God calling

Epiphany 2 year B Sermon 09 

Some people turn away from the possibility of hearing from God...by simply choosing to believe there is no God. And some make this choice gladly without a fuss... but most turn away reluctantly with sadness or even anger.

 And then there are those who hang on to the rituals of faith and the teachings of Jesus ...who they try to live good lives...and say their prayers... but never bother...

to listen for God’s voice and guidance.

And some people...who have enjoyed a deep and intimate relationship with God in the past...long day and night... for a word or vision from God... and all they hear is silence.

Perhaps atheists and agnostics don’t mind this at all...but it’s a scary time for people who believe… when the communication port between themselves and God... seems to be closed. 

It can happen... to anyone for a time...and the Bible suggests...it can even happen to whole nations.

‘In those days the word of the LORD was rare; and there weren’t many visions.’

Three thousand years ago right across the land of Israel... God’s voice... was rarely heard... and hardly anyone had visions. 

Or so says the ancient book on the life of Samuel...a prophet and judge... before the time of kings...[pause]

Our storyteller...suggests when Samuel’s just a boy...communication between humanity and God just stop... why?

because the religious authorities are corrupt and greedy... focussed solely on their own status and power...

And though the Lamp of God… which illuminates the Tabernacle where the priest serve…though the Lamp is still shining… we're warned by our storyteller…that its light is about to be snuffed out…leaving the people in darkness.

Neither the boy Samuel nor the priests have any idea that Israel’s Philistine enemies from Gaza in the west…will soon tear down their sacred Tabernacle…and steal away the Lamp of God… and the Ark of the Covenant.

But for now the Lamp of God still shines. 

And young Samuel is asleep on the floor of the tent…in the glow of the lamp light.  [pause]

Samuel is young… he does what he’s told…he knows only human authority…

‘Now Samuel didn’t yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD hadn’t yet been revealed to him.’

Our story tells us the high priest Eli... and his sons...had turned the tent of God... into a disgrace. 

Burnt offerings to God were desecrated and abused by the young priests... 

‘they cared nothing for Yahweh'

Their sin was very great in Yahweh's eyes, because they treated offerings made to God by the people...

with contempt. There was corruption and pollution...in the Tabernacle of Moses. [pause]

Remember…the Tabernacle of Moses…where Samuel sleeps … is a huge windowless tent… and without the Lamp of God you literally… couldn’t see anything at all

 

…and the light is about to go out.

 

The priests are blind and deaf to God’s voice.  And young

Samuel knows only human authority… and those powers are corrupt and care nothing for God. But it seems…
God is not deterred. [pause]

Everyone is asleep...and at first...Samuel sleeping too...in the glow of the Lamp of God...at first Samuel doesn’t recognise God’s voice... even though he hears it clearly.

And so naturally Samuel assumes... the only one who could be calling him...
is the shady old priest in the next room.

It wasn’t me...says the priest...three times...go back to sleep... and if it happens again don’t bother me...it might be God calling you... so just say speak LORD, your servant is listening.'

Well that was good advice… so on the fourth call… Samuel answers just as he’s been instructed…

and God tells him some shocking news… very unfavorable for Eli and his family…

news which confirms predictions that Eli and his sons will be banished from the priesthood… because of their contempt for their responsibilities. [pause]

So the very first time Samuel ever hears a word from God it’s bad news for those in power. 

And naturally he’s afraid to tell them.

A prophetic word from God... can put the receiver in 

an awkward position... sometimes the telling is going to make other people uncomfortable...maybe even anger them...and endanger the teller...

so sometimes it’s easier to keep quiet...or dismiss God’s word as our imagination...

But three thousand years ago…a twelve year old boy… with no religious training…no experience of God…no exposure to scripture…this boy is called by God…to speak the truth to those in power…to warn them of the consequences of their actions.

And as he grew in wisdom and stature…Samuel became a strong reformer of Israel. Over the time of his tenure as prophet and judge… the people rid themselves of their Baals and Ashtaroths, turn away from their idols …

and turn back to serving God….

