The Venerable Richard I. Cluett
1 Samuel 3:1-20); 1Cor. 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
January 15, 2006
How do you hear the voice of God in times such as these? In all the din, in all the noise, in all the busyness, in all the chaos, in all the competing voices that would claim our attention, how do you hear the voice of God in times such as these?
Or is the voice of God rare today as it was in the time of Eli? Have we as a people so distanced ourselves from God that there is no Word heard today. Have we as a church become so involved in our own petty personal pieties and politics that God’s Word cannot be heard?
Or if a word is heard, how do you know it is the voice of God? Pat Robertson hears God saying, “I have struck down Ariel Sharon because I am displeased with his leadership.” Robertson also heard God say, “I have caused the storm and the floods to wipe this Sodom and Gomorra called New Orleans off the face of the earth.” Was it the voice of God or did he listen to his own voice?
How do you know when it is God calling? There is no Caller ID here.
In John's Gospel it is so clear; it looks so natural. How easy it was for Nathanael to spot Jesus; to see Jesus; to find the Lord. Amidst the daily occupations of his life, Nathanael recognized Jesus when he came near without having seen any obvious signs of the presence of the Kingdom, without knowing the shape, form, nature, or name of the messiah. Why didn't he wonder if he was out of synch, if maybe he was the one who was wrong, and it really was the leaders, the Pharisees and the Saducees, who had the correct take on life and faith? How did he know it was the Lord when Jesus walked by, when Jesus came near?
There is, I have learned, an Emmy Award-Winning afternoon Soap Opera called One Life to Live which is set in a community modeled on the Philadelphia Main Line. The show is said to deal with real life situations, such as stories of interracial romance, split personalities, illiteracy, medical misdiagnosis, racial prejudice, lupus, gang violence, homophobia, rape -- and next week there will be “Oh so much more”!
What interests me is the name of the show, One Life to Live, and that the show is about what happens to people. The characters are victims, They are not actors, they are recipients of other’s actions, they are done unto. O Lord, I have only one life to live, what should I do with it?
My assumption is that each person in this cathedral today is seeking to listen, discern, and respond to a word God is speaking to each of us, personally. Wanting to know the heart, mind and will of God - personally - so that we can so conform our own hearts and minds and wills that what we do this day, that what we do in this life is pleasing to God.
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold told members of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council meeting this week, “The Church is constantly in the process of becoming. Together we seek openness to this transforming work of the Spirit.” He quoted the French Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: “For us God is eternal discovery and eternal growth.”
Martin Luther King loved to tell his story. He didn't want to be a national civil rights leader. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quite life as a professor, possibly President of Morehouse College someday.
Through an odd turn of events, as a young pastor he was thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott. He came home late one night, tired, frightened. The phone rang. An angry voice on the other end said, "We're gonna get you Nigger!"
Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen in fear. He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice. But Daddy King wasn't there. Then he said it was like a voice. "Martin, you do what's right. You stand up for justice. You stand up for righteousness. I'll be with you."
He had heard his name called. He knew what God wanted for him. His life was forever changed and through his life, used so well by God, was the world changed.
Do you know the story of the baby lion whose family - called by that wonderful name Pride - of lions had been killed by hunters. He was by himself until one day a herd of goats came by and adopted him. He became a goat, lived as a goat, ate grass, and led a quiet goat-like life. But he knew he was different from the rest of the goats. He looked different, and he felt different, too. Something inside him told him he was different.
Then it happened. One day another lion; a large male lion came upon the grazing goats. All the goats were frightened and ran away - as good goats should - all except the lion-goat. He stood still, watching, waiting. Suddenly the large lion let out this incredible, powerful ROAR. The little lion's eyes flew open, and he knew he was being called. He knew who he was. And he followed the big lion home - and spent the rest of his life in more adventuresome pursuits.
Episcopal priest, writer and retreat leader Tom Ehrich has discerned four realizations about call:
“First,” he says, “God's call tends to be mundane and unsurprising.” Usually not cataclysmic, not flashes of lightening, not being slain in the Spirit, but in the everydayness of life, if we look and listen it is there - and it makes sense.
“Second,” he says, “God's call has grace in it. It heals a wound, answers a question, uses an experience, bridges a chasm.”
“Third, God's call is ambiguous.” If we don’t pay attention, we will miss it.
Fourth, “God's call changes things.”. I have said to you before that God loves us just the way we are, but God loves us too much to let us stay that way. So, God’s call does change things like situations, and conditions, but it also changes us in ways that we reflect more clearly and more truthfully that we are made in God’s image.
The voice of the Lord can be heard in the land - even by you and me who God knows so well and tailors his Word so carefully that it fits us precisely.
Psalm 139 is my favorite Psalm and its reassurance is a fitting and comforting ending.
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar...
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.
So, listen for this God who would have a word with us.
Amen.
