felt that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons live outside of the circle of God’s grace, and are best “rehabilitated” to a heterosexu= al lifestyle.

I don’t agree with their position, and I was troubled that Grace church would host such an event and so I have held some energy against them in my heart.

So there was an ethical field day going= on in my heart and mind. I was scrambling inside, trying to listen for guidance about the best thing to do= in this situation. I sought to d= iscern what God would have me do. Al= l this was going on as the good woman waited for the answer to a seemingly easy question.

And I came to this: what her proposal surfaced in my s= oul is that events that enrich the prayer life of the congregation are blessing. Events that help us to turn toward= God with our anxieties about our schools and our children and our lives, they a= re blessing. <= /p>

So, I shared with her my concern about Grace’s position on GLBT inclusion.&= nbsp; I told her that I didn’t agree with the conference that was he= ld there. She listened very graciously.

And then I to= ld her that we would help to publicize the event.

Because I don’t want to live in a fear and mistrust ghetto of my own making.

Surely as people of faith we can engage= in ministry together even when our differences are sometimes profound.

I realized in= that moment that Grace church is not my enemy.&= nbsp; Fear is my enemy.

And a godly w= oman I had never met before helped me to know that wisdom.

Listen. Scripture tells us that it is not = ours to judge: to separate sheep f= rom goats, black from white, gay from straight, rich from poor.

Our work, our calling, is to feed the hungry, provide refreshment for the parched, shelter for the homeless, clot= hing for the cold, comfort for the ill, and companionship for the isolated.=

Our work, our calling, as church is to = help each other to get out of our fear ghettoes. To savor our differences and reach across them in order that we can best hear God’s voice in our lives.<= o:p>

While we drink coffee and while we are = at Bible study and while our youth are on retreat this weekend and while we are sitt= ing with Golden Friendship and while we are at finance meetings and as we go through our work day we are called, as a people of Jesus Christ, to be peop= le who remember to listen:

God is speaking - to you.

Can you hear = it?

Amen