And over the centuries…tents and temples would fall…there would be good leaders and bad…time and time again Israel’s enemies would attack them…and Israel would attack their enemies…

and God would continue to call unlikely prophets…

to warn the people…to call them… to turn back to God’s way of Shalom…God’s way of peace with justice and mercy.

And mostly those prophets were ignored…[pause]

and then a thousand years after Samuel lived…for three years at least…the voice of God became much easier to hear… in the person of Jesus…and his followers would proclaim… God’s Word had even become flesh and dwelt among us…

During the three short years of Jesus formal ministry,it seems he never lost the ability to discern his father’s voice above the clamour around him…voices speaking temptation…misguided expectations… opposition… rejection… and condemnation.

and yes there were times when Jesus grew angry and frustrated…because no one understood what he was trying to communicate…but  he loved even those who rejected him refusing to retaliate. Revenge and violence were never part of his vocabulary.

And today here… at the ends of the earth…our ears are deafened by a clamour of voices from every quarter…telling us what to believe is the truth…calling us to support this cause or reject another…we’re surrounded by commentators…spokespeople…and even religious authorities …we’re bombarded with screeching and competing voices.

And though we’d like to discern the voice of God in all the noise… it’s almost impossible.

But did you notice… when Samuel hears the voice of God… everything and everyone else is quiet…he’s in a place of silence.

And maybe there’s a clue in that for you and I

So when you wonder… whether you’re hearing the voice of God… in all the clatter…wondering whether you can discern a word from God in all the noise…

it pays to take time out as Jesus did… for utter silence… to tear yourself away from the television and the radio and the internet… to listen for God…in a quiet place…
to take some time to savour Gods life giving word…
in Jesus teaching…

And if the voices you’ve been hearing… don’t square with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount or his parables of the prodigal son…or Good Samaritan….If the voices you hear advocate violence and exclusion and indifference and injustice… why then you can be sure they’re not from God…even if they claim to be…and remember Paul’s advise to the first Christians at Thessalonica.

"Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; and hold fast to that which is good"

Today sadly… just as in Samuel’s time…I think it’s safe to say the word of the Lord is rarely heard by those in power in our world…and just as in Samuel’s time the people of Israel and Gaza are still enemies.

Maybe like Samuel we’re called to speak the unpalatable truth…to those in authority…to corrupt governments and religious powers…but like the boy asleep on the Tabernacle floor…sometimes it takes awhile for God to get through to us…we don’t always recognise the voice of God…sometimes God has to call our names again and again …before we answer ‘Here I am. Lord your servant is listening’.

My prayer is that you will listen and you will answer. Here I am Lord.

Let there be light

Epiphany 1 Year B Sermon 

 ‘In the beginning… God’…in the beginning…

there wasn’t even space……………..Just God.  [pause]

Let that sink in for a moment…close your eyes if you need to and get your head around it…expand your perception of reality …beyond creation…outside creation… [pause]

‘In the beginning…. God’

How long?…irrelevant…Since time didn’t exist yet. 

Where?…irrelevant…since space didn’t exist yet…

Just God………. Existing…being…and then?

Then what? Creating.

‘In the beginning God… created’ 

God created something…what? 

In the beginning God created the heavens

God creates space…when all there was… was God …
God… creates space for something … makes room…
for something other than God…

 

Space isn’t God…even space is creation…
space in which stars could exist… and planets and galaxies and nebula…

but not yet…because…that comes later…more is needed…more is needed…

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

 But first where the earth will be…there’s a black hole… a vacuum in space.

Now the earth was formless and empty. Where the earth would be…there’s a black watery depth…and nothing else. ‘and darkness was over the… surface of the deep’

…dark upon dark…and then God moves…
or at least a part of God moves… into the space God’s created…

a part of God moves… into creation ‘and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’

The Spirit of God entered into creation and drifted over the black watery depths… where the earth would be.

And suddenly God spoke …and the only thing listening… 

was the darkness.

 

 ‘And God said…

"Let there be light,"…. and there was… light’

Long before the stars and the sun and the moon…before the earth… before life…there is light…and light is energy…once created never destroyed…science has taught us…

In the beginning just God… creating space… moving into this space…and calling forth light in all that darkness …And

 ‘God saw… that the light was good’

Good.

