by Pastor Laura Gentry
1 Samuel 3:1-10 • Psalm 139 • John 1:43-51
It was back in 1973 that Motorola unveiled the prototype of the world's first portable cellular telephone. Portable, of course, is a debatable claim as the phone weighed almost two pounds and spanned a foot in length. Oh, and did I mention that it cost $3,995?
It wasn’t until 1983 that cell phones became commercially available. At first, they were just for wealthy dignitaries and drug dealers. No one ever thought they’d catch on with the rest of the population. Why would normal people want to be accessible at all times? That sounded absurd.
But today, over 260 million Americans have cell phone service—that’s more people than have land lines—and they spend, on average, seven hours a month talking on them. These wireless devices keep changing to keep up with the demand. Nowadays, you are considered prehistoric if your phone doesn’t include a video camera and allow you to surf the web.
We are more “connected” than ever before. Our friends and family members can reach us just about any time any where. We have the technology that makes communication more convenient than we could have imagined 35 years ago when the first cell phone debuted. But are we really more connected? Are we really listening to each other? Are we really listening to God?
Today’s scripture lessons contain stories of call. No, not cell phone calls, but divine calls. God reaches out and calls people to action.
From the Old Testament lesson, comes the call story of little Samuel. This boy is a miracle baby. His parents waited so long for him, wondering if he’d ever show up. When he does, they are so pleased with God’s gift that they dedicate him to service in the Temple. It is here, in the Temple, that Samuel hears God’s voice.
God calls him by name: “Samuel, Samuel!”
The boy replies, “Here I am. You called me.” But what the child does not realize, at first, is that the voice is God’s. He thinks it is the voice of his sleeping mentor, Eli. I’m sure it would take you by surprise, too, if you heard God calling your name in the night. It is not always easy to discern the voice of God.
Eli helps Samuel to understand that this quiet, persistent call is coming from God. Here in this dark place, God has chosen to show up and to stir Samuel to action—action that will renew the whole nation.
Then in the Gospel lesson, we hear the call of Nathaniel. Philip invites him to follow the one from Nazareth.
“Nazareth?” Nathaniel protests, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Again, the divine call does not meet with people’s expectations. Nathaniel has all kinds of prejudices against Nazareth and is unable to believe that the Savior could be hiding out in such a loathsome town. Fortunately, Philip presses him to check it out anyway.
“Come and see!” he urges.
And sure enough, Nathaniel comes and sees and is transformed by the call of Jesus.
So the question for us to look at upon hearing these stories, is how might God be calling you and me? This call is not ordinarily as obvious as a cell phone call or the callings Samuel and Nathaniel experienced. But as baptized children of God, we can be sure the call is being issued nevertheless. In a still, small voice, God is calling us to an important mission.
The Psalmist understands this intimately. In today’s reading, we heard these amazing words:
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” (Psalm 139:1-5, 13-14, NRSV)
During my sister’s first pregnancy, I read that the ancients used to acknowledge the sacred state of maternity by giving pregnant women amulets to wear—little pendants with important verses of scripture. They believed in the importance of keeping scripture ever a part of their lives by having it physically manifest on their person, especially when the miracle of new life was happening within. So I went to the mall and picked out a silver pendant for my sister, upon which I had them engrave part of verse 14: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Kathy wore it throughout both of her pregnancies as a constant reminder of the incredible work that God was doing to create her children.
Do we recognize just how fearfully and wonderfully each one of us was made? Do we perceive the ever present hand of God in our lives—who was with us from the time before we were born? No matter what we are going through, we can be assured of the powerful presence of the Lord. We can hold fast to the knowledge that we are a wonderful work of God who is loved more than we could ever fathom.
And this God calls to us. When we sit down and when we rise up, when we go to the grocery store and when we shovel the walk, when we watch tv and even when we do a crossword puzzle. Wherever we go, whatever we do, regardless of how mundane it may seem, God is with us and every moment is sacred.
Yet we toss this sacredness aside when we fail to listen to God’s call. We cannot afford to do this because God has plans for our lives—exciting plans to give our lives meaning and purpose. At the end of Jesus’ conversation with Nathaniel, he says “you will see heaven open and God’s angels ascending and descending.”
This truth is artistically depicted on the front of the cathedral of Bath, England. I was so impressed by it when I saw it my junior year of college. There are stone carvings of two giant ladders that stretch from the top of the front doors to the roof. There are angels all over the ladder. At first glance they look very heavenly and serious, but upon closer inspection you can see some humorous variations. Some are contentiously climbing upward, while others are tenuously looking over their shoulder as if looking for reassurance that they’re doing it right. And there are some who look downright lost, discombobulated, upside down and barely hanging on to the ladder by their toes.
You see, those angels ascending and descending that Jesus talks about are you and me. We are the ones called to be the bridge—to bring the joys of heaven to earth by our Spirit-filled living. That’s our calling. God wants us to be like Philip and bring others to Christ. We are expected to say “come and see,” not just with our words but with all of our lives.
But like the angels on the Bath cathedral, we don’t always get it right. Some days we don’t feel like we’re good mentor for others—we feel like we’re just hanging on to the Christian life by our toes. Still, God continues to call us to this mission. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and not only that, we are assisted by the Holy Spirit. We CAN do it! We ARE connected. God calls us day and night—and this is a call we don’t even need battery power to receive.
And so as we hear God's call today, may we answer enthusiastically answer with Samuel, “Here I am. You called me.”
