this sermon is part of the Lenten series, "Where Have You Seen God...?" It was preached by Rev. Lisa Patterson in a service live-streamed to the congregation.
Sunday, March 22, 2020 | 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Where Have you Seen God...in Times of Transition?
Rev. Lisa Patterson
I Samuel 16: 1-13 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.”[a] 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
Sermon:
We are in strange, scary, unsettling, changing times. We can’t buy our favorite, fresh chicken whenever we want it and even more disturbing - the shelves with toilet paper are empty. Our communal hangouts like athletic gyms, restaurants, bars, schools, and churches are closed. We can’t even go to in-person committee meetings. We are concerned about our medical staff and the hospitals where they serve.
We are concerned about the numbers of people who might soon occupy those beds, and uncertain if there will be enough beds and equipment for all the patients. We are concerned that our medical staff have ample supplies of the proper protective gear and about the decisions they will have to make. We can’t hug each other and express our normal human emotions of love and friendship – and for huggers, like me, that is really difficult.
Life as we know it is changing each day, if not each hour with a new CDC recommendation, national update, or church announcement. . If you haven’t been adept with technology up to this point, my guess is that you are gaining ground, because you want to stream your church service, stay connected with your family and friends, and with the global community. As human beings we struggle and resist these changes and transitions in our normally stable lives. I believe there is a deep underlying fear that we think nothing will ever be as good as it was before – and, the loss will define us rather than the power of new hope having the opportunity to refine us and sanctify us and this history of time.
The text I just read is an Old Testament story about change and resistance to change. This theme has been constant and throughout the ages. It picks up right after the prophet Samuel had informed King Saul that the Lord had rejected him as king of Israel. Our text today opens with Samuel grieving and resolutely trying to hold onto what he had helped established rather than moving into the new possibilities that God was sending him to.
Samuel was trying to remake the day by obsessing, fixating on what had gone wrong in King Saul’s leadership and his part in it. He was naturally grieving and resisting rather than listening to God. Samuel was grieving and God knew it. Out of God’s strong, commanding, resolute, steadfast love, God tells Samuel to get a move on, get your anointing oil because I am about to do a new thing.
Samuel did what God commanded, and he moved on. He laid his fixation on King Saul down and he headed out into the new future God was creating and which he couldn’t yet begin to see. He took up his horn of anointing oil and the heifer to sacrifice as a cover for his real mission, and he traveled to Bethlehem, a place outside his usual territory. The elders of the city were apprehensive about his arrival because of his power, and they didn’t know his purpose. Samuel, the well-known big steeple preacher of his time, convinced them he was just there to sacrifice.
His cover worked, and he started checking out Jesse’s sons. His eye was immediately taken with tall, handsome Eliab, the oldest. Surely he had to be God’s chosen,. But he was not the one, and it was at this point in the story when God spoke the words that so many of us hold dear in Scripture. God said, “Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” God said, “Stop just looking at the tall ones.” After seven sons had passed over by God, Samuel asked if there weren’t any other sons from which to choose. God had not chosen any of the seven.
Jesse didn’t understand, but he said his youngest was out in the fields tending the sheep. He was the youngest, the smallest, the least likely to be chosen, this one God chose. When David entered the room the Lord told Samuel, “Rise and anoint him.” And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward, even though he went back to the fields that day. Samuel was called to anoint the new king while the old still occupied his heart and his place on the throne. But right in the midst of Samuel’s resistance, he heard God’s call inviting him to the better future. He had to trust God’s vision more than his own. He had to stop fixating and trying to remake what was already in place. He had to stop resisting and start embracing, anointing the new. He had to acknowledge God’s desire and will to do a new thing right in the middle of the reality of the situation. That is how God works. As Scot McKnight wrote in Christian Century, “In this way God sanctifies history, making it something to embrace rather than resist.”[1] Bringing the new out of the old – sanctifying and transforming the reality.
