April 27, 2008 Sermon

Samuel Gets the Call
I Samuel 3:1-14

On September 17, 1999, Jim Morris got the call.  A minor league pitcher, Jim Morris got the call to join the major league Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  Any time a player receives that first shot at the big time it is a lifetime achievement type of moment.  For Morris that call was even more special.  He was 35 years old.  The only players in history to reach the majors for the first time at an older age came from the Negro Leagues back in the forties and fifties, when African-Americans finally got the chance to play with the white men. 

Morris had made a deal with the boys he coached on the Regan County, Texas, high school baseball team.  If they won the District championship he would try out for a professional team.  They did, and he did.  The scouts running the tryouts told him he was too old.  He told them of his deal with his players and they, moved by his pride in them, allowed him what they thought would be his few minutes of glory.  After he warmed up his first pitch popped into the catcher’s mitt so loudly that all other movement on the field stopped.  A scout brought a radar gun over: for twelve consecutive pitches—all strikes—he topped 98 miles per hour.  There may not be a major league pitcher active today who could accomplish that.  Morris signed a minor league contract.  After a few appearances the “big club’s” general manager called his owner.  His owner called his manager.  His manager called Morris into his office and broke him the news.  Morris called his wife.  That’s a lot of calling.  

Morris lasted for only sixteen appearances.  His aging arm suffered nagging injuries and the Rays released him.  He wrote a book, The Oldest Rookie, which became the basis for the movie The Rookie.  But the movie finessed one of the book’s themes: Morris believes in Jesus Christ.  His faith gives him peace.  His faith helped him to stay content with his quiet, kind-of-going-nowhere life before he got the call.  His faith helped him stay calm during the roller coaster ride of his brief major league career.  His faith kept him from spinning down after the wild ride ended.  He sees that he has a calling.  He identifies his calling as being a Christian husband, father and coach. 

I may first have heard the story of Samuel’s call in Vacation Bible School.  It made an impression on me.  If God called even little boys, maybe God would call me, too.  I do not know whether I worried about God’s voice scaring the heck out of me when I went to bed.  I do know that even a child can easily grasp the surface point of I Samuel 3:1-14: God calls people.  In the years since I have come to believe strongly in a deeper form of that point: God calls people to particular ministries. 

God calls people to particular ministries.  God did not simply call Samuel to get him out of bed.  God called him, we will learn as we follow the story, to become the priest who would lead the people of Israel through their transition into a theocratic monarchy, a country run by a king who answered to Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty.  At this point, in chapter three of the book that bears his name, we know only that Samuel’s mother prayed for a son after prolonged childlessness and promised to dedicate her firstborn son to the priesthood; and that she kept that promise, sending Samuel off to apprentice to the priesthood as soon as she weaned him.

The wording of our passage in the original Hebrew makes it clear that Samuel is still a young boy when the Lord calls him.  And what a tough, threatening call it is!  “The two ears of every one who hears it will tingle.”  This word from the Lord tells of the destruction of the family of Eli, Samuel’s mentor.  Eli’s sons have abused their power as priests.  Eli has known of their sin and has not stopped them.  They have sinned, and they have sinned as priests.  For this double transgression, the Lord will lay them low forever. 

The Lord calls people to particular ministries.  And those whom God calls to positions of greater responsibility also have greater accountability.  The nation of Israel saw Jacob as its father.  Jacob actually fathered twelve sons who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Eli and his sons belonged to the tribe of Levi.  They could trace their ancestry back to Levi, one of Jacob’s twelve sons.  This mattered because only members of the tribe of Levi could serve as priests in the Hebrew religion.

But not all members of the tribe of Levi became priests.  Those who did served with power and privilege.  The rest of Israel fed and housed these priests, and in style.  They had authority over every facet of life: politics, family matters, agriculture, warfare and, of course, religion.  Priests had power.  They also had responsibilities.  They had to lead their entire nation in keeping God’s laws.  They especially had to ensure that Israel kept the laws about worship—the laws that give the rest of the law its foundation and meaning.  Eli’s sons not only failed to keep God’s law, they enthusiastically broke it.  They broke it in God’s sanctuary.  And Eli did not stop them.  All three willfully disobeyed God’s call upon their lives.  They were held accountable.  We will all be held accountable.

God calls people to particular ministries.  The Presbyterian Church builds its entire mission upon this teaching.  We believe that God calls a few folks to splashy, public, highly accountable ministries like serving as ruling elders or deacons.  But we also believe that God calls people to ministries that nobody notices—and that these ministries matter every bit as much.  Should you feel that I am just patronizing those whose calls seem less important, please read I Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4.

Northern Lakes Church does a few things very well.  But we have weaknesses, and these weaknesses act like holes that people fall through.  Sometimes they fall all the way out of our congregation.  Sometimes they fall all the way out of faith in Jesus Christ.  This is a scandal.  I believe that God will hold the leaders of this church, including me, accountable for it.  We need your help.  We all need each other’s help.  God has called us to particular ministries.  Among the ministries that we need to strengthen—and right now—in this congregation are the ministry of fellowship and the ministry of communication. 

Do you have a knack for getting people together and having a good time?  Maybe God has called you to help us strengthen the fellowship, the getting together and having a good time in the name of Christ, of this congregation.  Do you have the ability to communicate verbally, in writing or on the computer, and in other ways?  Maybe you have the calling of helping this church better communicate within its circle and to the world surrounding us. 

Please pray that God would reveal—if God has not already done so—your calling.  Listen to the people of God, the church, for their insight into what your calling might be.  We Presbyterians believe that God calls people to become elders, deacons and pastors in part through voting by church members.  In fact, the church can help everybody define his or her call.  We are about to offer one new way to help you learn your particular ministry.  We have purchased fifty copies of a book, Discover Your Spiritual Gift.  The Adult Ministries team will soon begin promoting various times and ways you can follow the process this book uses to help people learn how God has called them.  I encourage you to answer their call.