Rochester, MN UCC - "Moved by the Word" - 1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)

I was at The Landing this week serving dinner with a group of folks from our church.  I hadn’t been to The Landing in a while and it was great to be there and have the opportunity to be of service to our neighbors struggling with homelessness.  I had a moment to think about what brought me back there, and it was an easy answer: it was Katie Lawrence.  You see a few weeks ago, Shannon preached a sermon about viewing our neighbors in need with compassion and Katie didn’t just hear and agree, she followed up.  She met with Shannon and they came up with the plan to have the church start taking volunteer shifts serving dinner at The Landing.  And a little over a month later, there I was serving dinner and making plans with Katie for scheduling more dates to serve.

 This Sunday we will hear the story of Samuel responding to God’s call.  We’re told at the beginning of the story that the Word of God was rare in those days and visions were not widespread.  Apparently, it was so rare that even Eli the priest and his young assistant Samuel were caught off guard when the Word of God spoke to them.  When God said “Samuel, Samuel,” Samuel just figured it was Eli and went to him.  Eli, bewildered, just tells Samuel to go back to bed.  The same thing happens twice more, before it dawns on Eli that it might be God calling Samuel.  The last time God calls, Samuel responds, “Speak for your servant is listening.”  Thus begins the career of Samuel as a prophet of God, the one to anoint the great King David, and inaugurate the line that would lead to the Messiah.  In a time when few people even believed in such things, Samuel heard the Word of God and responded, and it led to a great change in the life of God’s people.

 Hearing a word from God and responding to it, is not something that we think about happening in our everyday lives.  Yet that’s precisely what we are called to do each Sunday morning.  We gather to hear the Word of God and to do our best to respond. Katie Lawrence heard a call in Shannon’s sermon, and she took the bold step of responding to it.  Because she did, six of us gave our Wednesday evening to make sure the hungry in our community had food.  Because she did, our congregation has a new spark, and a new avenue for serving God’s people.  I hope that you will join us some evening at The Landing and I pray that each of us will listen for God’s word this Sunday and find a way to respond ourselves.

 Pastor Andrew Greenhaw