Tingling Ears
Illustration
Stories
Contents
What's Up This Week
A Story to Live By: "Tingling Ears" by Gregory Tolle
Good Stories: "Here I Am" by Frank R. Fisher
"Answering the Call" by Steve Burt
Sermon Starter: "Called By Name" by Sil Galvan
Scrap Pile: "Greta's Glorious Body" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
Hearing and answering God's call is the common theme in this edition of StoryShare, which features three tales inspired by the classic story of young Samuel in Sunday's Old Testament lesson. In addition, this week's Sermon Starter, based on the Gospel's account of Jesus' call of Philip and Nathanael to be his disciples, discusses how Jesus calls each of us individually to do his will. Finally, the Scrap Pile includes a story illustrating Paul's "call" for us to treat our bodies as God's temple -- a call that may certainly resonate with many who are struggling to keep New Year's resolutions to exercise more or eat more healthily.
A Story to Live By
Tingling Ears
by Gregory Tolle
Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." Then the Lord said to Samuel, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle."
1 Samuel 3:10-11
During the Great Depression, work was scarce. A young man was desperately seeking employment when he saw a "Help Wanted" ad in the newspaper for a telegraph operator. He had no formal training or experience, but he had studied and learned Morse code on his own at home. With so few jobs available, he decided to apply for the job and he went to the telegraph office. He entered the crowded office and immediately noticed several other applicants seeking the same job. His heart sank.
He was greatly discouraged as he sat in a chair waiting his turn to be interviewed. He wondered what kind of chance he had with so little training and so many applicants. However, after only a few minutes his face suddenly brightened. He jumped up out of his chair and ran into the manager's office. Within a few minutes the manager appeared at the door with the young man and announced that the job had been filled.
One of the other men who had been waiting asked with great astonishment, "What did he say that landed him the job? After all, he was the last one here."
The manager answered: "It was nothing he said. All morning long I have been tapping out a message on my office window in Morse code. It was loud enough for all of you to hear. The message was this: 'If you can understand this message, come on in. You're hired.' All of you heard it. He was the only one who listened."
God speaks to us in so many ways. The question is: are we listening? Since you got up this morning, God has been trying to speak to you. Through the beauty of creation, through the love of family members, through the songs we sing and the scripture we read God has been speaking to you. In a hundred different ways, God's voice is loud and clear. Unfortunately, it seems only a few will really hear.
In the scripture, Samuel heard someone calling him. At first he wasn't really listening and didn't understand the message. But when he really listened, Samuel was able to discern that what he heard was God's call on his life. God is speaking to us as well. Are we blocking out the excess noise and listening to God's message so we can discern God's call on our lives?
Gregory L. Tolle is the senior minister at First United Methodist Church in Durant, Oklahoma. He is the author of Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit (Series IV, Cycle B), from which this story is taken.
Good Stories
Here I Am
by Frank R. Fisher
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."
1 Samuel 3:8b-10
"Maybe Offenbach will give us a lower bid?" That pressing question kept drifting through Ray's mind as he reached out and grabbed his son's ankle. Prevented from slipping under the pew by the last-minute catch, Jacob let out a brief squawk. Fortunately, the disapproving looks of those sitting behind him cut off the louder protest he'd intended -- they reminded Jacob that he knew quite well how he was supposed to behave during the sermon. Ray reseated his son in his proper place, and then quickly went back to his thoughts and plans. He knew the sermon was half over, and had no intention of wasting this valuable time.
To Ray, the 15 to 20 minutes of Pastor Mark's sermon was the highlight of every Sunday. His children were contained and wouldn't need much chasing. No one would be expecting him to carry on a conversation. All he had to do was keep a serious look on his face, a look showing his complete attention to the preacher's words -- then he was free to plan his work week and consider any problems facing the church building and grounds committee. The committee's work had his total attention today. All the bids for cleaning the church's boiler were coming in over budget. Considering how badly he was over budget for everything else, Ray knew he really needed to get the boiler cleaned on the cheap.
"May all glory be given to God," concluded Pastor Mark. "Amen," Ray responded sincerely with the rest of the congregation as he made a mental note to call Offenbach Plumbing first thing on Monday morning.
Ray's attention was suddenly pulled away from boiler cleaning by the first few notes of the Hymn of Response. He loved to sing, and he loved singing new hymns. This hymn, one called "Here I Am, Lord," sounded like it would be a good one:
I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people's cry. All who dwell in deepest sin my hand will save. I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Who shall I send?
