There’s
been a bit of controversy in Hastings recently, a little political brouhaha. It had the potential to be a real arm-twister…until the Mayor and Council resolved it in a civil and
agreeable manner. Apparently, in the
issuing and reconciling the standard list of mandatory paid holidays for the
City of Hastings and Hastings Utilities, the day commemorating the life and
struggle of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, - the day coming tomorrow - was not on the
list – or rather, was listed as ‘optional’ in deference to the more popular
holiday among city and utility employees - Veterans Day. Concern for the message that sent, that it
wasn’t a day observed by the Hastings government - has won the argument and
this year, City Hall workers will get MLK Day off – and next year, Hastings
Utilities will too.
This
year we come up on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr.
King. At 39 years old, he was one year
younger than I when he was shot, and has been gone now longer than he’s been
alive. Within hours of his
death, as the nation erupted in flames, lawmakers began to propose a national
holiday in his name. Today, King is enshrined in the pantheon of our greatest
heroes — an icon, a saint, untouchable.
But the truth is, he was very human, and very flawed. He
drank, he smoked, he cussed… he had
affairs, and in fact his marriage to Coretta Scott King was quite strained by
the time he was assassinated. And he had
doubts… doubts about his leadership, doubts about his tactics during
the civil rights movement, and from the very beginning, doubts about whether he
was the right person to be the spokesperson for something that was much bigger
than him.
The
Bible is a great source for flawed leaders.
When you are recording the interaction between God and humankind, there
are many examples of imperfect humans. Take,
for example, this morning’s first reading of the Old Testament story of Eli and
God calling Samuel.
Eli is a
flawed servant of God. Although he was
once gifted with hearing God’s voice, the scripture tells us God has not been
talking to Eli much anymore. Eli’s sons,
who are also priests, have been taking liberties with their stature and power –
consuming the meat sacrifices and enticing young maidens who come to the temple
to make sacrifices in the course of their faith. God is quite displeased with Eli, and in his
first message to Samuel, details just how much punishment will be visited on
the house of Eli.
Eventually,
Samuel will also be a flawed servant of God.
While we hear today that Samuel grew up with the Lord and came to be
trusted in the land as a prophet, he also fails to discipline his sons in the
ways of the priesthood and, because of this failure and the cries of the
people, eventually has to be the first prophet to transfer authority from the
Priests to the first King of Israel – beginning a line of all flawed
individuals themselves.
But
first, Samuel needs Eli’s help to hear God.
Which is, in itself, humorous, because in Hebrew the name Sam-u-el means
“God has Heard.” Three times God stands
at his bedside, whispering “God has heard” to his servant in his sleep. Three times Sam-u-el, God has Heard, runs to
Eli to ask how he can be of service. Eli,
a name that in Hebrew means, “My God.”
So three times, when God speaks to Sam-u-el, Samuel God-Has Heard runs
to Eli “My God” to ask how he can be of service, instead of responding to his
true God, Yahweh. And all of this takes
place in that area that is supposed to be God’s house – with the ark.
And
finally, after three times, the senior Eli finally recognizes what is happening. He remembers his visitation from God. How much time had elapsed since Eli heard God
speak directly? How many years had it
been since God stood at his bed and troubled his sleep? Finally, Eli instructs Samuel how to respond
when he hears God, and Samuel learns that some bad things are on the horizon
for Eli, his mentor, and his family.
This is not the easiest first message, and so Samuel hides until Eli
tracks him down, eager to hear the word of God, no matter how unfriendly.
Both of
today’s scriptures are referred to as “call” scriptures: scriptures that tell
stories of how God, or Jesus, calls people to service. To be called by God is an act of spiritual
intimacy and divine urgency. To be
called by God means that God knows one’s name and, in knowing one’s name,
exercises a powerful influence on the person.
And in both
stories, the recognition of being called is a cooperative affair. God
shows up to call Samuel in person, but still Samuel needs help from Eli to
understand the message. Eli – the one
with the ironic name, the blind man, the disgraced priest who has failed to
discipline his sons – is the man who introduce Samuel to God. Eli may be blind in more ways than one, but
he has seen enough to be of help. He is
a priest for life, and he does God’s work in spite of himself.
And Philip
calls Nathaniel to Come and See Jesus, the Son of Joseph from Nazareth, he whom
Moses spoke about. But Nathaniel is
skeptical, asking, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? He requires a prophecy from Jesus to fulfill
his call.
Here in
the UCC, we believe in the priesthood of all believers, and in that tradition I
believe that we all can feel the call of God on our lives. We might not all be called into ministry, but
we all have ways that we feel called to serve God in the world. It might be through tireless service to the
church in the invisible repairs and building maintenance, or leadership on yet
another committee, or the critical work of teaching and fostering faith in
children, or visits with people who are sick and homebound. It might be as a successful person in
business, or in striving for quality and honor in your work. It might be in tilling and caring for the
earth, animals, or the elderly. It might
be through gifts of artistry or photography or poetry or song. And there are
countless unnamed ways we are each called to be God’s servant.