Like Samuel, we are called to listen and look for God’s possibilities in the midst of all the impossibilities we are faced with each hour during the crisis of Covid-19. We, too, can be Samuel-like and make the trek through the wilderness from that which is familiar and feels safe and steady to the new possibilities of God.
We can walk before we see fully and listen for God’s call before we grasp what God is up to in sanctifying and transforming this difficult time in history. God did not, would not bring about Covid -19. I need to be plain about that. But God is active, God is on the move as we shelter in place, go to the grocery store at odd hours, and feel isolated from our friends and community. God is always up to something good and God anoints our heads with oil in the bleakest of times. It is God who prepares a table by God’s own hand for each of us – for everyone in the whole, wide world.
Change is inevitable. It is part of our human life. As believers we do not remain in a static, unchanging state, but we are people of new life, new light, and transformation. We try to learn what is pleasing to God rather than getting stuck trying to remake today stay just like today and ensure there is no change. We think and plan like human beings but God’s vision is eternal and steadfast. God is sanctifying a brand-new time in history, not bringing about Covid-19 but by calling us into new possibilities of living.
One of you texted me last week when the school closed worried about what would happen to all of the children who were going to be hungry without the school providing breakfast and lunch. We were wondering what we could do at St. Andrew. I read in yesterday’s newspaper that 500 people had called the school district to volunteer to pass out more than 11,000 meals the district’s nutrition staff had prepared for school kids this past week.
During school closings and uncertainty, the district and these volunteers fed a lot of hungry kids. Others of you have suggested making medical masks because of the short supply, and we want to support medical staff and patients. Several of you are already at work making these to help support the medical community. Our deacons are offering to run errands and pick up needed groceries or medications for those who cannot get out. Our elders are making sure that wages for staff at all levels continue in the midst of shortages, market downturns, and job loss. Our church is supporting each other and the larger community through simple, ordinary, human things like emails, calls, texts, walks taken with a six-foot social distance, which are so many virtual hugs given to instill hope again in the devastated community around us. Church members are figuring out ways to send in their pledges when not occupying pews each week. Our daily bread is considered an essential service by the city and volunteers are staffing the social agency so that some of the most vulnerable people can get fed. As they do so they are following all safety guidelines so that all are safe.
Times of change and transition need faithful people who might greet the new with trembling, fear, resistance but nonetheless listening for God’s call guiding us into the new and being open to it. We are in a time when we see empty shelves, scarcity of drug testing kits, medical equipment, ventilators, hospital beds, toilet paper, food, and jobs. What is not scarce though, through the power of the spirit, is trust, hope, and love – love that is stronger than fear[2], fiercer than Covid-19, and which casts a net that is global in nature and which holds all of God’s world in its power and tender care.
We are not called to be a prophet like Samuel – that call was given just to him. We are not called to be David – to be king was his call. We are simply called to be us – in our frailties, our fears, our hesitations, our strength, our courage – all gifts of the spirit of God to embrace God’s new possibilities. Sometimes we might need to be a Saul and listen to a person like Samuel when he or she tries to help move us from one type of call to another, but all are a part of God’s kingdom and have purpose and strength through the power of the Spirit.
How can we be Samuel-like[3] and listen to God during this time to making the trek from the old to the new? To share what we have even when things we rely upon are scarce? Who have been your Samuel-like leaders? The ones who led you and helped you embrace the new? Who has given you the courage to begin to breathe again and believe that new possibilities are coming, even though you just can’t see them right now? Or believe that new possibilities really are right before us?
These journeys into God’s transforming life and new future are happening all the time. It isn’t just one journey that will be made, but many journeys that come at God’s call and are accompanied by the fierce, compassionate, care love of the Good Shepherd.
[1] Scot McKnight, “Move on: 1 Samuel 176:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41. The Christian Century, February 22, 2005
[2] Richard Rohr. “Love Alone Overcomes Fear.” Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation. Center for Action and Contemplation, Thursday, March 19, 2020.
[3] Brian K. Blount. “Can Someone be Called and Not Know It?” Christian Century, March 30, 2014.
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