As the hymn's first verse rang out from many voices, Ray staggered. He grabbed the back of the pew in front of him to hold himself upright. Most of all, Ray remembered. He remembered sitting in his pastor's study during confirmation as he asked what he needed to do to become a pastor. He remembered how he'd managed to submerge that idea, and how it had resurfaced repeatedly as he seemed to somehow hear his name called out in the night. He remembered how each time it had resurfaced he had found a way to thrust it deeply away.
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.
Ray remembered. He knew the answer to the question "is it I, Lord?" And he somehow knew there would be no way to submerge it this time. Of course, knowing something was impossible didn't mean he couldn't try! Seeing him still holding onto the next pew as if his life depended on it, Ray's wife asked him what was wrong. "Nothing," he replied. "Nothing . . . it's only the work of a very good lyricist," he insisted to himself as he followed his racing children to the fellowship hall for the coffee hour.
Ray kept insisting nothing had happened for 18 months. Ironically, perhaps as dictated by God's incredible sense of humor, it was another time of not paying attention that tripped him up. On the weekend before Holy Week Ray had a business trip scheduled, nine hours there and nine hours back with a boss who seemed to be in love with the sound of his own voice. Fortunately, Ray thought, he would also be accompanied by someone who actually appeared to like the boss's endless stories. For every minute of those 18 hours Ray sat by himself in the back seat of the car, pretending to pay attention to the conversation flowing around him. But his attention was really held by the words of the hymn and their implications. "Could this be real?" he repeatedly asked himself. "And if it is real, how do I respond?"
At the journey's end, Ray sat in his own car, re-examining his thoughts from the endless drive. Then he prayed: "If this is really You and not my idea, please show me!"
During Holy Week, Ray was shown. He raised objections; they were dashed within a very few hours. Sometimes the objections didn't even last for minutes.
On the Saturday before Easter he returned to the church, the place he had ignored so many sermons. He sat down in a pew. For some reason it was one opposite from where he normally sat. He looked at the cross hanging from the front of the chancel, and he said one word: "Yes."
Frank R. Fisher is a second-career interim/transitional pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He currently serves as the interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Fairbury, Illinois. During the final years of his first career as a paramedic and administrator for the Chicago Fire Department, Fisher graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary and was ordained. He is an Oblate of the ecumenical Abbey of John the Baptist and Saint Benedict in Bartonville, Illinois, where he has joined the rapidly growing number of those who are called to follow Saint Benedict's rule.
Answering the Call
by Steve Burt
It was in the days of sail, long before electricity, when oil lit the lighthouses along the coast of downeast Maine. Jarrod lived with his Uncle Ephraim, the lighthouse keeper at the Dorris Island lighthouse off Portland. Because the island was uninhabited except for Uncle Ephraim and Jarrod, they were alone most of the time unless Mr. Toomey came from the mainland to deliver supplies. It was lonely, but Jarrod knew Uncle Ephraim's job was important, because it was his light that kept the coastal schooners from the rocks and shoals and certain destruction.
Both Jarrod and his uncle were lonely. To deal with it, Jarrod read a lot; Uncle Ephraim drank. The boy tried to keep Ephraim from drinking -- though it seldom worked -- by asking him questions about being a lighthouse keeper. That was Ephraim's "calling," which not only gave him the greatest life satisfaction but which, he declared -- next to being a member of a coastal lifesaving station's crew -- was the most vital job in the coast.
"Never let the light go out," the old man urged his young charge. "Many lives depend on us, on this light. While you're here you must devote your life to its keeping."
Though he wasn't the actual lighthouse keeper himself, young Jarrod heeded his uncle's words as a sacred trust. Jarrod was only nine, and this was his uncle's job, but Jarrod imagined himself to be the assistant lighthouse keeper. He paid attention and learned how to fill the lamp bowl properly.
Uncle Ephraim began to drink more heavily and more often. He complained of pains in his side and stomach. More liquor was the only medicine that seemed to cure the aches, but it also practically incapacitated him at times. Jarrod tried to keep him talking, even scolded him about his "calling," about his responsibility, but it was to no avail. Ephraim kept drinking.
One black night Jarrod checked to see if the dory was secure, then stood outside a moment and looked up at the light. When he did, he saw something flicker.
The light! The oil was low and almost gone! He'd only seen it that way once before, when Uncle Ephraim had let it get down so he could show him what the danger signs were. Yes, Uncle Ephraim was an excellent lighthouse keeper and knew the job well. But now Uncle Ephraim was in a heavy drunken sleep. Jarrod ran inside.
"Uncle Ephraim, Uncle Ephraim!" he yelled. The old man only grunted soddenly. "Uncle Ephraim, the light! It's going out!" Jarrod yelled again. "You've got to fill the bowl, Uncle Ephraim!"
