Because We Are Called

'Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”'

--I Samuel 3: 1-10

' Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”'

--John 1: 43-51

It was the summer of 2007, and I was just a few months into the ordination process and was working as a counselor at a church camp, where the director was also rector of the little parish across the street.  I had hoped to pick his brain, to hear about how awesome and cool it is to be a priest, what I could expect from seminary, and all of that stuff.  But when we would sit out on the porch in the evenings what I heard most in his stories were complaints.  He had bumped heads with his bishop, called seminary the worst three years of his life, and each day there was a new parishioner who was getting under his skin.  And when I asked him why he stuck with it all, why he didn’t just do something else, he said, “Because I’m called to it.” 

Being called, I came to find out, was not about saying yes to God and then having everything run smoothly.  As I learned on that porch at that camp, being called is deeper than that.  It’s something that never goes away, a voice that keeps speaking, a finger that keeps tapping us on our shoulder, even when we are totally baffled by it, or when we push back against it.  That’s what we see today in our Scriptures.

Samuel is called by God as a young boy.

The prophet Samuel is just a little boy when he first years the voice of God calling to him.  It takes God four tries to finally get Samuel to realize what is going on, but when he does he finally says, "Your servant is listening."  In the gospel we find Nathanael--a man only seen in John's gospel--who makes fun of Jesus' hometown, and even when he meets Jesus scoffs and says, "Where did you get to know me?"  He might as well have said, "You don't anything about me, you nobody from Nazareth!"  But when Jesus says he saw him under the fig tree, something clicks in Nathanael, and he realizes that this guy not only saw him but heard the prayers of his heart that he offered under that tree--the fig tree represented peace in ancient Judaism, and it was there that folks would go to pray and find solace. This encounter stirs Nathanael to follow Jesus from that day on. 

Nathanael scoffs at the invitation to see Jesus given to him by Philip.

These two individuals were separated by more than 600 years years, yet both were called by God. Samuel didn't understand, and it took a while for him to even say yes. Nathanael made fun of God standing in front of him, but he eventually ceased his push-back and said yes. They were called--of course they were, they're in the Bible! The truth, though, is that every person enters the world called!  We are, like Samuel and Nathanael, crafted by a loving Creator who sends us all into this world for a purpose, a purpose that is unique to each of us.  There was certainly a lot that Samuel and Nathanael did not understand about their respective calls—why was this happening to them, what did God have in-mind for them?  Yet these two were able to say yes, and I suspect it was because they understood a couple of things about call.

First, they understood that our call is not a goal to be achieved, instead it is a gift to be received.  The question associated with call is not “What should I do?” but rather “Who am I?”  For Samuel and Nathanael it wasn’t about what they were suppose to Do, but rather who they were suppose to BE--for Samuel it meant being a prophet, for Nathanael it meant being a disciple and apostle.    When I tell folks that I am a priest, that’s not what I do, it’s who I am—what I do is serve as the rector of my parish.  If you talk to any artist they’ll say the same thing.  It's not about what they are doing but how their art speaks to who it is that they are. When we begin to answer that question we can discover our true call.  

Second, they knew that call is not about staying comfortable and remaining in the same place, but it  is about moving forward, usually in an uncomfortable manner.  Samuel and Nathanael could have remained where they were--the temple and the fig tree seemed mighty comfortable--but their calls moved them into some really uncomfortable places--as a prophet Samuel seldom was taken seriously, and Nathanael, history says, died a martyr in Armenia.  Yet they still moved forward, still kept going because they knew their inspiration was coming from God.  Today, of course, is Martin Luther King Day. I suspect when some of us think of Dr. King we tend to think of his "I Have a Dream" speech or the Montgomery bus boycott or registering folks to vote in Selma. Prophet that he was,  Dr. King did so much in so many places, moving from one location to another, from one cause to another; in fact, the night before he died he gave a speech in Memphis in support of the rights of sanitation workers. He didn't stop after the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act were passed, but he kept moving forward, knowing that his call to work for justice and freedom was one that came from God, and Dr. King knew that such a call was not about remaining comfortable and still, but steadily and faithfully moving forward to whatever and wherever God was calling.  God kept moving Dr. king forward, and that same divine call, no matter who it's for, is always shaking us up and moving us forward.  Among the many legacies Dr. King left us is the example of what a call from God looks like--seldom stationary, often difficult, always holy.

A man who understood what call looks like.

You, brothers and sisters, are called.  Each and every one of you.  I wonder what yours looks like.  Sometimes the call takes a long time for us to answer.  Sometimes we fight it tooth and nail.  Still, it never goes away, no matter how difficult things get.  That’s call!  So how about you?  Are you Samuel, called to be a prophet?  Are you Nathanael, called to follow Jesus and be sent out with his message?  Are you Martin, called to speak out and stand up for justice and freedom and, if need be, to die for that stance?  No, you’re neither!  You are you!  You are a beloved child of God, called to something that is unique, something that is yours and yours alone.  Only you can know for sure, only you can hear God's voice, and only you can answer that question "Who am I?"