© 2009 Rev. Laura E. Gentry
It was back in 1973 that Motorola unveiled the prototype of the world's first portable cellular telephone. Portable, of course, is a debatable claim as the phone weighed almost two pounds and spanned a foot in length. Oh, and did I mention that it cost $3,995?
It wasn’t until 1983 that cell phones became commercially available. At first, they were just for wealthy dignitaries and drug dealers. No one ever thought they’d catch on with the rest of the population. Why would normal people want to be accessible at all times? That sounded absurd.
But today, over 260 million Americans have cell phone service—that’s more people than have land lines—and they spend, on average, seven hours a month talking on them. These wireless devices keep changing to keep up with the demand. Nowadays, you are considered prehistoric if your phone doesn’t include a video camera and allow you to surf the web.
We are more “connected” than ever before. Our friends and family members can reach us just about any time any where. We have the technology that makes communication more convenient than we could have imagined 35 years ago when the first cell phone debuted. But are we really more connected? Are we really listening to each other? Are we really listening to God?
Today’s scripture lessons contain stories of call. No, not cell phone calls, but divine calls. God reaches out and calls people to action.
From the Old Testament lesson, comes the call story of little Samuel. This boy is a miracle baby. His parents waited so long for him, wondering if he’d ever show up. When he does, they are so pleased with God’s gift that they dedicate him to service in the Temple. It is here, in the Temple, that Samuel hears God’s voice.
God calls him by name: “Samuel, Samuel!”
The boy replies, “Here I am. You called me.” But what the child does not realize, at first, is that the voice is God’s. He thinks it is the voice of his sleeping mentor, Eli. I’m sure it would take you by surprise, too, if you heard God calling your name in the night. It is not always easy to discern the voice of God.
Eli helps Samuel to understand that this quiet, persistent call is coming from God. Here in this dark place, God has chosen to show up and to stir Samuel to action—action that will renew the whole nation.
Then in the Gospel lesson, we hear the call of Nathaniel. Philip invites him to follow the one from Nazareth.
“Nazareth?” Nathaniel protests, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Again, the divine call does not meet with people’s expectations. Nathaniel has all kinds of prejudices against Nazareth and is unable to believe that the Savior could be hiding out in such a loathsome town. Fortunately, Philip presses him to check it out anyway.
“Come and see!” he urges.
And sure enough, Nathaniel comes and sees and is transformed by the call of Jesus.
So the question for us to look at upon hearing these stories, is how might God be calling you and me? This call is not ordinarily as obvious as a cell phone call or the callings Samuel and Nathaniel experienced. But as baptized children of God, we can be sure the call is being issued nevertheless. In a still, small voice, God is calling us to an important mission.
The Psalmist understands this intimately. In today’s reading, we heard these amazing words:
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” (Psalm 139:1-5, 13-14, NRSV)
During my sister’s first pregnancy, I read that the ancients used to acknowledge the sacred state of maternity by giving pregnant women amulets to wear—little pendants with important verses of scripture. They believed in the importance of keeping scripture ever a part of their lives by having it physically manifest on their person, especially when the miracle of new life was happening within. So I went to the mall and picked out a silver pendant for my sister, upon which I had them engrave part of verse 14: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Kathy wore it throughout both of her pregnancies as a constant reminder of the incredible work that God was doing to create her children.
Do we recognize just how fearfully and wonderfully each one of us was made? Do we perceive the ever present hand of God in our lives—who was with us from the time before we were born? No matter what we are going through, we can be assured of the powerful presence of the Lord. We can hold fast to the knowledge that we are a wonderful work of God who is loved more than we could ever fathom.
And this God calls to us. When we sit down and when we rise up, when we go to the grocery store and when we shovel the walk, when we watch tv and even when we do a crossword puzzle. Wherever we go, whatever we do, regardless of how mundane it may seem, God is with us and every moment is sacred.
Yet we toss this sacredness aside when we fail to listen to God’s call. We cannot afford to do this because God has plans for our lives—exciting plans to give our lives meaning and purpose. At the end of Jesus’ conversation with Nathaniel, he says “you will see heaven open and God’s angels ascending and descending.”
This truth is artistically depicted on the front of the cathedral of Bath, England. I was so impressed by it when I saw it my junior year of college. There are stone carvings of two giant ladders that stretch from the top of the front doors to the roof. There are angels all over the ladder. At first glance they look very heavenly and serious, but upon closer inspection you can see some humorous variations. Some are contentiously climbing upward, while others are tenuously looking over their shoulder as if looking for reassurance that they’re doing it right. And there are some who look downright lost, discombobulated, upside down and barely hanging on to the ladder by their toes.
You see, those angels ascending and descending that Jesus talks about are you and me. We are the ones called to be the bridge—to bring the joys of heaven to earth by our Spirit-filled living. That’s our calling. God wants us to be like Philip and bring others to Christ. We are expected to say “come and see,” not just with our words but with all of our lives.
But like the angels on the Bath cathedral, we don’t always get it right. Some days we don’t feel like we’re good mentor for others—we feel like we’re just hanging on to the Christian life by our toes. Still, God continues to call us to this mission. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and not only that, we are assisted by the Holy Spirit. We CAN do it! We ARE connected. God calls us day and night—and this is a call we don’t even need battery power to receive.
And so as we hear God's call today, may we answer enthusiastically answer with Samuel, “Here I am. You called me.”
© 2009 Rev. Laura E. Gentry
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