- First reading and Psalm
- 1 Samuel 3:1-10
- Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
- Gospel
- Mark 2:23-3:6
Growing up as a pastor’s kid afforded me many wonderful things. I had a huge playroom next to my house in which I could delve deep into boiler room dungeons, climb into belfry castle tops, hear the echo of my voice and piano plunking, and otherwise invent adventures mostly in solitude, yet something made me feel like I was safe and not alone.
I grew up in the church, almost literally. I spent time there when my parents were working there. I spent hours there as an unpaid official of the collate, fold, and staple variety; in the diaconate of taking down tables and stacking chairs; and as a contemplative monastic by simply wandering. I even took a few naps there as a small boy (not during Sunday service of course). I wonder what I would have thought if I had heard God audibly calling my name while I slept in the House of the Lord like Samuel did. I know I felt God’s presence there and a peace that I didn’t feel elsewhere. Sometimes we experience a calling less audibly but no less spiritually. Whether audible or not, you are called by God.
One Sunday morning as my father was preaching his sermon, my friend David and I were playing tic-tac-toe on the back of a bulletin in the balcony, although we knew we should be paying attention. As we were writing our Xs and Os, a booming voice poured out, “Jonathan and David!” and we jumped and sat straight up! Red faced and fearing what was to come, we sat like statues while my father continued with his sermon about King Saul’s son Jonathan and his best friend the soon to be King David. The thing was, we heard him and knew he was calling our names (which I found out later, he most assuredly was) … even though he blended it into the sermon, so the rest of the congregation didn’t know what he was up to.
You know when your parent calls your name, you can hear it across a room or in a crowded grocery store. Being called has a special significance, especially when you are called by someone who knows you fully and loves you deeply.
The Samuel scripture is known as one of the vocational passages, the ones that are used in ordination services or when celebrating the calling of someone who is considering going into the ministry. Most pastors have a story about what happened the moment when they felt a call to the ministry. But sometimes we forget that we are all called, called by God.
What does it mean, to be called? How can we know what we are called to be? It begins with being known by God and finding your true self.
To be called, to be really called, to be called by name, you must be known.
In our Psalm today, we learn that God knows us with astounding clarity. God knows you and has always known you. God knows how fearfully and wonderfully you are made. God knows every step of your path, your lying down and all your ways. God knows your true self and your true calling.
God knows the injuries you have endured and the injuries you have inflicted. God knows the joys you have experienced and the great gladness that you have brought to others. God knows the needs you have had, those that been fulfilled and those that are yet to be. God knows the ways that you have neglected to fill a need and when you have filled a need of another even at great cost to yourself. Even knowing all our flaws, God still calls us, God still is with us. We are fully known and not alone. God knows what you can do and where your talents lie, and from that knowledge you are called.
How can we know what that is? Frederick Buechner says (of course I had to quote Buechner), he says, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” And “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.”
So, God is not calling you to be inauthentic or to grow some new
talent. God is not calling you to do something that someone else thinks you should do or what you feel you ought to do. God calls you to be confident in God’s presence beside you as you discover your true self, your talents and passions, your means of shining light into the world. If your gift is comforting those who weep, that is a calling. If you find joy in cleaning gutters for a shut-in, that is a calling. If you find joy in helping a child with their school work, that is where God is calling you.
Theologian and Civil Rights leader Dr. Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” God knows what makes you come alive. And God is calling you. And God will be with you.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Why is it important to be known by God when discussing this whole calling thing? Because God calls you to what God knows is part of who you are.
Why is it important to know that there is no place that we can go from God’s presence? Because God is there to remind us of our true self, of our purpose, of our worthiness for the calling, and of God’s great love for us.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
Amen
