January 15, 2006

1 Samuel 3:1-10(20)

"To Be Or Not To Be... A Prophet"

 
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

The prophet Micah: Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God;

The prophet Isaiah: bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners; proclaim the year of the Lord's favor;

The prophet Amos: Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

The Prophet Martin Luther: "You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say"

The Prophet Dorothy Day: I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.

The Prophet Martin Luther King, Jr.: History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

The Prophet Oscar Romero: It is the church's duty in history to lend its voice to Christ so that he may speak, its feet so that he may walk today's world, its hands to build the reign of God, and to offer all its members to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ.

As the boy prophet Samuel grew up, scripture reminds us: "the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground." What an awesome presence! Can you imagine not only knowing that God was with you, but that not one of your words would fall to the ground!? We live in a world of wasted words. Words, words, words, pouring from our multitudinous television channels, downloaded from our scores of internet pages, and blaring out of our megamultiple radio stations 365/24/7. Words, words, words falling off of the page of every imaginable special interest magazine or newspaper. Words, words, words spewing forth from politicians, socialites, sports stars, movie stars, preachers, oftentimes being interviewed from every which angle and spinning the story ever so carefully. We live in a world where it is nigh unto impossible to discern important words from drivel. Does it seem to you that there are more people in our world who seem to talk simply for the sake of talking? Is it because we have access to so much information in any given moment, so many words flowing past us, that we begin to accept the maxim "Talk is cheap," and are going make sure it is, by gosh!

We are in the season of Epiphany: God's "showing" the divine light, God's manifestation (sign, demonstration, expression... a visible form). The other side of "showing" or "manifesting" is "receiving." If someone's gonna give a sign, someone else needs to receive it. What if God showed forth, and no one saw? What if God came and no one noticed? What if God spoke, and no one listened? Are we too full of words that we cannot receive The Word? Do we allow, heaven help us, to let God's words fall to the ground?

Samuel's "call" was a very specific example of God demonstrating, showing, manifesting God's presence and will. Samuel receives the title of "prophet," Anna Grant Henderson reminds us that: "The Old Testament prophets were people called by God to declare a message for the present and seeking a response in the immediate. The were forth tellers and not foretellers for the distant future, that is the role of "apocalyptic literature'."+ This is the same role that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, John the Baptist, and Jesus would play. They were intensely concerned first and foremost with the lives of those around them, how they were or were not being faithful to God now and in the immediate future.

 
It's a touchy thing being a prophet. Who gets to decide who's a prophet and who isn't? We can't actually "see" words falling to the ground and words being lifted up to God, can we? Biblical prophets are easy - someone listed them that way in our scriptures. Tradition has bestowed the title on others throughout history, such as Martin Luther, but even that begins to beg the question "from who's perspective." I doubt many Catholics would have Luther too high on their Prophets list. And of course modern prophets are highly suspect. I named Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. preacher and civil rights leader, and Archbishop Oscar Romero, activist for the poor in Central America. There are many books exploring the all-too-human side of these individuals. Does a prophet have to be perfect, or just useful to God? Another way of saying this is, does being a prophet mean that absolutely no word falls to the ground, or just most words?

A recent example of a so-called prophet gone awry is Pat Robertson. You remember that he proclaimed after 9/11 that somehow America had it coming to us because of the decay of our morals. Last year Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and just a couple of weeks ago declared that Ariel Sharon's stroke was a result of his seceding the Gaza Strip back to the Palestinians. I don't think that's prophetic. I think that's pathetic.

Let us look a little closer at Samuel, a sure and certain prophet, and see if it will help us know how to discern the prophetic from the pathetic.
First, from the prophet's perspective: *Samuel listened - he was actively open to hearing what he should do. He stopped talking long enough to hear God speak.

*Samuel responded with openness and sincerity - "Here I am!" is repeated three times, and then, when it is discerned to be God's voice, he responds "Speak, for your servant is listening."
 

*Samuel sought out and listened to trusted elders - admittedly, Samuel had been dedicated by his thankful mother, Hannah, and father, Elkanah, to God's service, but Samuel still eagerly sought out and followed the advice of Eli.
 

*Samuel was willing to speak hard words to people he loved - The words he had to speak, that would "make both the ears of anyone who hears it tingle," would be words of woe, especially for his beloved Eli and his sons, who had abused their privileges as priests of the Temple.
 

*Samuel stayed focused - and the people responded, "And all of Israel from Dan to Beer-Sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord."
 

But let us not miss the fact that Eli, the not-a-prophet, played an important role. This would speak to those of us (and that means most of us, really)

whose words fall regularly on the ground, but whose supportive role allow the real prophets to thrive!
 

>Eli mentored a child - tradition has it that Samuel was about 12 years old. Eli took seriously the power and privilege of teaching a child the ways of God.
 

>Eli anticipated God speaking through a child - while it took a couple of tries, nonetheless Eli should be credited with actively believing God could speak through someone less powerful than he.
 

>Eli got his ego out of the way - Knowing that God chooses whom God will choose, Eli understood Samuel was to be a means for God's word to be made known, and he got out of the way. Eli also was humble enough to receive the prophecy even though it meant the end of his family's service to God and a terrible death for himself and his sons.
 

God is manifested in our world in so many ways. For most of human history, one very special way is through words. Now that we live in the Information Age, and words are many, it is especially necessary for us to decide which words "do not fall to the ground," and which we should let drop like a lead balloon.
 

Some of us are called to be prophets. Let us follow Samuel's example and use our words wisely. Most of us will be receivers of prophecy, and we must likewise discern carefully between buffoons and wise ones.
 

All of us, however, can be better stewards of the Words of God flowing through our lives each day. May it be so. Amen.
 

+ Website: http://oldtestamentlectionary.unitingchurch.org.au/2006/January/Epih21Sam3_06.htm 



Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2006 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096