Then God separates the light from the darkness…

This energy…this light… is separated out… from the formless black watery void…and each is named by God …day and night

and time is created…[pause]

 

Space… energy… time

That's’ enough work for one day…don’t you think.

Many biblical scholars… believe these verses were written during Israel's exile in Babylon…a time of darkness…

a time of hopelessness and despair…

their country trashed by a powerful agressor that destroys Solomon’s Temple…kills thousands…and carries off

all their leaders…into exile.

The powerful poetry of Genesis one…is sorely needed …to contrast the horrors of their captors creation story.  

The Babylonian Enuma elish… was an official… ritual text …recited every April… on the fourth day…
of the Festival of the New Year. 

 

The Babylonian poem celebrates the god Marduk…
raised to the status of chief god…when Babylon conquers Mesopotamia. And the official god must be exalted…by everyone even foreigners.

 

Marduk's name means "'son-child'… or 'son-of-the-sun'"… or perhaps "bull calf of the sun." Marduk is more powerful than his father…and his physical appearance is impressive: he’s very large, with four huge eyes and four big ears…
the better to see and hear everything.

 

Fire blazes from his mouth when he speaks. His proud and doting grandfather Anu creates the four winds for Marduk to play with, and soon a group of unnamed gods goes to "their mother" Tiamat to complain about the resulting noise and commotion.

 

In the minds of the Babylonians…there are a lot of competing gods …a lot of dis- order in the god dimension.

 

In the Babylonian story… Marduk makes bits of creation out of the bodily parts of enemy gods…even human beings created specifically to serve the gods.  [its complicated and you can read all about it on the net.] But the point I want to make here…is that in the Babylonian story there’s huge disorder.

 

So the exiles in Babylon are grieving for what they’ve lost …their world had become chaotic…and their culture is under threat…from a conquerer more powerful than they.

What the Hebrew people need most at this time of disorder is reassurance comfort and consolation…
they need reminding… that their God brings order out of chaos…and creates light… out of darkness… [pause]

 

Today as we watch with horror the unfolding of yet more darkness and chaos in the world…its every bit as good… to hear these words as it was for the exiles in Babylon.

And providentially they are in fact the reading set down for today.

 

When we hear the words "Formless void" we can almost see our own world in peril.[i] And we can declare in full throated joy…against all those who claim that everything is chaos and hopelessness.

 

"In the beginning, when there was nothing but formless void, then God said,

‘Let there be light!' And there was."’

God’s first word isn’t vengeance…or fear…or retribution but…‘Let there be light!'

In a time of darkness we can’t say it for ourselves. These words have to be overheard by us… as we listen to God's conversation with the formless void.

No human utterance…not mine or some politician’s or some commentator…can help us when the mountains tremble and the earth shakes…no word can help…except one spoken from the outside of the chaos we create.

And just when the night is at its darkest…
we hear that word…and it is a sovereign command…
a promise, a creative act…"Light!"

Just like the quivering exiles in Babylon…we fear the void…we fear the emptiness…

and when fear gives way to despair…we forget all about the creating ordering God of ours who brings light out of darkness…we forget
that the perfect love of our God.. can cast out our fear…

We forget that our God…‘The creative lover… 

[who] had the first word… shall also have the last. We forget that all evidence to the contrary, God's love is stronger…’ than what we fear.[ii]

One of the world’s greatest preachers… William Willemon… reminds us that ‘In life and death, in life beyond death, there is only one word. At the end, it's the same word as at the beginning, God’s Word: ‘A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’

Last Sunday we immersed ourselves in the event of the Word made flesh in the coming of the Christ. We remembered that not only do we have a creating and loving God… who brings light out of darkness…but we have the fullness of our God in time and space in the person of Jesus at another time of great darkness when their the Temple is destroyed again but this time by the Romans...

Matthew’s gospel calls the people to faith in Jesus…
with these words:

‘the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death… light has dawned.’

My prayer is that when you are tempted to lose heart…when you despair at your own darkness or the darkness caused by others you will remember God’s sovereign command…let there be light…and remember that this is the day that the Lord has made and rejoice. 

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[i] Let There Be Light. by William H. Willimon. Sojourners Magazine, November-December 2001 

[ii] Ibid.