Abram, Moses, Samuel, David and you

This week it is a smaller step along our timeline.  Last week we met Samuel as a child, hearing the voice of the Lord for the first time.

This week he is anointing David to be king.

David isn’t the first king of Israel. The people of Israel asked for King, so they would be like the other nations. Samuel’s sons had not followed the ways of his father, just as Eli’s sons had not followed in his ways, there was again no one to lead the people, so again they ask for a king:

One day the nation’s leaders came to Samuel at Ramah ⁵ and said, “You are an old man. You set a good example for your sons, but they haven’t followed it. Now we want a king to be our leader, just like all the other nations. Choose one for us!” [1 Samuel 8:4-5 CEV]

Then Samuel tells the people the problems they will get with a King:

He will force your sons to join his army

Your daughters will have to make perfume or do his cooking and baking.

The king will take your best fields, and vineyards, and olive orchards

You will become the king’s slaves

The people would not listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want to be like other nations. We want a king to rule us and lead us in battle.”

[1 Samuel 8: 19-20]

Saul is chosen to be King, he wins some battles, but he is also disobedient to God, and God regrets making Saul the King.  

Then we get to the passage we heard read this morning, Samuel anoints David to be king. However, it is not until after the death of Saul that David is made King.  

I told you last Sunday, I would be talking about Call this week.  With the Synod report, there wasn’t much time to think about the call of Samuel, then this morning we have the anointing of David.

But right back in Genesis 12, there is the call of Abram, who is later renamed Abraham.

[Genesis 12: 1-5] The Lord said to Abram:

Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you…...

Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had gotten while in Haran.

Then we come to Moses, out looking after his father-in-law’s sheep and goats, when he sees a bush that was burning, but not consumed by the fire.

[Exodus3:4] When the Lord saw Moses coming near the bush, he called him by name, and Moses answered, “Here I am.”

And God said:  I have seen how my people are suffering as slaves in Egypt, and I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they are being mistreated. I feel sorry for them, and I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians.

… Now go to the king! I am sending you to lead my people out of his country.

But Moses said, “Who am I to go to the king and lead your people out of Egypt?”

God replied, “I will be with you. And you will know that I am the one who sent you, when you worship me on this mountain after you have led my people out of Egypt.”

And last week we heard a passage from 1 Samuel 3, the boy Samuel being given a message for Eli.

God spoke to each of these people, Abraham, Moses, Samuel and David, in different ways; and the tasks they were given to do were also quite different.

There are different ways of hearing a call from God: sometimes like Abraham and Moses, there will be a clear voice and a clear task.

Sometimes like Samuel, it will be a series of conversations with God that lead to a variety of tasks.

Sometimes like David, another person will bring God’s message to you.

Where is God calling you to be active? Are you willing to stop and listen for the voice of God?

Some quotes:

“Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need.”  ― Frederick Buechner[i]

"Work is not primarily a thing one does to live but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God."—Dorothy Sayers[ii]

Work is not primarily a thing one does to live

but the thing one lives to do.

My dad worked at the steelworks to earn money, that is what he did to live; but what he lived to do was music and poetry and people who liked music and poetry.

What do you live to do?

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[i] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/496215-vocation-is-the-place-where-our-deep-gladness-meets-the

[ii] http://www.rjgrune.com/blog/18-quotes-on-vocation

Sin and Sight

This week I have been wondering about the way people try to name us, and put us into neat boxes. Last week, we heard about the transformation of a woman who was an outsider in so many ways. Transformed because she was accepted as she was. Loved and renewed.

This week I have also completed my annual report for Presbytery. It is 12 pages of tables and questions – how many worship services each week, how many baptisms, am I up to date with safe church training, what continuing education have I done……    

This week we also saw on the news about the attack in London. People wanted to know is it terrorism or something else. Can we put a label on this incident?

Once we have a label, we think we know what is going on.
Once we have a label, we know where to file the information in our brains.
All we need is a label.

The thing with labels is that often we allow other people to label us.
And we label other people:

-           Druggie

-           Dole bludger

-           Nerd

-           Redneck

-           Do-gooder

-           Idiot

And labels are rarely positive.

In our story this morning, the art teacher expects a certain picture, but Luke sees the world differently.  The teacher says: “why do you do this, what’s wrong with you boy?”

Just because something is different doesn’t mean it is wrong.

In the gospel readings for the past 2 weeks, we have heard about encounters with Jesus, firstly Nicodemus, then the woman at the well. In today’s gospel reading we also read about an encounter between a person and Jesus. But in this meeting, the two men barely speak to each other. Most of the story is about the reaction of others.

The gospel reading this morning also asks about sin:
whose sin caused the man to be born blind?
Is Jesus a sinner for healing on the Sabbath?
How could someone who is a sinner work such a miracle?”
The Pharisees tell the man: “You have been a sinner since the day you were born! Do you think you can teach us anything?”

If I have a label on like this [paper plate with sinner in large writing over my face] what else do you notice about me?
Would you listen to me?
Would you help me across the road?

In this mask, I cannot see.
I cannot see other people,
or the world around me,
but I also cannot see myself.

The gospel starts with asking about sin, and there is a thread about sin woven through this passage. When we think of sin as something that is easily defined - such as questioning authority or working on the Sabbath; we can begin to think more about rules than about people.

Jesus saw the person who was begging,
he didn’t see the result of sin,
he saw a person.
A person who needed healing,
who needed to be made whole,
a person who was a social and religious outcast.

When we look at the healing miracles in the Gospel,
we see inclusion and compassion.

There is another thread running through the readings today, it is about sight and seeing.

How would you choose a king?
 - The tallest?
 - Strongest?
 - Best looking?
 - Brightest?

Saul was King, yet he no followed in God’s ways, so it was time to anoint a new king.
The prophet Samuel, does as he is told, he goes to Bethlehem and meets with Jesse and his sons.
And in turn, Samuel asks God if this is the one.
And each time God says no.
David, the youngest is called in from minding the sheep, and is anointed. David will become the king.

God told Samuel: People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.

When choosing a leader, we have expectations, but God sees us differently, God looks at our hearts, not our bank balance or our body mass index.

I wonder if the sin in this story,
is the sin of not seeing and valuing ourselves,
and others, as God sees and values us.