The breakers sounded louder outside, their crashing muffling the old man's response. It sounded like he'd said, "You, boy."
"Me, Uncle? Should I do it? Can't you?"
The answer the second time sounded like he said, "You, boy." Ephraim tried to stand up, but the liquor was having its effect.
"Uncle Ephraim," Jarrod said, "Uncle Ephraim, that light's got to be kept lit for the sake of the schooners."
Even though he could no longer do it himself, Ephraim still knew that the light had to be kept burning as a beacon or souls would be lost at sea. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, straightened himself up as best he could, and said through thick lips, "Jarrod, it's your job now. Take the oil and fill the bowl. Keep the lamp lighted." Then the old man fell off to sleep.
Young Jarrod answered the call. He filled the lamp bowl with oil and kept the beacon burning. No ships were lost that night.
Steve Burt is a United Church of Christ pastor and an acclaimed author of inspirational and horror stories. He has been the winner of the Ben Franklin, Ray Bradbury, and Bram Stoker Awards, and he is a multiple contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Burt is also known for his church leadership books and devotional material. For more information about Burt and his books, visit his website at www.burtcreations.com.
Sermon Starter
Called by Name
by Sil Galvan
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."
John 1:43
If we could summarize the lesson of today's Gospel reading in one sentence it might come out something like this: Jesus has called us each by name in our hearts to be his disciples. Let us consider why this is so.
First of all, it is Jesus who calls us. But who is Jesus? Jesus is God in human flesh. At Jesus' baptism (which we heard about last week) the Divine Trinity was revealed to us, since the voice of the Father approved of the work of his Son, Jesus Christ, who was then empowered by the Spirit. So therefore God in all three persons approves of all that our Lord does in God's name. Therefore, when we speak of Jesus, we can really speak of God: Jesus and God are synonymous.
So it is Jesus who calls us. What does it mean to be called? The English word comes from the Greek word kaleo, and means to command or request to be present, to come. For example, someone is called to testify in court. It can also mean to speak of or address by a specified name, or to give a name to someone. I should also point out that the Latin word for "call" is vocare, from which we get the word "vocal," as in vocal cords, the part of the body we use to speak. From vocare we also get the word "vocation," which means a calling to a particular occupation, business, or profession. In the church, we use the word primarily to mean a vocation to religious life, to the priesthood, to the diaconate, or to some other ministry in the church.
So Jesus calls us. Who exactly are we whom he calls? We are ordinary persons, just like his disciples. The disciples were simple folk, fishermen, of which there were many near the Sea of Galilee. They weren't the learned of their day, or wealthy. They were ordinary people who lived simple, ordinary lives, just like we do. He comes to us exactly where we are. Some years ago, I happened to watch an old movie called The Left Hand of God. It was about a renegade pilot who was shot down over China during World War II and was taken in by a local robber baron. In order to escape his clutches, the pilot assumed the identity of a dead priest and hid out in a small Chinese village. Eventually, he came to be loved by the local people, who had not had a priest for several years. The change that occurred in Humphrey Bogart, who played the pilot, as he assimilated the persona of the priest was astounding. It struck me that God will use everyone, right where they are, to accomplish his purposes. So it is that Jesus calls us, just as he called the ordinary fishermen of his day.
So Jesus calls us, each one by name. What is in a name? It is the distinctive designation of a person or thing. It is the opposite of something which is nameless, anonymous, or indistinguishable from something else which is just like it. A name is the ultimate sign of respect. It always drives me crazy when I interact with people who know my name but don't use it. I feel it reduces me to the status of anyone in the nameless crowd, of someone we meet on the street. I even have been known to get upset with my children when they don't address me as their father. It is God who calls us each by name in the depths of our hearts. Conversely, knowing God's name (Yahweh) gives us a certain degree of power to be able to address him personally (he can't ignore us when we call).
In today's Gospel, John uses names throughout the reading. John sees Jesus and refers to him as the Lamb of God. When Jesus sees the disciples following him and asks them what they are looking for, they address him as "Rabbi." Then Andrew finds his brother Simon and tells him that he has found the Messiah, or the Anointed. Finally, our Lord speaks to Simon and calls him Peter. None of these people are addressed impersonally as "hey, you." No, they are people with a distinct identity. God does not address us impersonally either. He calls us each by name.
So it is Jesus who calls us, each one of us. How does God call us, each one of us? He doesn't ask us to come to him in a group. No, he speaks to us individually in our hearts. There is a story that I can't resist repeating here.
A four-year-old girl was at the pediatrician's office for a checkup. As the doctor looked into her ears with an otoscope, he asked her, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl remained silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked her, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down here?" Again, the girl did not answer him. Finally, the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in here?" At that, the little girl looked up with her eyes wide and said, "Oh, no. Jesus is in my heart; Barney's on my underpants."
