Year B
1 Samuel 3:1-20
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today’s passage from 1 Samuel\u2026 the boy Samuel mistakes God’s voice\u2026 for Eli’s voice\u2026 mistakes the One divine voice\u2026 for one human voice\u2026 God calls Samuel three times\u2026 and finally\u2026 Eli instructs him about how to respond to God’s voice\u2026 Speak Lord\u2026 for your servant is listening<\/em>\u2026 in today’s Psalm\u2026 we are called to discern God’s presence\u2026 and God’s knowledge about us\u2026 and God’s thoughts\u2026 in today’s Epistle\u2026 we are called to right awareness\u2026 and right behavior\u2026 and to union with God\u2026 and in today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus begins to call his disciples\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today’s passage from 1 Samuel\u2026 God reveals to Samuel\u2026 who reveals to Eli\u2026 that God is about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle\u2026 and it will not be Good News for Eli\u2026 his sons have disgraced the priestly line\u2026 The Word of the Lord was rare in those days\u2026 visions were not widespread<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawrence Wood has written\u2026 after this there are no pillars of fire\u2026 no columns of smoke\u2026 no parting of seas or rivers\u2026 most of what follows is a worldly history of successes\u2026 defeats\u2026 and palace intrigue\u2026 in fact\u2026 Samuel’s role in anointing human kings will reduce human dependence on God\u2026 and a shiver may come upon us at realizing that we are on our own<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And as the story unfolds\u2026 even Samuel’s sons didn’t follow in his ways\u2026 and the people clamored for Samuel to give them a king\u2026 God told Samuel to accept their request\u2026 but added\u2026 you shall solemnly warn them\u2026 and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them<\/em>\u2026 you can read the all of the warnings in 1Samuel 8:11-18\u2026 but they end with\u2026 And in that day you will cry out because of your king… whom you have chosen for yourselves\u2026 but the LORD will not answer you<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today’s passage from 1 Corinthians\u2026 Paul exhorts us to have a healthy relationship with our body\u2026 and with other bodies\u2026 and to seek God through them\u2026 and in today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus transcends the limits of the body\u2026 of the five senses\u2026 when he says he saw Nathanael sitting under the fig tree before Philip came to get him\u2026 however this statement is interpreted\u2026 and scholars have proposed several options\u2026 it reinforces Jesus’ mysterious\u2026 and likely boundless way of perception\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, January 6\u2026 Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben\u2026 the chaplain to the U.S. House of Representatives\u2026 made her way through the echoing halls of the U.S. Capitol\u2026 she perceived a charge of anticipation in the air\u2026 it was an auspicious day\u2026 lawmakers were meeting in joint session to formally approve President-elect Joe Biden\u2019s victory\u2026 and because of the outgoing president\u2019s refusal to concede\u2026 an atypically contentious one\u2026 but Kibben had her own reason for feeling an unaccustomed excitement\u2026 it was her third day on the job\u2026 and she was the first female chaplain ever\u2026 to serve the House\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n About an hour after being seated\u2026 she observed a “flurry of activity” around House leadership as House members debated the election results\u2026 but within seconds\u2026 Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others on the dais<\/em> were whisked away\u2026 clearly\u2026 something was wrong… Kibben prayed\u2026 God is our refuge and strength\u2026 a very present help in trouble\u2026 therefore we will not fear\u2026 though the earth should change\u2026 though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the night waned on\u2026 and after those who sheltered in place returned and completed their work\u2026 Kibben said\u2026 God is very much present\u2026 and has come alongside each and every one of us as we labor in the vineyard\u2026 our daily lives are not separate from God\u2019s involvement in them<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martin Luther King, Jr\u2026 whose life we honor tomorrow\u2026 wrote something similar in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail\u2026 he wrote\u2026 in a real sense\u2026 all life is inter-related\u2026 all men [people] are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality\u2026 tied\u2026 in a single garment of destiny\u2026 whatever affects one directly\u2026 affects all indirectly\u2026 I can never be what I ought to be\u2026 until you are what you ought to be\u2026 and you can never be what you ought to be\u2026 until I am what I ought to be\u2026 this is the inter-related structure of reality<\/em>\u2026 and on the same day that Rear Admiral Kibben prayed\u2026 Kevin Seefried of Delaware carried a large Confederate flag throughout the Capitol building\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann\u2026 says that the prophetic tasks of the church are to tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion\u2026 to grieve in a society that practices denial\u2026 and to express hope in a society that lives in despair\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Pope Benedict XVI’s March 2011 book\u2026 Jesus of Nazareth Part II\u2026 he stated publicly what so many had known for decades\u2026 he stated once and for