<html><body><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">So where does young Samuel fit into this picture? He’d been born very late in his parents’ lives.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">He’d been dedicated by them to God’s work, without so much as a “by-your-leave” to or from him. But he seemed to be a willing member of the Temple staff, brought up by his parents to understand how much God loved the people and how faithfulness to God above everything else on Samuel’s part was what delighted God.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">There was Samuel. Everyone had gone home for the day. No doubt the altar area had been cleaned up as much as is usually was. All was quiet because those who lived within the Temple precincts were fast asleep.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><b style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">THAT</span></span></b><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> was when Samuel heard his name called.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">It must have been so confusing. His job was to wait on and to learn from Eli so, naturally, he went running to him. But it hadn’t been Eli.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">How often have <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WE</span></b> been confused like that? We may feel a bit unskilled and naïve, or we may be set in our ways. Whichever it may be, we hear a call. We feel that we’re being encouraged to pay attention, to go a certain way, to become aware of what’s happening around us. We may hear that we’re to assume certain responsibilities. Especially because of our faith background, we may be inclined to assume that there was a clear-cut path to where we needed to go. We may even think that because someone has a well-known name that they must always be honoured, and believed, and trusted.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Is this why God delivered the Levites from slavery in Egypt? For that matter, is this why the human leaders, Moses, Aaron and, latterly, Joshua, knocked themselves out?</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">So often those who have resources and powers seem to want more. There’s never enough. They’re never content. Those on the hard pilgrimage through the desert complained and connived. Those who settled in Israel complained and connived. Those who succeeded Aaron in the finally-finished temple in Jerusalem complained and, yes, connived too. And they each in turn made sure that they took advantage of everyone they could.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">I wonder what Hannah, Samuel’s mother, thought when she left her young son at the Temple. Would he be abused?</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">I wonder what Eli thought as he took on Samuel as a member of his staff.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">I wonder what Samuel himself thought.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Then he heard that voice. After two trips in the middle of the night to see Eli, he must have begun to be scared, I’m sure. Was it because everyone else in the Temple had forfeited the right and ability to hear God that Samuel was the only one to be blessed by God?</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">It’s a scary thought for us, as it must have been for the prophet-to-be. Yet we must persist. So soon after Pentecost, we must be faithfully persistent in seeking the Spirit’s guidance. Each of us will still hear God’s voice if we practice the life of merciful selflessness and devotion. Even if we’ve heard that voice before, it <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WILL</span></b> sound again. There’s no telling <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WHAT</span></b> we may hear, but it <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WILL</span></b> be special. It <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WILL</span></b> be uniquely phrased for us. Just as God spoke to Samuel, so God’s voice for us <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WILL</span></b> be challenging, and it may well contain disturbing warnings about those who claim authority but do not have God’s blessing.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Challenging – yes, God’s word is usually challenging, but there’s nearly always the sound of excitement in it as well. One way or another, there’s a message about love.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Perhaps we will hear God address our understanding of the commandments, just as those in Jesus’ company heard Him talk of them.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Perhaps we’ll need to rethink what we thought we knew, and reconsider what and who we used to trust. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Perhaps we’ll even have to reassess what we think God sounds like and how God calls.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">As Samuel discovered, there’s never a dull moment when we seek and allow God to be a part of our lives.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">This was the thrust of what Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said in the wedding homily he preached in Windsor Chapel just two weeks ago. If it’s not about Love, then it’s not about God, it’s not about the Gospel. If every single act that we do, from our first breath to our last, is not rooted in mercy, and justice, and a humility that comes from being awed that God is using us to further God’s reign; if everything we do isn’t as focused, every day, on this, then it is not of God, and stands to be condemned as much as Eli and his sons were.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Let me share what a good friend wrote a week or so ago.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“In the first grade (1941), I stole a nickel from a fat girl at school and bragged about it to my parents at dinner. I was five.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“My parents abruptly ended the meal, drove me to the other side of town, parked their 1939 Chevy in front of her house, and told me to speak clearly and at a volume they could hear from the car when I apologized to her.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“I have had 8 decades of experience with temptation. Some times I have resisted; sometimes I have yielded; yet I claim no virtue fo<span style="margin: 0px;">r never stealing again. I have never even been tempted to. …</span></span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">“Yipes!” he went on. “I now remember another time I stole, in my late 20's. How embarrassing to have forgotten.”</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We as individuals and the Church as a whole are called to be filled with joy at the knowledge and experience of God’s blessings. But we can never relax our own standards to drift away from God’s; we can never become joined at the hip to government, or movements, or individuals. We are <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">ALWAYS</span></b> accountable to God, and God’s grace <b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">WILL</span></b> sustain us, no matter what’s happening around us. Just look how richly Samuel was blessed, and was able to be an agent of reform and blessing to the nation.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The story doesn’t end with a feeling of hopelessness, though. The fact that Samuel not only heard but also that he responded to God’s call brings relief. Similarly, the fact that Jesus’ disciples, in addition to Jesus Himself, were encouraged to take care of their own needs as well as those of others, showed their willingness to respond to God’s call through Jesus.</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; background: none 0% 0% / auto repeat scroll padding-box border-box rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s simply a matter of listening and of evaluating; comparing what we hear with the highest understanding of righteousness we can muster. God still speaks. God still calls. God still needs us!</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">Let these words</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">lay themselves</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">like a blessing upon your heard,</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">your shoulders,</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">as if,</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">like hands,</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">they could pass on</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">to you</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">what you most need</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">for this day,</span><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> <sup>1</sup></span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">NOTE:</span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i><span style="margin: 0px;">“Blessing the Ordinary” </span></i><span style="margin: 0px;">in<i> </i></span></span><i style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;">“Circle of Grace”</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> by Jan Richardson. Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, Florida © 2015, pages 179</span><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin: 0px;"> - 80 </span></p></body></html>