God no longer speaks to us in a voice that we can hear, as he spoke to Samuel in our first reading. And since he can no longer call us physically, as he did his first disciples, Jesus calls to us in the depths of our hearts.
So he calls us each by name to be his disciples. What is a disciple? It means a follower, one who has grasped another's teachings. The fact that you are here today means that you are eager to grasp his teachings. Why is this important? Because they can make a significant difference in your life.
So Jesus calls us each by name to be his disciples. But recognizing the call is another story. In our first reading today, God called Samuel three times (by name, you notice) before Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling him. In next week's first reading we will hear about Jonah's reaction to God's call, which was anything but wholehearted. Each of us has to look deeply into our own hearts and discern how Jesus is speaking to us. And once we've heard his voice, we need to respond as Samuel did: "Here I am, Lord; your servant is listening. I come to do your will."
Silverius "Sil" Galvan is a deacon at the Catholic Community of Saint Mary of the Lake in Lakewood, New Jersey. He has been involved in music ministry as an organist, guitarist, and sometime cantor for more than four decades. Galvan also operates www.deaconsil.com, a website offering extensive homiletic resources.
Scrap Pile
Greta's Glorious Body
by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Greta Schmidt huffed and puffed her way through the church hallways toward the parish nurse's office. She detested tardiness. It was bad enough in others, but totally unacceptable in herself. As it turned out, she had eased her bulk into the largest, sturdiest chair with two minutes to spare, and it took all of that time for her heart to stop racing and her breathing to settle back into its normal wheeze. Another "fat class," Greta sighed to herself.
Weight loss clinics, diet clubs, exercise groups, and calorie counting were nothing new to Greta. She had fought a losing battle with fat from the time she was a small child.
"My mama was an excellent German cook!" she always laughed, by way of explanation. "Sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, kuchen and stollen, sauerkraut, bratwurst, knockwurst, and strudel. Always so much food! And I loved it so much! And Mama always demanded that we EAT! EAT! Is it any wonder I look the way I do?"
But Greta had paid dearly, her entire life, for her love of food. The other children had teased her and called her names; adults clucked their tongues and whispered as they stared. She was never chosen to play games or to be on prom court. No boy ever asked her out... ever.
Still, Greta's family life was close-knit and comforting -- and there was the food! She completed high school, attended college, and became a librarian. She lived at home, learning to cook all of her mother's best dishes. As the years passed, Greta cared for her parents, and then her older brother, until one by one they went on to be with God. Now, in middle age, Greta's own health had become affected by her food obsession.
"The doctor says I have hypertension, heart problems, gout, and adult-onset diabetes," Greta said in answer to nurse Betty Anderson's request for all the group members to state why they had come to her class on Holistic Lifestyle Management. "I've tried every kind of diet on the market. I figure one more can't hurt."
Others in the class shared Greta's health concerns, and more besides, but she noted that few shared her girth. The next largest person present was a man who probably weighed around 250 pounds. Greta couldn't remember when she had weighed that little.
"Would someone volunteer to begin with some scripture readings?" nurse Betty asked, passing around sheets of paper with several printed texts. A man named Max raised his hand and read:
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.... God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1:27, 31)
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5)
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. (Psalm 22:9-10)
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits -- who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit... (Psalm 103:2-4)
"Now, tell me," the nurse said, "what theme do you hear running through these scriptures?"
"That God made us and we are good," said one woman who was wearing an oxygen mask.
"That we belong to God," said another.
"That God heals our diseases," said Max.
"I want to suggest," nurse Betty continued, "that this class on Holistic Lifestyle Management is the beginning of thinking of ourselves in a new way. Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. But we can't love our neighbors the way we should if we don't love ourselves! And if we love ourselves, we won't want to put harmful things like cigarette smoke, fatty foods, too much refined sugar, and harmful chemicals into our bodies. We need to take care of our bodies through exercise, good nutrition, daily prayer and meditation.
"I'd like to lift up a portion of Paul's advice to the Corinthians as God's advice to us."
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything.... Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:12, 19-20)
Greta huffed and puffed her way back to her car, lost in thought. Never had anyone told her that her body was special. Never had she considered that the food she so loved to eat was a substitute for love and acceptance.
Was that why all the other diets and exercise programs had failed? Because she had never loved herself -- her own body -- enough to care for it?
"Let me start over again, God," she wheezed as she squeezed herself behind the steering wheel of her large car. "Help me to love myself enough to glorify you in my body."
(From Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit [Cycle B] by John Sumwalt and Jo Perry-Sumwalt.)
