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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

God calls through anyone

Do we, like Samuel, not distinguish God’s voice coming unexpectedly (1 Samuel 3. 1-10)?

 

Context

How does God’s voice find us in our churchy enclaves within a nation largely indifferent to formal religion and surrounded by 24/7 news and social media? Are we alert to demands to take up godly matters like truth, justice and compassion when they are raised in seemingly random places?

This week we have an actor and musician putting before us the pain of knife-crime; a TV drama thrusts the wrong of continuing injustice at us and the government; and the death of a man once in the public eye giving a well-known children’s author the opportunity to fight a deliberate untruth. Do we respond to such voices as seriously as we do to those coming from ‘safe’ quarters such as our churches, or our circle of friends?

On the other hand social media can be far from benign. How acute are our antennae for the good nudge wherever it comes from?

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

Samuel’s puzzlement arose because he expected God’s word to be mediated to him from within his familiar culture, by his senior. Instead, it came in a mysteriously direct way as a discrete voice. Have you ever experienced a conviction that God was not speaking in the expected way, through someone you expected to channel the godly perspective, but otherwise?

I was dismayed when a Christian friend, contemplating my five-month-old grandchild, asserted that she was glad she had no grand-children as she looked at the world today’s children are being born into. Her gloomy take on the world was understandable: climate disaster; wars and civil strife; and the cost of living crisis. But her words later moved me to push back. At least in thought.

Samuel received courage and eloquence. But maybe a more ordinary child, indeed maybe even an ‘infant’, a not-yet-speaking baby, can, silently, mediate the voice of God.

That little baby in the midst of a small, elderly congregation has served through this long glum winter as a focus of hope and joy. He makes people smile. He completely trusts the loving care surrounding him and responds joyfully to it. He models an important part of the meaning of the infant Jesus, the child in the manger, vulnerable, but trusting, loved and cared for, and containing huge as yet unseen potential for good. The smiling baby challenges me to assert that the answer to a suffering world is neither to ignore it, nor to despair, but to respond in small ways and have faith that the parent-God does provide loving care to us all, into the New Year and forever. And where these little ambassadors of hope are concerned, we need to cherish them, support them, encourage them and if necessary fight for them, so that they, seeking the Kingdom in their turn, can fulfil the potential for great good which God puts into every human child.

 

Questions for discussion

If God is speaking to you (singular or plural) through one of the campaigns alluded to above, or through some perhaps unexpected person in your immediate community? What are you going to do about it?

Social media: is it basically a good thing, or a bad thing?

 

Brenda Vance is a retired university teacher with two adult children and five grandchildren of assorted ages.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

Jessica saves the day! Last weekend, a stage artist responded to an urgent call for a stand-in lead role in the musical Evita. The desperate cast and staff put out the call when both leading lady and her understudy fell ill. Jessica Daley threw a bag in her car and drove 150 miles to Leicester to sing the highly demanding score that evening, partly from the stage wings. The cast and audience were so overjoyed at her singing, that they gave her a standing ovation, describing the performance as amazing and unforgettable!

In the Samuel Bible passage, the boy responds to his call in the night. Once the priest Eli assures Samuel that it is God who is calling him, he is ready and listens to what God asks. And so begins a remarkable life for Samuel, sharing God’s word and leading people in to God’s ways.

Jessica showed courage in her generous and risky response to the theatre’s need. And it ended up being a thing of beauty to those present. I’m guessing her life will now bring new joys to herself and others.

How might God be calling you to a new thing; a response which takes courage but could lead to something of beauty? God wants us to be brave in building his kingdom of love and compassion. Pray to know what God is asking of you. It may be to use your skills and experiences to help others, or it may even be to stand out from the crowd and start something fresh with God.

We are told that Samuel did not yet know the Lord well enough to recognise his voice. Let’s be encouraged to better know the Lord’s voice by reading scripture daily, and set aside some quiet times this week in listening prayer. If I miss the call of God, I might just miss what I was made for!

Question for discussion: How can we help a friend to discern if a prompting is coming from God?

Dr Angela Mak is a Licensed Lay Minister in the Ecumenical Partnership of West Swindon and Lydiard Tregoze. She is also a school’s worker, and retired biology teacher.

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