And if
you are someone growing blind or partially deaf to God’s voice, you are not
unique. If you are a little dense in
recognizing God’s voice, you ain’t the first!
If you are, like Nathaniel, a little skeptic that anything good could
come of Hastings, of small towns, of ordinary lives, of flawed individuals… If you feel, at
times, that you are not worthy to be God’s servant…if you hesitate to think that you personally could be called
by God… well, all you need to know is here in this Psalm 139. God, you who have searched me and known me… you hem me in, before me and behind me, you know me on all
sides, and within… And I
take comfort in knowing that you formed me in the womb, that I am fearfully and
wonderfully made, by you, with all my flaws… that I
have been known, inside and out, and despite those flaws, I am called to be
your servant.
These two
cooperative call stories… Philip
and Jesus in Nathaniel’s call, and Eli’s role in Samuel’s calling, remind us
that we learn how to discern God’s voice and call in relationship to people who
have come before us. Sometimes we require their help to attune our ears and
heart to hear from God. Sometimes hearing the voice of God can be a communal
affair – and more often than not, accomplishing God’s will requires a
cooperative effort.
At the Golden Globes last Sunday night,
Oprah Winfrey gave a speech for accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award that was
an instant sensation across social media.
In that speech, she tells the horrible story of young black woman named
Recy Taylor, a woman who was brutalized at the hands of white men in the Jim
Crow South … and how that 1944 case came across the desk of a
young NAACP investigator who was named Rosa Parks … 11 years
before Ms. Parks decided not to move out of her seat on a bus in Montgomery,
Alabama, sparking the bus boycotts that initiated the civil rights
movement. Oprah’s speech highlighted
something critical to the legacy we recognize in Martin Luther King Day; that
he did nothing alone.
This
day of recognition doesn’t just celebrate the sainthood of one man, but the
fabric of thousands of people nationwide who were engaged in the effort that
became known as the Civil Rights Movement. Not just men, but women too, like
Rosa Parks, the NAACP elder who helped mastermind the bus boycott strategy long
before she refused to give up her seat; and Ella J Baker, who had a major role
in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (or SNCC), and the NAACP where a young Rosa Parks
attended one of her workshops.
 |
| Ella J. Baker |
It was not just black people, but
whites too, like Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers and Viola Liuzzo who
was killed by the Klan; not just Christians, but Jews like Rabbi AbrahamHeschel who stood together with Baptists, Catholics, Unitarians, Mennonites
and, yes, Congregationalists for this cause.
All across this country, thousands were working cooperatively – and had
been working; brainstorming, planning, strategizing, collaborating, for decades
before a 26 year old first-call preacher was thrust into the limelight with a
lyrical voice and eloquent illustration of the vision for a world where color
of one’s skin did not determine the content of one’s character.
And in
fact, there were many instances in King’s career in that limelight that he
might have lost his will or his way, if it wasn’t for the fabric of likeminded
people joined to him in this fight. Back
in Selma, before crossing the bridge, when King is in jail, heavy with grief
for Jimmie Lee Jackson, the young protestor shot and killed by police, King
wonders aloud if they shouldn’t reverse course.
Weighed down by complaints that he is ego-driven, and crushed with the expectation
of more physical violence for all the marchers, he worried that he was leading
people directly into harms way. In that
moment, he could not see beyond that night.
But thankfully, there were people in close proximity who could still
hear God’s voice, available to help guide him like Eli. With a near-easy smile,
his cell-mate and colleague Ralph Abernathy responded with something that seemed
to melt Martin’s worries away; Matthew 6:26;
“Look at the birds
of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
With this moral
support, King found the strength to lead the marchers to face the police and
militia that stand on the other side of the bridge one more time.
Today’s
lesson calls on us to consider what it means to be summoned by God in our
lives; what does it mean to listen to know the prompting of divine voice, and
to listen intently for directions for our work in the world? Do we
need help listening for God’s still small voice? To whom and when do we turn for help? Do we feel our ears tingling, waking us up
from slumber? What would God say if we
stopped and said, “Speak, God, for your servant is listening?” What must we do to gain strength in our call… and how can we, in this congregation, nurture each others’
ability to listen and trust God? What
can we do in a community of faith to continue to serve in God’s presence as a
fabric of likeminded hearts?
God
calls all kinds of people. Not perfect people, but perfectly flawed people, all
of us fearfully and wonderfully made, called together to respond to God. Let us take a minute to stop and say, “Speak,
God, for your servant is listening.”
Amen.
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