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StoryShare, January 15, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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What's Up This Week
A Story to Live By: "Tingling Ears" by Gregory Tolle
Good Stories: "Here I Am" by Frank R. Fisher
"Answering the Call" by Steve Burt
Sermon Starter: "Called By Name" by Sil Galvan
Scrap Pile: "Greta's Glorious Body" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
Hearing and answering God's call is the common theme in this edition of StoryShare, which features three tales inspired by the classic story of young Samuel in Sunday's Old Testament lesson. In addition, this week's Sermon Starter, based on the Gospel's account of Jesus' call of Philip and Nathanael to be his disciples, discusses how Jesus calls each of us individually to do his will. Finally, the Scrap Pile includes a story illustrating Paul's "call" for us to treat our bodies as God's temple -- a call that may certainly resonate with many who are struggling to keep New Year's resolutions to exercise more or eat more healthily.
A Story to Live By
Tingling Ears
by Gregory Tolle
Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." Then the Lord said to Samuel, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle."
1 Samuel 3:10-11
During the Great Depression, work was scarce. A young man was desperately seeking employment when he saw a "Help Wanted" ad in the newspaper for a telegraph operator. He had no formal training or experience, but he had studied and learned Morse code on his own at home. With so few jobs available, he decided to apply for the job and he went to the telegraph office. He entered the crowded office and immediately noticed several other applicants seeking the same job. His heart sank.
He was greatly discouraged as he sat in a chair waiting his turn to be interviewed. He wondered what kind of chance he had with so little training and so many applicants. However, after only a few minutes his face suddenly brightened. He jumped up out of his chair and ran into the manager's office. Within a few minutes the manager appeared at the door with the young man and announced that the job had been filled.
One of the other men who had been waiting asked with great astonishment, "What did he say that landed him the job? After all, he was the last one here."
The manager answered: "It was nothing he said. All morning long I have been tapping out a message on my office window in Morse code. It was loud enough for all of you to hear. The message was this: 'If you can understand this message, come on in. You're hired.' All of you heard it. He was the only one who listened."
God speaks to us in so many ways. The question is: are we listening? Since you got up this morning, God has been trying to speak to you. Through the beauty of creation, through the love of family members, through the songs we sing and the scripture we read God has been speaking to you. In a hundred different ways, God's voice is loud and clear. Unfortunately, it seems only a few will really hear.
In the scripture, Samuel heard someone calling him. At first he wasn't really listening and didn't understand the message. But when he really listened, Samuel was able to discern that what he heard was God's call on his life. God is speaking to us as well. Are we blocking out the excess noise and listening to God's message so we can discern God's call on our lives?
Gregory L. Tolle is the senior minister at First United Methodist Church in Durant, Oklahoma. He is the author of Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit (Series IV, Cycle B), from which this story is taken.
Good Stories
Here I Am
by Frank R. Fisher
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."
1 Samuel 3:8b-10
"Maybe Offenbach will give us a lower bid?" That pressing question kept drifting through Ray's mind as he reached out and grabbed his son's ankle. Prevented from slipping under the pew by the last-minute catch, Jacob let out a brief squawk. Fortunately, the disapproving looks of those sitting behind him cut off the louder protest he'd intended -- they reminded Jacob that he knew quite well how he was supposed to behave during the sermon. Ray reseated his son in his proper place, and then quickly went back to his thoughts and plans. He knew the sermon was half over, and had no intention of wasting this valuable time.
To Ray, the 15 to 20 minutes of Pastor Mark's sermon was the highlight of every Sunday. His children were contained and wouldn't need much chasing. No one would be expecting him to carry on a conversation. All he had to do was keep a serious look on his face, a look showing his complete attention to the preacher's words -- then he was free to plan his work week and consider any problems facing the church building and grounds committee. The committee's work had his total attention today. All the bids for cleaning the church's boiler were coming in over budget. Considering how badly he was over budget for everything else, Ray knew he really needed to get the boiler cleaned on the cheap.
"May all glory be given to God," concluded Pastor Mark. "Amen," Ray responded sincerely with the rest of the congregation as he made a mental note to call Offenbach Plumbing first thing on Monday morning.
Ray's attention was suddenly pulled away from boiler cleaning by the first few notes of the Hymn of Response. He loved to sing, and he loved singing new hymns. This hymn, one called "Here I Am, Lord," sounded like it would be a good one:
I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people's cry. All who dwell in deepest sin my hand will save. I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Who shall I send?
