“Deep Gladness”

I Samuel 3:1-10 and Luke 1:26-38

A Sermon Preached By

The Rev. Karen Hill

May 3, 2009

Confirmation Sunday

Have you ever heard your name called and had a hard time recognizing the voice?  One time I was home visiting my parents in California.  My niece and nephew were very young at the time and so excited to see me, that they wanted to stay overnight with Grandma also.  That night they insisted on sleeping with me, in my bed.  There was an empty bedroom with two beds, but they would not do it.  They wanted to stay right by my side – all night long.  It was very sweet and very flattering, but also very uncomfortable to share a double bed with two squirming children. 

Finally, I made a pallet on the floor, hoping to persuade one of them to sleep there.  I started with three year old Calvin, thinking he might be easier to boss around.  He kept getting up, trying to climb back in bed.  Then I tried six year old Erika, thinking I might be able to reason with her.  Just as I was dropping off to sleep, I heard this quiet, sobbing.  Obviously, reason did not work. 

Finally, in desperation, I lay myself down on the floor.  I may have dozed for a little while, but very soon my back was killing me.  Calvin was sound asleep by this time, so I traded places with him, and finally, we all fell asleep.  At least for a little while….

Very early in the morning, at the edge of my consciousness, I could hear this little voice calling – it sounded like it was coming from the floor, underneath me, under the bed.  As I tried to wake up, I heard it more clearly.  The voice was calling, “Koren, Koren, where are you.”  It seems sometime in the night, Calvin had rolled under the bed.  He couldn’t see anything or anyone and was calling, looking for help. 

So, I guess I understand Samuel’s sleepy-headed confusion when God called him in the night.  God’s voice can be hard to recognize, and sometimes it comes at unexpected times and places. 

In our confirmation class, we talked about call, but it was too brief.  I think this notion of call is so important for all of us, but particularly for young people.  To learn to listen for God’s voice is a life-long skill.  To know early on that you are meant for God is as important a lesson as any that you can learn. 

So, on this Confirmation Sunday, I want to talk about call.  We have now heard two call stories – the story of Samuel and that of Mary.  These are two of many – scripture is full of God’s calling people.  I chose these two, specifically, because God called them very young, and I want our young people to know that God can and will do this…so, listen carefully.

We talk a lot about call in our faith tradition.  Call is extremely important to Presbyterians –ministers do not have jobs in the church, we have calls.  When we invite people to serve as ordained deacons or elders, we ask them to listen and to see if God might be calling them to those positions.  So, what does call mean to us? 

Call is from the word vocation.  When we say call, we mean the work that God has led you to do.[1]  What is your call?  Are you called to ordained ministry?  Are you called to medicine or science or education?  Are you called to art or dance or music?  Are you called to cooking or business, or baseball?  Are you called to parenting or to volunteer service?  Any one of these could be a valid call.   

We assume that God has called each and every one of us.  As Samuel and Mary demonstrate, God’s call is not limited by age, experience, skills or education.  God can and will call anyone.  

A call is more than a job – it’s more than the salary you earn and the things you own – it is a vocation, a place of service and of meaning.  You may earn a living by your call, or you may practice your call completely voluntarily.  Both are equally important.

One of the clearest call stories I know belongs to my sister Renee’.  Renee’ is a hairstylist.  It’s not a job that requires much education.  It takes skill and artistry, and people love a good haircut, but there is not much status attached to it. 

The way my sister practices hair styling, however, gives it great meaning - she has a profound role in the lives of her clients.  When a client is diagnosed with cancer and begins chemotherapy, my sister shaves her head.  She goes to the nursing home to style hair for the elderly woman with Alzheimer’s.  She listens when a new client confesses that he has AIDS and worries that Renee’ won’t want to touch him.  She hears all the stories that clients tell her, day in and day out, as she stands behind them to cut their hair.  In my opinion, this is a call….

There is ministry all around us, everyday and everywhere. 

When we meet Samuel, he is a young man.  A teenager.  He’s been raised in the temple, by the priest, Eli.  The passage says that the word of the Lord was rare in those days, visions were not widespread.  The people were not hearing from God.  No wonder Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice.  He had never heard it before – how could he know it.  The passage says that “the lamp of God had not yet gone out…”  Perhaps God had not quite given up on the people.[2]  Perhaps Samuel was their hope.

