Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening

A sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church

17 October 2021

 

1 Samuel 3.1-21

John 10.24-31

 

I don’t know how much you know about the story of ancient Israel

            in the years leading up to the time of Samuel,

but it doesn’t make for happy reading. [1]

 

To be honest, things could hardly be worse.

            Judges, the previous book,

            had ended with the community in chaos.

 

A man called Micah (not the good one)

            had established an alternative worship system

            based around a carved metal statue,

and the narrator comments in despair that,

            ‘Everyone did what was right in their own eyes’(Judges 17.6).

 

Meanwhile, the Danites had taken over a peaceful town,

            stolen Micah’s gods and priest,

            and adopted his religion for themselves (Judges 18).

 

Then there is the horrific story of the all-night gang rape

            and abuse of one woman by some Benjaminite men,

which led to a civil war

            that nearly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 19-20),

with the community only preserving its tribe

            by abducting and raping two communities of women,

            six hundred in all (Judges 21).

 

It really is hard to see how things could get any worse.

            The nation was falling apart.

            The system of judgeships had failed miserably.

 

With all of the chaos,

            you might well wonder how could the community of Israel possibly continue?

Would it die before it began?

            Would the promise God made to Abraham go unfulfilled?

            Who would God send to begin to deal with this mess?

 

This is another one of those endangered ancestor sagas

            I was talking about a few weeks ago -

where the story reaches a point of crisis

            when it looks like the whole thing is going to fail;

and there the book of Judges leaves the story…

 

But then along comes Samuel,

            Israel’s last judge and first prophet since Moses, as God’s answer.

 

He was born at a pivotal point in Israel’s history,

            and represents Israel’s transition

from a loose system of judges to a unified monarchy.

 

The writer introduces the reader to Samuel

            by first introducing his mother, Hannah.

 

Hannah’s story is the perfect segue for this transition

            because her story is diametrically opposed to the stories

            of abuse and sexual objectification of women in the book of Judges. 

 

Since the Bible seldom tells women’s stories,

            it is noteworthy that 1 Samuel opens with Hannah’s story.

 

With two chapters devoted to her,

            even before the narrator explains it, the reader instinctively knows

            that she and her son are significant characters in Israel’s story. 

 

In gratitude to God,

            Hannah leaves her son Samuel with Eli the priest,

            who will help Samuel discern God’s call for his life.

 

And so we come to our passage for today,

            of the call of Samuel,

            which came as a voice in the middle of the night.

 

Three times Samuel mistook God’s voice for Eli’s

            before being advised by Eli

            that he might actually be hearing the voice of God.

 

Now, I don’t know about you,

            but this kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me very often.

 

I’ve met plenty of Christians over the years

            who tell me they hear God speaking to them regularly,

and the cynical part of me thinks that most of the time

            what they’re hearing is the result of their own fertile imaginations

            combined with wishful thinking.

 

But do I think God speaks?

            Honestly, I have to say yes.

 

I don’t think it happens very often,

            and I certainly don’t think it is a get-out clause

                        for us taking responsibilities for our own decisions;

but yes, I do think God sometimes speaks into our lives.

 

The clearest example of this I can give you from my own experience

            was about eleven years ago, when I was interviewed for a job.

 

As the interview day progressed,

            I was feeling increasingly uneasy,

and at lunchtime I took a few moments to sit quietly on my own.

 

And I heard myself say to myself, quite clearly,

            that this job will be a gag and a straightjacket.

 

It was to have been a role working across churches,

            and I knew that if I was offered it and took it,

I would be unable to speak my convictions

            and take action on issues that matter to me.

 

So I withdrew from the process.

 

I remain convinced that that was God’s Spirit,

            nudging me into a course of action.

 

And of course what happened was that within a few months

            I was in conversation with Bloomsbury,

and the call to come and minister here was so strong, and so compelling,

            and such a contrast to the earlier experience.

 

But what if I hadn’t listened?

            Well, I’m sure God would have worked with that decision too.

 

I certainly don’t subscribe to the idea

            that there is only one divine plan for our lives

            and that our job is to find it or else!

God is far more creative than that,

            and far less controlling.

 

Something I notice from the story of the call of Samuel

            is that it emphasises the role that others play

            in the discernment of God’s call on a person’s life.

Without Eli’s help,

            Samuel would not have responded as he did.

 

And I wonder who it is

            that has helped you discern God’s call on your life?

 

I’m not just thinking here about career choices,

            although for some of us it does include that,

but God’s call on you to be most fully

            the person you have been created to be.

 

Jesus speaks of people experiencing life in all its fullness,

            and I think that this is not so much about what we do,

            as it is about who we are.

 

We are called to be ourselves, most fully and most truly,

            and to repent of and resist those things

            that distort the work of God in us.

 

But sometimes we need others to help here,

            to help us see ourselves clearly,

                        to hear the call of God on our lives,

            amidst all the other demands and distractions that assail us.

 

And in a parallel question, I wonder what is your role,

            in helping others discern God’s call on their lives?

