Sunday, January 14, 2018

Sermon: Listening for God

1 Samuel 3:1-10
Listening for God
James Sledge                                                                                       January 14, 2018

The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.  When I was young, and even sometimes as an adult, I’ve thought that it would be great to have lived in biblical times. How much easier faith would  I’d been there to see God act, to hear Jesus teach, to encounter a prophet filled with God’s Spirit and speaking directly to me.
But the opening of our Scripture reading this morning doesn’t sound much like that.  The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.  Sure, people knew stories of God acting in the past, but there wasn’t much current activity. I wonder if people at the time of our reading wished they had lived in an earlier time, when God’s activity had been more vivid and obvious. But for them, God’s word was rare. No dreams or visions to share. No prophets speaking God’s word directly to them.
The opening of our scripture doesn’t sound so different from today, although many of us were alive when one of God’s prophets did speak. I was just a child, but I remember. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet if there ever was one. God called him and gave him a vision to share. If Dr. King had lived in biblical times, I suspect his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial would have been written down with an introduction something like, “The vision that the prophet Martin was given about the things to come.”  
Dr. King used the term dream instead of vision Perhaps he thought that would work better with both religious folks and more secular types who don’t think much of prophetic visions.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
Our culture doesn’t know much of prophets and visions. Even many who admire Dr. King seem not to realize that his dream, his vision, arose from faith, that it was divine prophecy. Perhaps that’s why many don’t recall the last part of the “I have a dream” speech, or if they do, they don’t realize King borrows it from another prophet, Isaiah.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
But how do prophets see visions? How is it they are able to pick up a divine whisper and share it with others? How was it that Dr. King glimpsed what God would bring, a vision that would be costly for him to share. Prophets are rarely well received. Jesus once said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” Status quo and power don’t take well to prophets who tell of the new day God brings. What was it that allowed Dr. King to glimpse and boldly share a vision from God that many did not want to see, that many still resist?
I’m reasonably certain that Dr. King had a lot of help in learning to hear God, in knowing how catch a glimpse of a fleeting vision. He had been schooled in the church, learning the language of God. He had been steeped in scripture and knew the strange rhythms and patterns of divine speech. He had been schooled in prayer, the sort of prayer that spends at least as much time listening as it does talking.
The young Samuel in our reading this morning had not yet had such instruction, and so when he heard something, he could not recognize it for what it was. It must be Eli, he thought. As far as Samuel knew, there were no other options. Eli, who did know the strange rhythms and patterns of divine speech, had to help Samuel hear. 
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Do you know how to recognize a divine whisper? Have you been steeped in scripture, learning the strange rhythms and patters of divine speech? Have you been schooled in prayer? Who is your Eli, the one who helps you to understand what’s happening when God intrudes unexpectedly in your life?
I’m not sure many modern people think in these terms. Hearing God speak sounds like an anachronism. Surely that sort of thing doesn’t really happen. The word of the Lord is rare. Visions don’t really occur.
Not that we’d likely notice if they did. We’re surely some of the most distracted people who ever lived on earth. We’re constantly inundated with noise and information from our TV’s, laptops, iPads, smart phones. We rarely are still, even more rarely experience silence.
Many mystics have said that the first language of God is silence. If that is so, no wonder the word of the Lord is rare in our day. We’re in no position to hear it, much less recognize it.
But what if we were? What if we took a cue from Samuel and Martin Luther King? What if we read scripture regularly and became better acquainted with the strange rhythms and patterns of divine speech? What if we set aside time each day to unplug, be still, and become silent? What if we committed to taking advantage of classes and groups that help us learn about our centering prayer or contemplative prayer? Or what if the problem isn’t that the word of the Lord is rare, but rather that we’re not much interested in hearing it?
God is still speaking words of life… if we  have ears to hear.
All praise and glory to the Word of God who became flesh for out sakes, that we might hear and see. Thanks be to God!

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