Listening

 Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church

 A warm welcome to each worshiper today. We celebrate you and offer you our friendship and love. We are a congregation of people who seek to grow spiritually, to become more like Christ in His compassion and acceptance of everyone while growing more aware of what it really means to be Christians today.

As a Reconciling Congregation, EPUMC affirms the sacred worth of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities and welcomes them into full participation in the fellowship, membership, ministries, and leadership of the congregation.

 

 

 

943 Palmer Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12309 / 518-374-4306 epumc943@gmail.com / www.easternparkway.org

Order of Worship

January 14, 2024

10:00 a.m.

*You are invited to rise in body or spirit.

 

Prelude

Greeting and Announcements

Mission Statement: We are a faith community striving to be, to nurture, and to send forth disciples of Jesus Christ.

Call to Worship:

God, you call each of us to serve you, and we answer,

“Here I am!”

Jesus, you call each of us to follow you, and we answer,

“Here I am!”

Holy Spirit, you call each of us to worship you this day,

and we answer,

“Here I am!”

*Hymn                            Morning Has Broken                              #145

Prayer of Confession:

Awesome God, you have made all of creation and each cell of our bodies. You know our thoughts and you know our mistakes. We try to hide our shortcomings, but you know it all. So we come to you asking for forgiveness. Even as you know the limits of our human capabilities, we know the infinite span of your love. Forgive us, cleanse us, and make us whole.

Assurance:

The God who has made us will never desert us.

The God of creation is creating still, making us new.

The God whose love gave us the gift of Jesus Christ

is the same God whose love forgives and sustains us.

Amen.  

Scripture Reading 1 Samuel 3: 1-10

Samuel’s Calling and Prophetic Activity

3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!”[a] and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. 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. 9 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.

10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Sermon                                          Listening

Friends, today I’m simply pulling from the Old Testament lesson that the Revised Common Lectionary recommends for this Sunday. And it’s one of my favorites, not necessarily to preach about, but to read and reflect on for my own spiritual growth.

This is a short story, with only 10 verses. We have three main characters:

-Samuel, who is about ten years old. He’s the son that Hannah gave birth to after years of infertility and her sister wife taunting her about it. She prayed to be able to conceive, and promised if she could give birth to a son she wouldn’t even raise him in her home, she’d nurse him, wean him, and then immediately turn him over to the synagogue to be raised in service to the faith. 

-Eli, the priest who is training and mentoring the young Samuel.

-God, a new character in Samuel’s life, even though he’s been raised in a synagogue.

While I was preparing to preach on this text, I spent a lot of time thinking about what the world must have looked like to little Samuel. At 10, he’s just a few months older than my son Daniel is right now. All of us were once experts at approaching our faith like children, and perceiving the world like a child. Because we were all kids once. But then we grew up. We got old, cynical, unimaginative, boring, serious, and straight to the point. And that’s after we’ve had our coffee. When Jesus told his disciples they needed to approach the Kingdom of God like children, what he meant is that they would have to undo the warping that the adult world does to your mind and heart in order to understand God.

Ten is an interesting age. Daniel still calls me Mommy, still likes to make snow angels, and still snuggles in bed with his favorite stuffies. But in another year he’ll be in middle school, and on his academic track he’ll be focusing on vocational skills, the kinds of skills he’ll need to get a job someday. He’s becoming more independent, he makes a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he uses the peanut butter lid like a cookie cutter to make his sandwich circle shaped. He takes baths by himself, picks out his own outfits, and plays computer and video games. He has core values, and a sense of justice. He knows most of your names, and he asks me all the time who’s in the hospital right now, and how y’all are doing. He has compassion. He’s not in the grown up world yet, but he’s starting to become the person he will be in it. And then there’s the pieces of his personality that hang in the liminal space between childhood and adolescence–if you ask him about Star Wars, he’ll talk to you about droids, spaceships, and Darth Vader all day.

This is the age that God picked to begin a personal relationship with Samuel. Prior to this point, God was talking to the senior adult, Eli, and trusting that Eli would make a good medium between a child and his Creator. But now that Samuel is in this tender space, this age where he still believes in the tooth fairy but he’s also sprouting values about fairness and equality, God knows Samuel is in the perfect place to hear the voice of the Divine.