As the hymn's first verse rang out from many voices, Ray staggered. He grabbed the back of the pew in front of him to hold himself upright. Most of all, Ray remembered. He remembered sitting in his pastor's study during confirmation as he asked what he needed to do to become a pastor. He remembered how he'd managed to submerge that idea, and how it had resurfaced repeatedly as he seemed to somehow hear his name called out in the night. He remembered how each time it had resurfaced he had found a way to thrust it deeply away.
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.
Ray remembered. He knew the answer to the question "is it I, Lord?" And he somehow knew there would be no way to submerge it this time. Of course, knowing something was impossible didn't mean he couldn't try! Seeing him still holding onto the next pew as if his life depended on it, Ray's wife asked him what was wrong. "Nothing," he replied. "Nothing . . . it's only the work of a very good lyricist," he insisted to himself as he followed his racing children to the fellowship hall for the coffee hour.
Ray kept insisting nothing had happened for 18 months. Ironically, perhaps as dictated by God's incredible sense of humor, it was another time of not paying attention that tripped him up. On the weekend before Holy Week Ray had a business trip scheduled, nine hours there and nine hours back with a boss who seemed to be in love with the sound of his own voice. Fortunately, Ray thought, he would also be accompanied by someone who actually appeared to like the boss's endless stories. For every minute of those 18 hours Ray sat by himself in the back seat of the car, pretending to pay attention to the conversation flowing around him. But his attention was really held by the words of the hymn and their implications. "Could this be real?" he repeatedly asked himself. "And if it is real, how do I respond?"
At the journey's end, Ray sat in his own car, re-examining his thoughts from the endless drive. Then he prayed: "If this is really You and not my idea, please show me!"
During Holy Week, Ray was shown. He raised objections; they were dashed within a very few hours. Sometimes the objections didn't even last for minutes.
On the Saturday before Easter he returned to the church, the place he had ignored so many sermons. He sat down in a pew. For some reason it was one opposite from where he normally sat. He looked at the cross hanging from the front of the chancel, and he said one word: "Yes."
Frank R. Fisher is a second-career interim/transitional pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He currently serves as the interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Fairbury, Illinois. During the final years of his first career as a paramedic and administrator for the Chicago Fire Department, Fisher graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary and was ordained. He is an Oblate of the ecumenical Abbey of John the Baptist and Saint Benedict in Bartonville, Illinois, where he has joined the rapidly growing number of those who are called to follow Saint Benedict's rule.
Answering the Call
by Steve Burt
It was in the days of sail, long before electricity, when oil lit the lighthouses along the coast of downeast Maine. Jarrod lived with his Uncle Ephraim, the lighthouse keeper at the Dorris Island lighthouse off Portland. Because the island was uninhabited except for Uncle Ephraim and Jarrod, they were alone most of the time unless Mr. Toomey came from the mainland to deliver supplies. It was lonely, but Jarrod knew Uncle Ephraim's job was important, because it was his light that kept the coastal schooners from the rocks and shoals and certain destruction.
Both Jarrod and his uncle were lonely. To deal with it, Jarrod read a lot; Uncle Ephraim drank. The boy tried to keep Ephraim from drinking -- though it seldom worked -- by asking him questions about being a lighthouse keeper. That was Ephraim's "calling," which not only gave him the greatest life satisfaction but which, he declared -- next to being a member of a coastal lifesaving station's crew -- was the most vital job in the coast.
"Never let the light go out," the old man urged his young charge. "Many lives depend on us, on this light. While you're here you must devote your life to its keeping."
Though he wasn't the actual lighthouse keeper himself, young Jarrod heeded his uncle's words as a sacred trust. Jarrod was only nine, and this was his uncle's job, but Jarrod imagined himself to be the assistant lighthouse keeper. He paid attention and learned how to fill the lamp bowl properly.
Uncle Ephraim began to drink more heavily and more often. He complained of pains in his side and stomach. More liquor was the only medicine that seemed to cure the aches, but it also practically incapacitated him at times. Jarrod tried to keep him talking, even scolded him about his "calling," about his responsibility, but it was to no avail. Ephraim kept drinking.
One black night Jarrod checked to see if the dory was secure, then stood outside a moment and looked up at the light. When he did, he saw something flicker.
The light! The oil was low and almost gone! He'd only seen it that way once before, when Uncle Ephraim had let it get down so he could show him what the danger signs were. Yes, Uncle Ephraim was an excellent lighthouse keeper and knew the job well. But now Uncle Ephraim was in a heavy drunken sleep. Jarrod ran inside.
"Uncle Ephraim, Uncle Ephraim!" he yelled. The old man only grunted soddenly. "Uncle Ephraim, the light! It's going out!" Jarrod yelled again. "You've got to fill the bowl, Uncle Ephraim!"
The breakers sounded louder outside, their crashing muffling the old man's response. It sounded like he'd said, "You, boy."
