January 18, 2015
1 Samuel 3:1-20 and John 1:43-51
Minister Krejci
Well, here is another one of those Sunday’s I’ve commented to you about several times over the past 15
months I have been with you. Today’s lessons were appointed for this day in a body of works called the
Revised Common Lectionary – texts selected by the church decades ago. No human could possibly have
had the ability to predict the future of this congregation that long ago. If we were Presbyterian, with more
belief in predestination than Lutherans, we’d say we shouldn’t be surprised that these texts are as
appropriate as they are for Sunday, January 18, 2015, and the life of Peace Lutheran Church.
Let us pray…We pray Lord that our hearts and minds understand the meanings of your word for
us this day. That we may all have a clear vision of what you call us to be and to do. Amen.
In the next month or so your Call Committee will be given vitae’, or profiles, of candidates who feel called
by the Holy Spirit to be with you as your pastoral leader. Each candidate’s sense of calling will be based
on the vision of the future you have articulated to them, their self-assessment of their spiritual gifts, and
the pull, or kick, of the Holy Spirit on them. That’s how I was called to be with you. That’s how the Holy
Spirit mysteriously works! So, right at what I’ll call this crossroads Sunday today come these scripture and
Gospel passages for our hearing about God calling not just pastors, but all people to their particular
ministry.
Our First Lesson from 1st Samuel today concerns God’s calling of the boy Samuel. Samuel was the son of
a Levite. As I’ve shared with you several times over the last few Sundays, Levite parents of a first-born
son were to dedicate him to the Lord’s service. And so, at the appointed time his parents entrusted
Samuel to the custody of Eli, a priest. Samuel was likely around three years of age when that took place.
Eli gave Samuel his religious training, raised him, and in effect became Samuel's mentor. As the rest of
the Book of 1st Samuel informs us, Samuel went on to become the last great judge and the first prophet of
Israel. Samuel was also a victorious warrior, organizing the armies of his tribe and overthrowing the
philistines. Then Samuel, with God’s guidance, transformed himself into a great spiritual leader for Israel,
keeping his people focused on the Lord. It was this same Samuel who anointed David as king.
But in our reading today we see that the young Samuel had difficulty understanding his call - because he
had to be repeatedly called by God. “Samuel, Samuel.” Yes Lord.” Samuel kept running to Eli, believing it
was Eli who was calling him. Samuel’s false assumption required God to call him not once, not twice, not
three times, but four times before getting his attention!
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In our Gospel text from the 1st Chapter of John, we see another calling - the calling of Philip and Nathaniel
to be apostles.
approach.
First Philip is called by Christ and, unlike Samuel, immediately responds to his direct
“Follow me,” that’s all Jesus says to Philip, and Philip follows.
Philip soon sees his friend
Nathaniel and tells him he has found the one whom Moses wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth! But Nathaniel
is not impressed. We know that, because his reply is filled with skepticism - “can anything good come out
of Nazareth?!” Philip simply tells Nathaniel, “Come and see.” Or, “See for yourself.”
With these two examples we see it’s not always easy discerning ones call, is it? Samuel had difficulty
“hearing” his calling and God had difficulty connecting with him. Nathaniel made a false assumption that
stood in the way of his being open to Christ’s call.
Nathaniel was hung up because no prophecy
mentioned that the little Podunk village of Nazareth would be home to the Messiah. Nathaniel assumed
Jesus of Nazareth was born in Nazareth, not in that stable in Bethlehem.
I think we can also assume that God makes some assumptions too. God assumes when he calls someone
to be his hands in the world, they will accept his call and follow it, without question.
False assumptions we have can make it difficult to listen and hear God’s call to us. Might you have some
false assumptions that have gotten in the way of your hearing God’s call for you?
Maybe you are like the young woman who wanted to go to college. But her heart sank when she read the
question on the application that asked, "Are you a leader?" being honest, she checked the box that said
"no" and returned the application, expecting rejection. To her surprise, she received a letter from the
college, that said: "Dear Ms. Davidson: A review of the applications received for the next semester reveals
that our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it’s important that
they have at least one follower." Are you sometimes unwilling to not just hear God’s call, but to humble
yourself and become a servant. You do know, don’t you, that God’s plan calls for the calling of not just
leaders, but primarily servants?
So what will open your ears and eyes to God’s call of you and this place? The author of 1st Samuel is quick
to point out that “visions” were not widespread among the people. So people like Samuel didn’t know
what to look for or expect when God called. Do you remember your vision of the future - what people
vividly “see” in their mind’s eye happening here in three to five years? If you’ve forgotten, if you’ve
become complacent about vision and its’ significance in your calling, take another look.
Re-acquaint
yourself with it. Make it a part of you - because your vision is what will attract pastoral candidates to you.
Your vision is what the Holy Spirit will use as catalyst to point the “right” pastor in your direction. Your
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vison is what your next pastor will want to begin working toward, from the very first day she arrives. Take
the time to pray this Wednesday at noon that your vision of the future will be implanted by the Holy Spirit
in you and in your next pastor.
This week I pondered the story of a weak, sickly man who lived on an old ranch in the country. This man
was terribly ill, but he didn’t have any way to get into town to see a doctor. So each day his condition
grew worse. Until one night, in a vision, God told him to push a huge boulder out in front of his house. It
was a massive stone - as tall as he was. So, that morning the sickly old man began to push on the huge
rock all day long. Every day he got up early in the morning, and with great enthusiasm he pushed the
rock until noon. Then he rested during lunch, got up again, and pushed the rock until supper. The man
began to love pushing against the rock. It seemed to give him meaning. Day after day he pushed. Days
turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Every day he faithfully pushed that rock.
Until after 4 months the weak, sickly man began to grow tired of pushing the rock. In his fatigue he
started to doubt his vision. So he measured from his porch to the rock. And each day, after pushing the
rock, he would measure to see how much he’d moved it.
After two weeks of pushing and measuring, he realized he had not moved the boulder an inch. The
boulder was in the same place it was when he started. He was so disappointed. He thought the vision
he’d had was extraordinary, but now, after 5 months, he saw his work had accomplished nothing. He was
tired and his dream seemed hopeless.
He just sat on his porch and cried. He had invested hundreds of hours and untold physical energy for
nothing. It was all nothing!
Just as the sun was setting, Jesus came and hugged the crying man. Jesus said, "Son, why are you
crying?" The man replied, "Lord, you know how sick and weak I am, and then a dumb dream gave me
false hope. I’ve pushed with all I had for over 5 months. Yet, that stupid rock is right where it was when
I started."
Jesus looked him in the eye and said with all kindness, "My child, I never told you to move the rock. I only
told you to push against it." "Yes, Lord,” the man said, “that was my vision." Then Jesus told the man to
step in front of a mirror and look at himself. When he did he was amazed with what he saw! He had been
so sickly, thin, and weak. But now what he saw in the mirror was a strong, muscular figure. He realized
that he’d stopped coughing all night. He started thinking of how well he felt and the strength that he had
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built by pushing on the rock. Then the man realized that the plan of God was not for the rock, but for the
man.
I suggest to you this morning, God has been building his people in this place. God has been strengthening
his church. The storms, the trials, the heartaches, the disappointments, are all part of the process. God
told Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it
tingle!” Might God be doing great things at this church?
Maybe we’ve had it backwards. We’ve been trying to use people to build the church. Maybe we should be
using the church to build people. Don’t start measuring your success by your standards. Trust that God
controls the process that builds his people. God has been stretching you. God is growing you! Understand
his plan! Trust his hands! Hear his call.
Amen.
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