all\u2026 that there is no basis in scripture\u2026 to support the argument\u2026 that the Jewish people were responsible for the death of Jesus\u2026 and in doing so\u2026 he told the truth\u2026 and undid and began to heal centuries-old blame and hatred\u2026 which had led to pogroms and other atrocities against Jewish people\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa\u2026 to which I referred last Sunday\u2026 there was comparable truth-telling about the sin of apartheid\u2026 which had led to unspeakable acts of violence against Africans who were not of European descent\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in the United States\u2026 there has never been a comparable\u2026 public\u2026 official acknowledgement about our corporate sin of slavery\u2026 we have avoided the most painful conversations\u2026 and contemporary political scientists have exposed the thread\u2026 a single garment if you will\u2026 that ties together the lie that the election was stolen\u2026 to the cities where lawsuits were filed\u2026 to the demographics of those cites\u2026 which are predominantly African-American\u2026 and to the 2013 decision by the SCOTUS that the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional\u2026 and to the rise of White Supremacy\u2026 and the chilling conclusion\u2026 that the Civil War is far from over\u2026 and the prophetic truth that the church must now speak\u2026 is that white supremacists have sought to disenfranchise the black vote\u2026 so they can hold onto their illusion about how things are\u2026 or how they think they ought to be\u2026 and we saw evidence of that fact on January 6\u2026 and the sentiments which undergird these actions\u2026 are wholly antithetical to our baptismal covenant\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In their book Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We\u2019re in without Going Crazy\u2026 Buddhist teacher Joanna Macy and co-author Chris Johnstone talk about the Three Stories of Our Time<\/em>\u2026 in the first of these stories\u2026 Business as Usual<\/em>\u2026 the defining assumption is that there is little need to change the way we live\u2026 economic growth is regarded as essential for prosperity\u2026 and the central plot is about getting ahead\u2026 ] the second story\u2026 The Great Unraveling<\/em>\u2026 draws attention to the disasters that Business as Usual<\/em> is taking us toward\u2026 as well as those it has already brought about\u2026 this second story is an account\u2026 backed by evidence\u2026 of the collapse of ecological and social systems\u2026 the disturbance of climate\u2026 the depletion of resources\u2026 and the mass extinction of species\u2026 the third story\u2026 The Great Turning\u2026 is held and embodied by those who know that the first story is leading us to catastrophe\u2026 but who refuse to let the second story have the last word\u2026 and it involves the emergence of new and creative human responses\u2026 it is about the epochal transition from an industrial society committed to economic growth\u2026 to a life-sustaining society committed to the healing and recovery of our world\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus tells Nathanael\u2026 in whom there was no deceit… no guile\u2026 no pretense\u2026 that he would see heaven opened\u2026 perhaps torn open\u2026 as it was at Jesus’ baptism\u2026 and he would see God’s angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man\u2026 this of course\u2026 is reminiscent of Jacobs Ladder in Genesis 28:12\u2026 through which God reaches out to us\u2026 and we reach out to God\u2026 it is how God bestows honor and sacred worth on humanity\u2026 it speaks to an interpenetration between heaven and earth\u2026 it speaks of thin places between God and humanity\u2026 and so when we pray the Collect for Purity\u2026 Almighty God\u2026 to you all hearts are open\u2026 all desires known\u2026 and from you no secrets are hid<\/em>\u2026 do we really believe these words\u2026 do we believe that Jesus can see into our hearts and know us\u2026 the way God knew Samuel\u2026 and Jesus knew Nathanael\u2026 or do we just say it\u2026 and what does that mean about who we say that Jesus is\u2026 and how does that inform what we do\u2026 and who we believe\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can have healing and unity\u2026 it is all that God wants for us\u2026 and is paramount in God’s plan\u2026 but we cannot have it without truth and accountability\u2026 we cannot have community without accountability\u2026 and therein lies the hope for a society which lives in despair\u2026 and we can each begin that journey\u2026 by saying\u2026 Speak Lord\u2026 for your servant is listening<\/em>\u2026 and being still\u2026 and listening for what God says\u2026 and not for what kings say\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B 1 Samuel 3:1-20 Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 John 1:43-51 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 In today’s passage from 1 Samuel\u2026 the boy Samuel mistakes God’s voice\u2026 for Eli’s voice\u2026 mistakes the One divine voice\u2026 for one human voice\u2026 God calls Samuel three times\u2026 and finally\u2026 Eli instructs him about how to respond to God’s voice\u2026 Speak Lord\u2026 for your servant is listening\u2026 in today’s Psalm\u2026 we are called to discern God’s presence\u2026 and God’s knowledge about us\u2026 and God’s thoughts\u2026 in today’s Epistle\u2026 we are called to right awareness\u2026 and right behavior\u2026 and to union with God\u2026 and in today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus begins to call his disciples\u2026 In today’s passage from 