"Me, Uncle? Should I do it? Can't you?"
The answer the second time sounded like he said, "You, boy." Ephraim tried to stand up, but the liquor was having its effect.
"Uncle Ephraim," Jarrod said, "Uncle Ephraim, that light's got to be kept lit for the sake of the schooners."
Even though he could no longer do it himself, Ephraim still knew that the light had to be kept burning as a beacon or souls would be lost at sea. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, straightened himself up as best he could, and said through thick lips, "Jarrod, it's your job now. Take the oil and fill the bowl. Keep the lamp lighted." Then the old man fell off to sleep.
Young Jarrod answered the call. He filled the lamp bowl with oil and kept the beacon burning. No ships were lost that night.
Steve Burt is a United Church of Christ pastor and an acclaimed author of inspirational and horror stories. He has been the winner of the Ben Franklin, Ray Bradbury, and Bram Stoker Awards, and he is a multiple contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Burt is also known for his church leadership books and devotional material. For more information about Burt and his books, visit his website at www.burtcreations.com.
Sermon Starter
Called by Name
by Sil Galvan
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."
John 1:43
If we could summarize the lesson of today's Gospel reading in one sentence it might come out something like this: Jesus has called us each by name in our hearts to be his disciples. Let us consider why this is so.
First of all, it is Jesus who calls us. But who is Jesus? Jesus is God in human flesh. At Jesus' baptism (which we heard about last week) the Divine Trinity was revealed to us, since the voice of the Father approved of the work of his Son, Jesus Christ, who was then empowered by the Spirit. So therefore God in all three persons approves of all that our Lord does in God's name. Therefore, when we speak of Jesus, we can really speak of God: Jesus and God are synonymous.
So it is Jesus who calls us. What does it mean to be called? The English word comes from the Greek word kaleo, and means to command or request to be present, to come. For example, someone is called to testify in court. It can also mean to speak of or address by a specified name, or to give a name to someone. I should also point out that the Latin word for "call" is vocare, from which we get the word "vocal," as in vocal cords, the part of the body we use to speak. From vocare we also get the word "vocation," which means a calling to a particular occupation, business, or profession. In the church, we use the word primarily to mean a vocation to religious life, to the priesthood, to the diaconate, or to some other ministry in the church.
So Jesus calls us. Who exactly are we whom he calls? We are ordinary persons, just like his disciples. The disciples were simple folk, fishermen, of which there were many near the Sea of Galilee. They weren't the learned of their day, or wealthy. They were ordinary people who lived simple, ordinary lives, just like we do. He comes to us exactly where we are. Some years ago, I happened to watch an old movie called The Left Hand of God. It was about a renegade pilot who was shot down over China during World War II and was taken in by a local robber baron. In order to escape his clutches, the pilot assumed the identity of a dead priest and hid out in a small Chinese village. Eventually, he came to be loved by the local people, who had not had a priest for several years. The change that occurred in Humphrey Bogart, who played the pilot, as he assimilated the persona of the priest was astounding. It struck me that God will use everyone, right where they are, to accomplish his purposes. So it is that Jesus calls us, just as he called the ordinary fishermen of his day.
So Jesus calls us, each one by name. What is in a name? It is the distinctive designation of a person or thing. It is the opposite of something which is nameless, anonymous, or indistinguishable from something else which is just like it. A name is the ultimate sign of respect. It always drives me crazy when I interact with people who know my name but don't use it. I feel it reduces me to the status of anyone in the nameless crowd, of someone we meet on the street. I even have been known to get upset with my children when they don't address me as their father. It is God who calls us each by name in the depths of our hearts. Conversely, knowing God's name (Yahweh) gives us a certain degree of power to be able to address him personally (he can't ignore us when we call).
In today's Gospel, John uses names throughout the reading. John sees Jesus and refers to him as the Lamb of God. When Jesus sees the disciples following him and asks them what they are looking for, they address him as "Rabbi." Then Andrew finds his brother Simon and tells him that he has found the Messiah, or the Anointed. Finally, our Lord speaks to Simon and calls him Peter. None of these people are addressed impersonally as "hey, you." No, they are people with a distinct identity. God does not address us impersonally either. He calls us each by name.
So it is Jesus who calls us, each one of us. How does God call us, each one of us? He doesn't ask us to come to him in a group. No, he speaks to us individually in our hearts. There is a story that I can't resist repeating here.
A four-year-old girl was at the pediatrician's office for a checkup. As the doctor looked into her ears with an otoscope, he asked her, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl remained silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked her, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down here?" Again, the girl did not answer him. Finally, the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in here?" At that, the little girl looked up with her eyes wide and said, "Oh, no. Jesus is in my heart; Barney's on my underpants."
