SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY – 15 January 2006

St Paul Lutheran Church, ABQ NM – The Rev. P. L. Holman

1 Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; John 1:43-51

“A Calling to Speak”

Let’s try a little writing exercise this morning.  If you have a pencil or pen, write the word VOCATION in a blank spot somewhere on your bulletin. 

When you see that word – or hear “vocation” -- what comes to mind?  Most of the time the response is “the work in which a person is regularly employed.”  That’s one of the definitions in my old college dictionary, to be sure.  But it’s not the first one.  The earliest ascertainable meaning (that is, the oldest one) is this: a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action, specif.: a divine call to the religious life.

Samuel’s vocation was indeed a divine call to a religious life.  This firstborn son of Hannah was dedicated to the Lord from before he was born.  Hannah had prayed fervently in her old age that God would lift the barrenness she experienced with her husband Elkanah and grant them a child.  And she promised in return to dedicate that child to the Lord.  So after he was weaned Hannah did just that, leaving little Samuel in the care of the aging Eli, priest at Shiloh, whose eyesight was going dim.  His failing eyesight was actually the least of Eli’s problems – his sons were busy running amok, abusing their possessions and their power in the temple while Eli failed to hold them accountable, and Eli’s spiritual vision was failing as well.  Three times the voice of God calls before Eli finally catches on and helps 12 year-old Samuel recognize it as the LORD’s.  Then Samuel replies, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”  That listening opens him up to a very adult responsibility: God calls Samuel to tell the truth of God’s judgment upon Eli and his family.  And so he does.

Fast-forward about one thousand years now, to Jesus in Galilee.  According to John’s gospel account, it was in the company of John the Baptizer in Jerusalem when Jesus first says to two of John’s disciples, “Come and see.”  John the Baptizer pointed out to them the one called Lamb of God, and they wanted to know more.  “Come and see.”  Then next day, John the gospel writer says, Nathanael has an amazing encounter with Jesus in Galilee.  What Jesus says to him was not quite as clear a call.  It was more like a challenge: “Now here is an honest man,” Jesus says when he sees Nathanael coming.  By his response you can tell Nathanael isn’t a good Lutheran: “Honest? Why yes, I am.  How did you know?”  The whole conversation moves quickly from the humorous to the powerful: “You think fig trees are a big deal?  This is about death and life.”  And Nathanael listens.

Surprising and unsettling things happen when God calls, when God summons people to use their gifts for God’s purposes.  Honest trust and purity of heart, the scriptures tell us, open one to hearing God’s voice and into living in a deeper relationship with God. 

We all know folks who’ve listened to the voice of God and answered the call to follow.  This weekend we remember the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose strong religious upbringing shaped him for a life of prophetic witness and an untimely death.  The 1960’s also saw two Kennedy brothers, men whose vocation was lived out in the political arena, whose voices for justice were grounded in a strong Roman Catholic upbringing and whose lives met similarly violent ends. 

Vocation isn’t limited to the famous or the tragic.  There is the son whose work is in health research, whose eyes light up (his parents say) when sharing news of his latest chemometrics discovery.  And the 90 year-old daughter who remembers the faith of her South Dakota parents, farmers who tilled the land and served the church as did their parents before them. 

Vocation is not simply what you do -- it is what God does through you.  The apostle Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 1:26 and following remind us of that: “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose [you] … [God] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus.”  Paul continues in today’s lesson reminding us what this means: we are not our own.  The freedom we have in Christ Jesus is the freedom not to do whatever we want, but to be deeply and powerfully connected in the body of Christ. 

Look at the introductory paragraph of the baptismal liturgy we use today, from the new worship resource being developed by the ELCA: 

“God gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism.  The power of sin is put to death in this holy flood, and we are raised with Jesus Christ to new life.  We are united with all the baptized in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and sent out in mission for the life of the world.” 

Through the waters of baptism we are saved out of the death-dealing power of sin and saved INTO the life of Christian commitment and community.  In that place with all its joys and sorrow, celebrations and challenge, beauty and brokenness, we are united for a future and find the power to live out the summons God has directed to us.  This enterprise we’re washed into is not about “me and Jesus,” it is not about some personal salvation   It is about mutuality – a pretty scary prospect for those of us glued to our personal data assistants and personal computers, personal music devises and personal cell phones.  We are called together to go together into God’s future…now.

I used the new marriage liturgy as the basis for yesterday’s service when Rick and Sara Winters renewed their vows.  The prayers lift up not only a blessing on the couple but also a reminder of the role all of us who live in covenant with God have in this world:

O God source of all life, we pray this day for the whole world, for the Christian community and the baptized everywhere, that we may together be the risen body of Christ in the world.  We pray for our nation and for all in authority around the world that your peace and justice may prevail. 

We pray for those whom we love easily, and for those with whom we struggle, for those different from us, and those familiar to us, that in every situation we might be instruments of your peace.

When we welcome Stella Olivia into God’s family this morning, we welcome her into the blessing and burden of Christian community.  As she grows up what story will she hear?  What examples will she and others of her generation find to help them hear and follow the summons?  Who will be their partners?  That is the heart of our calling, our vocation – whatever our work – to walk with one another, to be human together, to be vulnerable enough to doubt and trust that God is with us in the midst it all.

That is the hope to which we cling, the hope of our calling: it is hope is as close as the person sitting near you, as close as the prayers in our heart, as close as the breath on our lips.  In the waters of baptism God has spoken to you and me, calling us into a life-changing relationship with one another and with our world.  Now it is our turn: Speak, my sisters and brothers, speak the hope that is in you, for the world is dying to hear.