Kids this age are still pretty literal. When Samuel hears his name being called, even in the middle of the night when he knows everyone is asleep, his first instinct is to look for the grownup who wants him to do something. He’s also still young enough to wake his caregiver in the middle of the night. So the first time God calls his name, Samuel pokes Eli, who rolls over, sees the blurry image of Samuel, and growls “Whhhaaaaaattt???” Eli sends him back to bed with his teddy bear and a glass of water. But Samuel hears the voice again, and goes to bug Eli, who has had a few minutes to think and realizes Samuel is hearing God’s voice. Samuel is young enough to trust his caregiver completely, young enough to fully embrace a new idea, but also old enough to understand multi-step directions. So Eli tells him, next time you hear the voice, know that it’s God, and just say this sentence: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel’s response, of those words, is where I’m ending the story. If you want to know what God actually said to Samuel, that’s easy, just go read it, it’s in the very next verse. But I ended that scripture reading at verse 10 because the point of that part of the story, to me, is not about what God says next. It’s about Samuel’s behavior. His faith, and his total willingness to listen to God. It’s about the listening.

Learning how to listen is a lifelong skill. Little kids get a bad rap for being exceptionally poor at it, and when I have to utter the sentence “don’t put legos in your mouth” eight times a day, I get why we think this is a little kid problem. But the kind of listening I want my 4 year old to master, obedience to caregivers, and the willingness to follow basic rules, and only the ground floor of what it means to listen. There’s a skyscraper of listening skills that come after that, but a lot of grown ups stop constructing around the second or third floor, once we’ve reached the point where we can absorb enough information from one another to make friends, keep a job, and be a decent citizen. We can go so much higher. 

Listening isn’t just about receiving information. It’s about connecting your soul to something speaking to you. True listening requires slowing down, shutting out outside distractions, and making the object of your attention your sole focus. Most grown ups struggle with these concepts. It’s not all our fault, we live in a world that teaches us to do do do and think think think. We worry that if our bodies aren’t busy and our brains aren’t generating paragraphs of thought, we’re not doing this right, we’re not working, we’re not solving. It’s a lot to unlearn.

If you’ve ever done any work with meditation, you’ve had the chance to flex your listening muscles. Meditation isn’t just something that our Buddhist friends do, and it’s not just something you do while wearing yoga pants and sitting on a mat. Christianity is the home of many forms of meditative prayer. I borrow my favorite of these from our Catholic friends, and meditate over the rosary. But I’m going to conclude this sermon by teaching you all about another meditative faith exercise, one that involves listening with your whole body and mind to the words of scripture. It’s called “Lectio Divina” which is Latin for “divine reading”.

Lectio Divina is best when done with a very short scripture passage. For this exercise, I’m using Matthew 6: 19-21, just three verses. I’m going to read it to you slowly, twice.

Clever your mind. If a thought pops in your head, acknowledge it and let it go. A lot of people like to close their eyes for this, but only do what feels comfortable and natural for you.

For this first time you hear these verses, think about which words jump out at you.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust[b] consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

For this second time you hear these words, think about what actions God wants from you because of these words.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust[b] consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How did that feel? What jumped out at you? What do you want to do now? Those feelings, inclinations, and ideas are all things that God left on your heart, while you were listening. And you only did that for just a minute. Imagine what God would put on your heart if you listened like that every day?

Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening.

Amen.

*Hymn                         I’ve Just Come from the Fountain              #2250

 

Offering

Offertory

*Doxology #94

*Prayer of dedication           

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

Beloved God,

You know us inside and out and you still call us to serve you.

Lord, honestly we are often hesitant, afraid, and wish to remain hidden.

Empower us to listen for and to hear your call

Empower us to answer your call with “Here I am Lord”

Empower us to follow you when you call us to follow you.

Lord of mercy and justice,

So many have gone before us working to bring

Justice and peace to our country and our world.

Their footsteps seem to big to step into

to continue the work you have called us all to;

so we hesitantly step one step at a time,

bringing your seeds of hope, justice and peace

in a world crying out for them.

Lord of hope,

We pray for our country, our leaders and especially our new president as he is inaugurated into leading our country in tumultuous times. We pray for healing of our country, reconciliation, forgiveness and peace.

Lord of peace,

We pray for your compassion and healing for those individuals in our congregation who need it. We pray for your comfort and presence for those who are grieving lonely and oppressed. We pray for warmth, shelter, clothing and food for those who are without.

Lord we say to you this day,

“Here we are your servants willing to preach your word,

offer care where care is needed,

presence where presence is needed,

your love where your love is needed.”

Lord, strengthen us for our ministry today and everyday.

In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy spirit.  Amen.

— written by Rev Abi, and posted on her Long and Winding Road blog.

Our Father, Mother, Creator God, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.

The Lord’s Supper

*Hymn                           Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee                        #89

Benediction

Postlude

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Staff

Natalie Bowerman Pastor

Betsy Lehmann Music Director

Joe White Custodian

Cassandra Brown Nursery Attendant