 

How can you, and I, be Eli for others,

            prompting them to listen attentively

            and respond to the whisper of the Spirit in their life.

 

Can we develop the ears to hear and the eyes to see

            where God is active and moving in the world?

 

Can we learn to discern the mission of God,

            who is already at work in the world by the Spirit?

 

And can we find the courage to respond

            to the invitation to join in God’s mission,

whispering in the night,

            ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’?

 

That song we sang together just a few minutes ago

            is one that is often used at induction services,

            and it’s not hard to see why.

 

            Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

            I have heard You calling in the night.

            I will go, Lord, If You lead me;

            I will hold Your people in my heart.

 

But in the story of Samuel’s call,

            the intensity of the night-time response to God’s voice

            comes swiftly back down to earth.

 

The thing is, the call of God

            is not always to a life of ease beside still waters.

Sometimes it is a steep and rugged pathway.

 

And Samuel’s first commission

            is to deliver a message of judgment to his mentor.

 

The innocent optimism and trust of ‘Here I am, Lord’

            runs straight up against the backdrop of corruption,

            lawlessness, and godlessness in the land.

 

As we’ve already heard, Israel was in turmoil,

            and the people were simply doing

            whatever was right in their own eyes.

 

This included Eli’s sons,

            who had a role within the nation as leaders and priests.

Just listen to what they had been getting up to:

 

1 Samuel 2.12-14, 22-24

 

Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord ¹³ or for the duties of the priests to the people.

 

When anyone offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, ¹⁴ and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself.

 

This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

 

Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 

 

He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people”...

 

But they would not listen to the voice of their father.

 

Eli’s sons were guilty of the age-old sins

            of money, sex, and power.

 

They were betraying the trust placed in them as leaders,

            and abusing their position for their own pleasure and gain.

 

It was, it seems, ever thus.

 

And what Samuel discovers

            as an innocent young boy serving in the house of God,

is that God’s tolerance for corrupt leadership is not unending.

 

God will not sit by forever

            whilst the innocent are abused and extorted.

But God’s action in judgment on such evil

            takes place through the lives

            of those who hear the call of God and respond with faithfulness.

 

Sometimes the role of the faithful

            is to stand up and name the evil in the land,

            and to take a stand against it.

 

This is not the same thing as Christian moralising,

            nor is it a holier-than-thou attitude towards others.

But when people are abusing others,

            God’s people have a role in highlighting the problem

            and taking action to change it.

 

Which is why the scandals that beset church leadership are so damaging.

 

If the people of God fail to safeguard the vulnerable in their own communities,

            and if the leaders of churches abuse their positions of power and trust,

            the mission of God to bring healing to the world is profoundly damaged.

 

This is why Samuel is called to take a stand

            and proclaim God’s judgment against the sons of Eli.

 

Having a famous and godly father is, in the end, no get-out clause,

            and they must answer for their abuse of power.

 

The recent report on church sexual abuse of minors in France makes grim reading,

            with over 200,000 children, mostly boys, having been abused since 1950.

It speaks of a church culture

            that tolerated and facilitated such actions.

 

But in this country too we have our ecclesial sins,

            from cases of clergy child abuse in all denominations,

to the systemic abuse of the LGBTQ community

            through widespread prejudice and enforced conversion therapy.

 

And it is true today, as it was in ancient Israel,

            that God’s judgment is against those

            who misuse their positions of trust and power,

and that God calls people to speak up and challenge such abuse.

 

But, the interesting lesson from the story of Samuel

            is that God doesn’t write off the idea of leadership.

 

Sometimes I hear people say that all politicians are as bad as each other,

            or that all clergy are corrupt and in it for their own gain.

And of course it isn’t true.

            Not all leaders are the same,

            but all are damaged by those who abuse their position.

 

So Samuel doesn’t just proclaim judgment

            on the abuse that marks the end of the time of the Judges,

he also anoints both Saul and David as Kings of Israel.

 

Sometimes reform is needed,

            and whether it’s Martin Luther

                        challenging the selling of indulgences,

            or Dr Martin Luther King

                        challenging institutional racism,

sometimes those who use their leadership positions to perpetuate evil,

            and the systems that facilitate them,

need to be broken down under the axe of God’s prophetic judgement.

 

But God continues to call people to leadership and to service.

            God continues to call people to life in all its fullness,

                        and to confront all that demeans and distorts

                        the image of God in each precious created being.

 

Jesus says,

 

            My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

            I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

            No one will snatch them out of my hand.

 

So, today, can you hear the call on your life?

 

The call to join with God in God’s mission to the world, to draw all people and all things into the eternal embrace of divine love?

 

The call to challenge evil, to speak up against oppression, to work for justice, both within and beyond the walls of the church?

 

The call to follow Jesus, wherever that path leads.

 

The call to be, most fully and truly, the person you were made to be.

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[1] The opening part of this sermon draws on the commentary here: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/god-calls-samuel/commentary-on-1-samuel-31-21-3