1 Samuel\u2026 God reveals to Samuel\u2026 who reveals to Eli\u2026 that God is about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle\u2026 and it will not be Good News for Eli\u2026 his sons have disgraced the priestly line\u2026 The Word of the Lord was rare in those days\u2026 visions were not widespread\u2026 Lawrence Wood has written\u2026 after this there are no pillars of fire\u2026 no columns of smoke\u2026 no parting of seas or rivers\u2026 most of what follows is a worldly history of successes\u2026 defeats\u2026 and palace intrigue\u2026 in fact\u2026 Samuel’s role in anointing human kings will reduce human dependence on God\u2026 and a shiver may come upon us at realizing that we are on our own\u2026 And as the story unfolds\u2026 even Samuel’s sons didn’t follow in his ways\u2026 and the people clamored for Samuel to give them a king\u2026 God told Samuel to accept their request\u2026 but added\u2026 you shall solemnly warn them\u2026 and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them\u2026 you can read the all of the warnings in 1Samuel 8:11-18\u2026 but they end with\u2026 And in that day you will cry out because of your king… whom you have chosen for yourselves\u2026 but the LORD will not answer you\u2026 In today’s passage from 1 Corinthians\u2026 Paul exhorts us to have a healthy relationship with our body\u2026 and with other bodies\u2026 and to seek God through them\u2026 and in today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus transcends the limits of the body\u2026 of the five senses\u2026 when he says he saw Nathanael sitting under the fig tree before Philip came to get him\u2026 however this statement is interpreted\u2026 and scholars have proposed several options\u2026 it reinforces Jesus’ mysterious\u2026 and likely boundless way of perception\u2026 On Wednesday, January 6\u2026 Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben\u2026 the chaplain to the U.S. House of Representatives\u2026 made her way through the echoing halls of the U.S. Capitol\u2026 she perceived a charge of anticipation in the air\u2026 it was an auspicious day\u2026 lawmakers were meeting in joint session to formally approve President-elect Joe Biden\u2019s victory\u2026 and because of the outgoing president\u2019s refusal to concede\u2026 an atypically contentious one\u2026 but Kibben had her own reason for feeling an unaccustomed excitement\u2026 it was her third day on the job\u2026 and she was the first female chaplain ever\u2026 to serve the House\u2026 About an hour after being seated\u2026 she observed a “flurry of activity” around House leadership as House members debated the election results\u2026 but within seconds\u2026 Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others on the dais were whisked away\u2026 clearly\u2026 something was wrong… Kibben prayed\u2026 God is our refuge and strength\u2026 a very present help in trouble\u2026 therefore we will not fear\u2026 though the earth should change\u2026 though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea\u2026 As the night waned on\u2026 and after those who sheltered in place returned and completed their work\u2026 Kibben said\u2026 God is very much present\u2026 and has come alongside each and every one of us as we labor in the vineyard\u2026 our daily lives are not separate from God\u2019s involvement in them\u2026 Martin Luther King, Jr\u2026 whose life we honor tomorrow\u2026 wrote something similar in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail\u2026 he wrote\u2026 in a real sense\u2026 all life is inter-related\u2026 all men [people] are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality\u2026 tied\u2026 in a single garment of destiny\u2026 whatever affects one directly\u2026 affects all indirectly\u2026 I can never be what I ought to be\u2026 until you are what you ought to be\u2026 and you can never be what you ought to be\u2026 until I am what I ought to be\u2026 this is the inter-related structure of reality\u2026 and on the same day that Rear Admiral Kibben prayed\u2026 Kevin Seefried of Delaware carried a large Confederate flag throughout the Capitol building\u2026 Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann\u2026 says that the prophetic tasks of the church are to tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion\u2026 to grieve in a society that practices denial\u2026 and to express hope in a society that lives in despair\u2026 In Pope Benedict XVI’s March 2011 book\u2026 Jesus of Nazareth Part II\u2026 he stated publicly what so many had known for decades\u2026 he stated once and for all\u2026 that there is no basis in scripture\u2026 to support the argument\u2026 that the Jewish people were responsible for the death of Jesus\u2026 and in doing so\u2026 he told the truth\u2026 and undid and began to heal centuries-old blame and hatred\u2026 which had led to pogroms and other atrocities against Jewish people\u2026 In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa\u2026 to which I referred last Sunday\u2026 there was comparable truth-telling about the sin of apartheid\u2026 which had led to unspeakable acts of violence against Africans who were not of European descent\u2026 But in the United States\u2026 there has never been a comparable\u2026 public\u2026 official acknowledgement about our corporate sin of slavery\u2026 we have avoided the most painful conversations\u2026 and contemporary political scientists have exposed the thread\u2026 a single garment if you will\u2026 that ties together the lie that the election was stolen\u2026 to the cities where lawsuits were filed\u2026 to the demographics of those cites\u2026 which are predominantly 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