Church of the Holy City

Here I Am, Lord

Here I Am, Lord
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
January 18, 2015

1 Samuel 3:1-10 John 1:43-51 Psalm 139:1-12

I see two topics in today’s readings. One is hearing God and the other is following God. We need to hear God first, before we can know how to follow God. The process is cyclical. When we follow God, we will hear God more and more and finally we will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on God.
Our reading from 1 Samuel concerns the prophet Samuel. Samuel is just a boy and he is serving God under the direction of the aged prophet Eli. In the culture of ancient Israel then, the office of prophet was a family institution. The role of prophet was passed down from father to sons and kept within one family. But the case of Eli was different. Eli’s sons were not following God. In fact, Eli’s sons were committing blaspheme. They were stealing food that the Israelites were bringing for sacrifice to God. This was not mere greed. This was interfering with holy offerings meant for God. In doing this they were showing contempt for God.
After showing the blaspheme of Eli’s sons, the story shifts to Samuel. There are strong foreshadowings of Jesus’ birth in the birth of Samuel. His mother, Hannah is without child and has lost favor with her husband. When her husband, Elkanah, went to the mountain of Shiloh to offer his annual sacrifice, Hannah went with him and prayed for a son. Eli tells her that God will give her a son. So there is an element of miracle in the birth of Samuel. Samuel’s birth is the result of divine intervention. As Samuel was the firstborn, Hannah gives him to God as a servant at the shrine on Shiloh. So we have a miraculous birth and a holy child in Samuel. And when Mary sings a song of praise to God for her Son Jesus, her song, the Magnificat, is modelled after the song of Hannah over the birth of Samuel. Next to Moses, Samuel was the most prominent prophet in the Bible. There are two books in the Bible named after him. This holy man Samuel would take over the position of prophet after Eli. Samuel would anoint King Saul and King David. In fact, all the history of King Saul and almost all of King David are not in the book of Kings, but in the book of Samuel.
Samuel, like Moses, was called by God to his position of prophet. In the night, God calls to Samuel, “Samuel, Samuel.” The Bible tells us that Samuel did not know God and neither had God’s Word been revealed to him. In fact, we are told that God’s word and prophetic visions were rare in those days, “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; there were no frequent visions” (1 Samuel 3:1). When Samuel hears God calling, he thinks that it is Eli calling him. Eli tells Samuel that it is God. When God calls again, Samuel says, “Speak, for thy servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).
Samuel is called to be a prophet. Prophets were those special people who understood God’s laws and interpreted them for the people. So the first thing that prophets did was to hear and learn God’s laws. The second thing was to interpret God’s laws in the light of the times and circumstances in which the Israelites were living.
We are all called by God. Are we called to be prophets? Moses, the greatest prophet of all, said, “Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29). In the sense that we have a religious responsibility to learn God’s laws, I think we are all prophets. Like Samuel, we have a role to listen for God’s voice.
There are two ways for us to listen for God’s voice. One way is simply by being who we are. The other way is to seek out God’s voice, God’s ways, to learn them and to follow them.
We are all unique individuals. We are all different. There are no two humans who are alike. We are unique because each one of us has a special understanding of truth that is hers or his alone. God is infinite, so no one finite person can completely understand God. In fact, no one person can come close. So there are billions and billions of people created who are different from one another. And each human has one special aspect of God to bring to the collective wisdom of the human race. By listen to the various voices of humanity, we have a better and better idea of who and what God is.
This is like Swedenborg’s doctrine of use. Each one of us has a certain way of living that is unique to us. We have gifts that no other person has. We have good works to do that only we can do. These works are our calling. God calls us to these works by making us who we are. Some of us find our calling in the work we do to make money. There is a doctrine that John Calvin writes about called the doctrine of vocation. The vocation we enter is just as holy a calling as any other vocation–be it priest, monk, preacher, or deacon. A snow plow is as much a calling by God as is a missionary. The vocation that we practice is a way of serving humanity; it is a way of loving our neighbor. Some of us are lucky enough to find a job in this world that fits with their vocational calling by God. For instance, Carol’s work with special needs individuals is a job she is wonderfully suited to. She is excellent at it and she loves it. I am not suited for that kind of work. As you know, I am here as a minister. That is work I am suited for and I love it. This is what Swedenborg’s doctrine of use is about.
And our use does not have to be a vocation. I think that the way we affect other people, as our own unique individuals, is also our use. All the people I know affect me differently. They all show affection differently. They all challenge me differently. They all speak to different aspects of my personality. The whole world is like that. We affect others in ways that are unique to us. So use is really us simply being who we are.
Our other Bible reading this morning was from John. It is about the calling of Philip and Nathanael. Jesus asks them to follow Him. Following Jesus is a kind of quest. We need to learn who Jesus is. We need to learn that path that Jesus walks. We need to listen for God’s voice. This is the role religion plays in leading us to Jesus.
I gave a talk at a university a while back. I asked the students and teachers if there was a need for spirituality in the world and in the lives of individuals. Almost the universal response is that a person knows intuitively right from wrong, good from evil. Some of them pointed to children. They asserted that children have an innate sense of right and wrong. There may be something to this. Children seem to have an innate sense of what is fair. How often do we hear children complain, “That’s not fair!”
But I have two things to say about that. One is that very young children do not seem to have that sense of fairness, or a sense of right from wrong. What does a young child do when he or she sees a toy that they want and another child is playing with it? Won’t that child take it from the other one? Is that fair? So I don’t think I can agree that the sense of right and wrong is inborn in children. Second, is fairness the same thing as good and evil? I think that one of the things that makes for maturity is the ability to live with things that are not fair. Isn’t it true that there are many things in life that are not fair? And isn’t it equally true that living with unfairness and trying still to do what is good is a mark of maturity, indeed of spirituality?
So we do not have an innate sense of right and wrong, of good and evil. These things we need to learn. And to learn these things we need to read spiritual literature, we need to seek out spiritual teachers, we need to reflect on our experiences in life. And, I suggest, we need to listen to our inner voice, called conscience.
Conscience is not innate. It grows and grows more clear the more we walk in the ways of God. Our conscience grows the more we learn about God’s ways. And the more pure in heart we become, the more clearly we hear God calling to us.
And Jesus’ prophesy is true for us, too. The closer and closer we come to God, the more we are able to see heaven open and have visions of angels ascending and descending from God. Some people are actual visionaries who can see spiritual realities. I cannot. But I do have an inner sense of angelic presences in my heart and in my best thinking. These presences descend from God into my heart and ascend back up to God in good feelings and thoughts in my heart and mind.
The more I listen for God’s voice, and the more I prepare myself to hear it through spiritual discipline, the more clearly and accurately I hear God calling to me. And like the prophet Samuel, when I hear God calling to me, my response is, “Here I am!”

PRAYER

Lord, we know that your still, small voice calls to us. You call to us and ask us to follow you. You speak to us in our conscience and guide us. You come to us in the Bible and in other teachings. Help us to hear your still, small voice calling to us amid the noise of this world. This material world, with its material demands, can threaten to drown out you voice. But your voice teaches us the things that last beyond this material world. Your voice leads us into heavenly delights. Give us to hear more and more clearly your voice, and bring us into eternal life.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. Comfort their family and friends. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.