God no longer speaks to us in a voice that we can hear, as he spoke to Samuel in our first reading. And since he can no longer call us physically, as he did his first disciples, Jesus calls to us in the depths of our hearts.
So he calls us each by name to be his disciples. What is a disciple? It means a follower, one who has grasped another's teachings. The fact that you are here today means that you are eager to grasp his teachings. Why is this important? Because they can make a significant difference in your life.
So Jesus calls us each by name to be his disciples. But recognizing the call is another story. In our first reading today, God called Samuel three times (by name, you notice) before Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling him. In next week's first reading we will hear about Jonah's reaction to God's call, which was anything but wholehearted. Each of us has to look deeply into our own hearts and discern how Jesus is speaking to us. And once we've heard his voice, we need to respond as Samuel did: "Here I am, Lord; your servant is listening. I come to do your will."
Silverius "Sil" Galvan is a deacon at the Catholic Community of Saint Mary of the Lake in Lakewood, New Jersey. He has been involved in music ministry as an organist, guitarist, and sometime cantor for more than four decades. Galvan also operates www.deaconsil.com, a website offering extensive homiletic resources.
Scrap Pile
Greta's Glorious Body
by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Greta Schmidt huffed and puffed her way through the church hallways toward the parish nurse's office. She detested tardiness. It was bad enough in others, but totally unacceptable in herself. As it turned out, she had eased her bulk into the largest, sturdiest chair with two minutes to spare, and it took all of that time for her heart to stop racing and her breathing to settle back into its normal wheeze. Another "fat class," Greta sighed to herself.
Weight loss clinics, diet clubs, exercise groups, and calorie counting were nothing new to Greta. She had fought a losing battle with fat from the time she was a small child.
"My mama was an excellent German cook!" she always laughed, by way of explanation. "Sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, kuchen and stollen, sauerkraut, bratwurst, knockwurst, and strudel. Always so much food! And I loved it so much! And Mama always demanded that we EAT! EAT! Is it any wonder I look the way I do?"
But Greta had paid dearly, her entire life, for her love of food. The other children had teased her and called her names; adults clucked their tongues and whispered as they stared. She was never chosen to play games or to be on prom court. No boy ever asked her out... ever.
Still, Greta's family life was close-knit and comforting -- and there was the food! She completed high school, attended college, and became a librarian. She lived at home, learning to cook all of her mother's best dishes. As the years passed, Greta cared for her parents, and then her older brother, until one by one they went on to be with God. Now, in middle age, Greta's own health had become affected by her food obsession.
"The doctor says I have hypertension, heart problems, gout, and adult-onset diabetes," Greta said in answer to nurse Betty Anderson's request for all the group members to state why they had come to her class on Holistic Lifestyle Management. "I've tried every kind of diet on the market. I figure one more can't hurt."
Others in the class shared Greta's health concerns, and more besides, but she noted that few shared her girth. The next largest person present was a man who probably weighed around 250 pounds. Greta couldn't remember when she had weighed that little.
"Would someone volunteer to begin with some scripture readings?" nurse Betty asked, passing around sheets of paper with several printed texts. A man named Max raised his hand and read:
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.... God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1:27, 31)
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5)
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. (Psalm 22:9-10)
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits -- who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit... (Psalm 103:2-4)
"Now, tell me," the nurse said, "what theme do you hear running through these scriptures?"
"That God made us and we are good," said one woman who was wearing an oxygen mask.
"That we belong to God," said another.
"That God heals our diseases," said Max.
"I want to suggest," nurse Betty continued, "that this class on Holistic Lifestyle Management is the beginning of thinking of ourselves in a new way. Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. But we can't love our neighbors the way we should if we don't love ourselves! And if we love ourselves, we won't want to put harmful things like cigarette smoke, fatty foods, too much refined sugar, and harmful chemicals into our bodies. We need to take care of our bodies through exercise, good nutrition, daily prayer and meditation.
"I'd like to lift up a portion of Paul's advice to the Corinthians as God's advice to us."
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything.... Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:12, 19-20)
Greta huffed and puffed her way back to her car, lost in thought. Never had anyone told her that her body was special. Never had she considered that the food she so loved to eat was a substitute for love and acceptance.
Was that why all the other diets and exercise programs had failed? Because she had never loved herself -- her own body -- enough to care for it?
"Let me start over again, God," she wheezed as she squeezed herself behind the steering wheel of her large car. "Help me to love myself enough to glorify you in my body."
(From Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit [Cycle B] by John Sumwalt and Jo Perry-Sumwalt.)
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StoryShare, January 15, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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