Imagine, Samuel, their hope.  Samuel is a teenager – he probably cannot be trusted with the family car, but God trusts him to lead God’s people.  God has chosen Samuel.  Three times God calls Samuel.  Three times Samuel runs to the old priest, thinking that Eli is calling him.   Eli, who is blind – literally and figuratively, is the one who finally perceives that it must be God.

Eli points Samuel to God.  “Go, lie down (Samuel) and if God calls you (again), you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”  This time Samuel recognizes God and responds.  God calls Samuel to be the next priest of Israel and to be a prophet – speaking God’s word to the people.

God knows and loves this teenage boy – God sees Samuel’s gifts and possibilities.  But God does not expect Samuel to do it alone.  Samuel would not have known or recognized God if not for Eli.  Eli had prior knowledge of God – he had known and served God for a long time.[3]  He was the one to point Samuel in the right direction…  Perhaps that was Eli’s call. 

And what about Mary?  Mary’s call is a little clearer than Samuel’s.  Hers comes through a messenger, the angel Gabriel.  The angel appears to Mary and gives her a job.  To bear the son of God.  This young girl.  This virgin.  To bear God’s son.  It’s astounding, and Mary doesn’t understand it any better than we do. 

She questions the angel.  The angel reassures her that, yes, this is a miracle, but with God all things are possible.  Mary agrees.  She agrees to allow God to use her for a miraculous purpose.  Mary is the least obvious candidate in the world to mother the son of God.  She is a very young girl who lives in an obscure village in a tiny, defeated country.  She has no wealth, no education, no social standing.  But God knows her and loves her and sees her possibilities. 

Mary chooses to trust God at great personal risk to herself.[4]  She is a pregnant, unmarried teenager; I’m sure you’ve all known girls just like her.  She gave birth to Jesus while facing poverty and homelessness.  It’s an odd blessing to be favored by God in this way. 

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Mary is called the “Theotokos” - the God bearer.[5]  Because Mary, literally brought God into the world with the birth of Jesus.  She was favored by God and blessed by God.  She was called by God. 

Like Samuel, Mary has her Eli – she has her older cousin Elizabeth, who has also miraculously conceived.  Elizabeth points her to God. 

Samuel and Mary have a great deal in common.  Each of them is very young – they are inexperienced in life and faith, but they are open to God’s call and willing to serve.  They both need mentors to point them in God’s direction.  Each of them has been asked to do something that is very risky.  

That seems to be God’s pattern.  God’s call is not without challenges.  When you agree to follow Jesus, you agree to follow him under the banner of the cross.  That can be a dangerous place. 

There’s a great story about St. Teresa of Avila.  One day Teresa is traveling – it’s the middle ages, so she’s riding in a cart – it’s winter, so she’s wearing her warmest woolen clothes.  While crossing a stream, the cart turns over and Teresa is tossed out into the freezing cold water.  She says to God, angrily, “God, how could you let this happen to me?”  God replies, “But Teresa, this is how I treat all my friends.”  To which Teresa shouts, “And that is why you have so few of them!” 

Today we will confirm 13 young people.  Those young people do not come to us alone.  As they kneel before us for prayer, they will be surrounded by their parents, who have raised them to know and love God, and by an adult sponsor from within our congregation.  They will also be joined by pastors and youth group volunteers and Sunday school teachers, and by each one of you, as you reach out to them.  

Today we confirm again that God calls young and old.  God calls young people to renew and refresh the body of Christ.  God calls older people to help them find their way. 

God’s call does not seem to have either an upper or lower age limit.  So don’t think that God cannot and will not use you.  Remember the words of the prophet Joel – “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions.”[6]

Finally, I want to remind all of us that any intelligence, any talent, any creativity, any knowledge, any experience, any wisdom, which we possess is a gift from God to be used in God’s service.  Frederick Buechner gave us a beautiful definition of call.

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”[7] 

Where is your deep gladness?  How can you use your deep gladness to meet the world’s deep need? 

It is at this intersection where each one of us will find our call. 

May God bless each one of you,

for each one of you is also known by God

and called by God. 

Amen.