union avenue christian church |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
God's Eyesight I Samuel 15:34 – 16:13; Psalm 20 Three short stories to begin… Two Roman Catholic women died and presented themselves in front of God, who would determine if they entered into heaven. The question was asked: “Why do you think you deserve to enter?” The first woman exuberantly proclaimed all that she had done to keep the laws of the church. In fact, her life-long mission (unlike the woman next to her) had been to maintain purity in the rules about the priesthood, making sure that women would not become priests. Jesus had no women priests and she had passionately worked against the possibility of making such a change in the present day church. The other woman also proclaimed her faithfulness to the church and its heritage. However, she had read the Bible to realize that in Christ there was neither male nor female and so she had spent years diligently campaigning for the church to include women in the priesthood. She could not, for the life of her, understand or accept the intolerance of her companion at the gates of heaven. God calmed them both down a bit, and said, “I have two more questions.” Don’t you wonder if God is either aggravated or amused at the issues that get us going?! Are you curious about how God sees what we make major in light of the truly major concerns of the world?! Second story: We had agreed to come for a turkey dinner. The turkey was frozen and sitting in the sink. The potatoes were partially peeled, but had turned brown because they were neglected on the counter-top. It was early afternoon and clearly the alcohol had been flowing for hours. I could not imagine how we would endure in that place with those people. Thankfully, Christopher slept through most of the time we were there. As we had dinner (which ultimately was Chinese take-out) the depth of sharing was astonishing. The man — who had had a brilliant career as a scientist for a major Canadian industry — shared with us the devastation and breakdown of his life and some of the incredible achievements of his life. He showed us the Purple Heart he had received in his military career. He talked about the death of his first wife. He was grasping for a life-saving anchor — someone to assure him that there had been meaning in at least one part of his history. His life touched my heart in a way that I would never have suspected and which I initially wanted to run from or dismiss because of the exterior circumstances that I first saw. How privileged we are when we allow ourselves to see beyond those exterior barriers and open ourselves to the vulnerability of relationship with people we do not understand, nor initially like. Only God can always see in that way. Third story: I smiled at her, put out my hand and said, “yes, and since this is as close to a Democrat as you have ever come, you may want to touch me. But isn’t it interesting that you have known me for almost a year and we have come to appreciate and love each other and that fact has not been an issue.” And God would probably ask us: God sees the world — and us — with a different kind of eyesight than we could ever imagine. Today’s wonderful Hebrew scripture captures that reality. Centuries ago ancient Israel was led by wise men — not political rulers. Samuel was one of those wise men, and one who did a remarkable and faithful job. During his time, however, the people pleaded to be “like the rest of the world.” Give us a king, they clamored. He resisted…God resisted …but finally they succumbed. God helped Samuel appease the people and chose Saul to be the very first king. It turned out to be a bad choice. Samuel, then, had to depose Saul, and find the new king. That’s the background of today’s scripture. Ultimately, everything turns out and David is found and anointed as the new king. Getting there, however, and the dance between Samuel and God TO get there is the issue of the passage. Through it we have an opportunity to appreciate how God sees, and how that is so much broader than the small and discriminating ways in which we see. I like to think God sees as the impressionist artists. Their style of painting exudes feeling. Many of them somehow wrap their art in softness, cloudy and intermeshing lines. It is an impression, after all, that comes through and not the starkness of reality. In fact, Samuel receives the admonition from God that God does NOT look on outward appearances, but, rather, looks on the heart. Don’t be fooled by the height of this candidate, or the good looks of this one, or the ability that is sale-able on first sight, God asserts, there is much, much more. I would have God seeing in a non-precise, or as some would say, “soft” way. This is how God set up the whole parade of sons walking in front of Samuel. God convinced Samuel to TRUST ME! I will reveal the right one to you. I will whisper in your ear (or heart) and you will know. Samuel, as you may remember, had been hearing from God since he was a very young child. So, perhaps he was used to this kind of relationship. Samuel knew that matters of the heart are the matters of God. Love, which is the major definer of God, sees beyond reason, doesn’t add facts to get to a conclusion, and is able to forgive when forgetting seems impossible. God not only feels with the heart. God sees, hears and touches through he heart and through love. It is no wonder that faith is an emotional journey, and why I like to categorize it artistically in my favorite way. But God’s eyesight will not be confined to my love of impressionist art. This little tale of Samuel points at two moments when God’s way of looking at the situation are precise, realistic, and as savvy to worldly dynamics as we would ever know. Samuel is obviously frustrated that, one, he was forced into getting his people a king; two, the wrong man was chosen; and, three, that he (Samuel) had to be the one to inform the wrong king about God’s error. He evidently was sniveling about all this when God told him to “get over it.” A change had to be made and Samuel had to make it and get on with the important matters at hand. God intimated that Samuel was going to be useless to God unless he got his act together. No time for cuddling love. No fuzzy lines. No dawdling or making excuses any longer! Samuel’s second heads-up to God’s business-like approach was related to his own safety. “What will the people think when I approach them?” Samuel knew he had personal power and prestige. He knew that walking into this community with his very presence would set off the fear among people that he would be provoking change or questioning possibilities of the unknown. “Take a peace offering,” God said. Take them flowers, assuage their fears and quit worrying. That kind of instruction is about as realistic as one can receive. It is clear, politically expedient, pragmatic, practical and no-nonsense. It is as far from an emotional response as night is from day. The glory of God is knowing and seeing what is right and necessary every changing moment of time. God’s way of seeing just will not be categorized into our simplistic ways — our ancient, medieval, dark ages, age of enlightenment, modern or postmodern schematics. God’s looking onto the heart does not always translate into feel-good sensations. God’s compassion always has the strength of justice. And God’s sense of rightness is always filled with love. We run into fierce danger thinking we can capture how God sees just because we believe our eyes are open. There is probably so much we believe is important that God would wish we would get over so we can look onto the important aspects of what our lives should mean. And then there are undoubtedly times when we slip over the little pieces of our lives that could be so important to God’s way of seeing. Samuel — wise man that he was, beloved and used by God all of his life — never got it completely clear. He questioned God, he was frustrated by God, he complained to God, but he listened to God! He listened to God so that God’s way of seeing what was important for Samuel to do for God and God’s people could be done, and done well. May we be so fortunate as to want to hear how God sees…so that we, too, may be the servants God needs today! SW |
OUR LIFE OUR WORSHIP OUR STUDY OUR HISTORY OUR CHURCH LINKS
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
|||||||
