This weeks Glee feature: Season 2, Episode 8 “Chessus”
A mother was observing her little girl saying her bedtime prayers. She said, "Dear God, thank you for mommy. Thank you for daddy. And dear Lord I pray that tomato would be spelled with an "e" at the end!" Her mother was surprised, "Honey, why did you pray that Tomato would have an "e" on the end?" The little girl said, "Well mommy, because that's the answer I put on my test at school."
Each of us would like to have some kind of special connection with God. In the United Church of Christ we proudly proclaim our connect with a “Still Speaking God”, but when it comes right down to it, let’s face it, we’re not always sure exactly how to communicate with God…
Today as we continue our series "Getting to Know God via Glee", we're going to focus on the theme, "Getting to Know our Still Speaking God." We're going to look at the story of Samuel.
But before we do that, lets set the stage with a little look at how one of the more interesting methods of communicating with God as discovered by Finn in Glee
MODERN PARABLE FOR TODAY: “Cheesus”
GLEE SEASON 2, EPISODE 8
Setting the Context
READINGS FOR THE DAY: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (Today’s English Version)
The book of First Samuel is all the gift of a special person. In many ways It’s the story about a gift that keeps on giving.
As with many birth stories in the Bible, it starts off with a woman who wants nothing more than the gift of a child. She prayed, prayed and prayed - prayed that someday she could be a mom. At first it seemed like God wasn't listening. And so one day she stood in the temple and cried out with all her heart to God. You know that kind of prayer. The prayer of desperation. We’ve all been there. We may pray that kind of prayer kneeling in church. We may pray that kind of prayer sitting on our sofa a home. We may pray that kind of prayer from our beds or maybe next to a hospital bed. We know THAT kind of prayer.
Only this prayer was a little different. Across the room, the priest, Eli, noticed her lips moving but no sound was coming out. Now his pastoral response leaves a little bit to be desired; we read that he came over to her, and in not so many words said "Hannah, you must be drunk. Pull yourself together. You need to get out of here and go sober up". Not quite the kind of pastor we'd all like to have around in a crisis. But Hannah persisted. She said, "No, Eli, I'm not drunk. I'm crying out to God because I want a child." It’s HER prayer of desperation. Well, God heard that cry. And a short time later, Samuel was born.
In response to God’s gift to her, Hannah decided to dedicate Samuel to the Lord's work. It’s the gift the gives back. When he was old enough, she brought him to the temple to live and to grow and to learn.
You might imagine that a temple would be a pretty positive place for a child to grow up with all the religious education and the religious environment. But not so. In fact, here it was just the opposite. You see, Eli had some extremely evil, evil sons. And these sons did some dastardly deeds. In fact, because of all the evilness, we read in chapter 3 of 1 Samuel "In those days, the Lord hardly ever spoke directly to the people". It's not that God didn't want to speak. It was just that when God spoke, no one listened. And so the communication with God was rare. It was in that kind of environment that Samuel grew as a boy.
Somehow, by the grace of God, Samuel was protected from all this. One night as he was sleeping, the Lord spoke to Samuel, "Samuel!" Of course, Samuel ran to Eli, the priest and said, "Here I am" Eli said, "I didn't call you. Go back to bed" A second time, "Samuel!" "Yes, Eli, here I am" "I didn't call you. Now go back to bed" And a third time, "Samuel" "Here I am".
Now sometimes clergy can be a little slow. Eli was one of those. But finally, the third time, he was starting to get a little insight as to what was going on here. Ah-ha! Thought Eli, maybe this is God trying to speak here. So he said to Samuel, "This time say 'I'm listening Lord. What do you want me to do?" And this time when Samuel went back to bed and heard the voice again, he responded just like Eli had instructed him. And the Lord, so excited and delighted that someone was finally listening, spoke to him. It wasn't an easy conversation to have. It was a tough word from God with good news and bad news. But nonetheless, it was an important conversation. It was a message that brought healing and hope to the nation. It was a message of new beginnings for the people of God. God was looking for someone who would listen. God wanted to speak! God wanted to be heard! And finally God finds Samuel with the GIFT of being able to LISTEN
You and I live today in a world that may not be much different. We are in a world that needs so desperately to hear from God.
GLEE:
(Let me set the context: Curt’s father has had a heart attack and is in the hospital in an unresponsive state; the Glee clubs initial reaction is to respond with messages of hope from their various faith traditions; however, Sue finds a way to ban all spirituality from school grounds so Rachel is forced to struggle with her own Jewish understanding of prayer off school property. Listen as she shares this song from ….
Season 2, Episode 3 Rachel’s Song “Papa Can You Hear Me?”
It is that kind of craziness that God wants to speak to and will speak to. God is willing, ready and able to speak to us. Even in our own lives. When we're feeling discouraged and empty. When our families are falling apart. When our finances are crumbling. When we have no hope for the future, we need the word of the Lord! And God wants to and will speak to us.
How does God speak to us today? First of all, God speaks to us through the written word. What we call the Bible. God's word is alive and active. It can speak to us.
Secondly, God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. God can also speak to us through other people, tap on the shoulder, events, circumstances, and spiritual nudges….
I don’t think the problem is on the sending end of the communication process. God is still speaking. I wonder if more of the problem is that we tend not to listen. Perhaps we are more like Eli’s sons than we like to imagine. They’ve totally tuned God out. God speaks through the Bible, but today only about 17% of Americans actually read their Bible on a regular basis. God speaks to us through other people, but how can we really get their insights if we hide behind our pretenses and fail to be honest about our reality. God speaks to us through circumstances, but often we’re just so busy flyin through life, that we don’t even see open windows around us.
Perhaps we need to look more closely at Samuel Turning Towards God and Tuning In. I’m not suggesting you need to go live in a temple or other sacred space, but what would it mean for each of us to carve out more sacred time in our daily lives so we could actually listen for God.
Secondly, we to respond to what we hear. Now there’s another big difference between Eli's sons and Samuel -- Samuel not only listened to the voice of God, he actually responded to what he heard. I don't know about you but I have developed a tremendous skill called selective hearing. You may have noticed it in your spouse, or a child, or other people you know. I only hear what I want to hear …and I only respond to things that are engaging to me. I do the same thing with God sometimes. I read in the Bible where it says "Forgive those who have hurt you". I say "Well, God, I think I'll skip that part …” I hear but I don’t respond It says "Love your enemies". I hear ... but I pretend that I don’t. It’s selective hearing. Ever been on the sending side of those communication efforts. It’s frustrating to say the least. Usually ends up with louder and louder attempts or we just throw our hands in the air and say “it’s like talking to a wall…” We long for new patterns of communication. Therapists call the solution “closing the communication loop”. You let people know you are listening to them by actually responding to what they are saying. (and one of those non-committal grunt-like sounds doesn’t cut it)
As we hear God's voice, and as God gives us a little nudge to do something we need to learn to respond. Step out and try it and we'll develop an ear and heart to hear God's voice. God is willing ready and able to speak to you. And God is going to guide you and give you new hope and encouragement, strength, energy and joy as you listen and obey. It’s great to be part of a denomination where we lift up a “Still Speaking God”. May we also be “Still Listening People”.
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