Name Calling

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 18, 2015

2 Epiphany

In my experience, when I hear my name called twice in quick succession something urgent, either very bad or very good, has happened.  When our children were young, "Mom, Mom" was usually followed by incredibly good news: "I passed the spelling test" which was a minor miracle at our house, or bad news "I have no clean underwear," not a particularly catastrophic example but I will leave the more catastrophic ones to your imagination.  Once,  "Charlotte, Charlotte" was followed by the news that our neighbor's house had been broken into and her purse was on our back porch, and once "Charlotte, Charlotte" with a sad shake of the head was the reaction when I explained to someone that I cannot be out of town on the second Sunday of July because that day is Christmas here.  Having my name called twice seems to mean that someone really wants my attention, and they want my attention now.

This morning, we hear the Lord call "Samuel! Samuel!"  Since Samuel was a young boy I can imagine that the need for calling his name twice was simply to wake him up.  But I think there is more to the double name than that.  Three times the Lord calls to Samuel, although only the first time by the double name, and three time Samuel gets up and goes to see what the old priest Eli wants. Eli doesn't want anything and finally figures out that the Lord is calling Samuel.  So Samuel went back to bed and the Lord came and stood there, calling as before "Samuel!  Samuel!"  Now the Lord has Samuel's attention and Samuel replies "Speak, for your servant is listening."

"Samuel, Samuel" is not the first time in Scripture we have heard God call someone's name twice in rapid succession.  In the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac in the book of Genesis, just as Abraham takes up the knife, we hear the angel of the Lord call "Abraham! Abraham!" and say to Abraham "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him."  God's promise to Abraham was that his descendants would number the stars in the heavens.  The promise would be null and void without Isaac, as Isaac was Abraham's only heir with Sarah, his wife.  Later in Genesis, God spoke to Jacob in a dream and said "Jacob! Jacob!"  When Jacob said "Here I am," God said to him "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there."  Jacob obeys, and this is how the Israelite people get to Egypt, where they will eventually wind up in slavery and need Moses to deliver them in the Exodus.  In the book of Exodus, God calls to Moses from the burning bush "Moses! Moses!"  When Moses replies "Here I am," God proceeds to tell Moses to go to Pharaoh and deliver God's people from their suffering in Egypt.  Each time God calls someone's name twice in quick succession, something urgent is at stake.

The lectionary, our schedule of scripture readings for each Sunday, allows us to stop the reading from 1 Samuel immediately after Samuel says "Speak, for your servant is listening."  If we stop there, we have a short, almost sweet story where young Samuel responds to God and is willing to hear what God has to say.  The problem is, if we stop there, we don't hear what God has to say.  In every other case of double-name calling, what God has to say changed the course of the history of God's people.  So, just as Samuel was willing to listen to God, so should we.

        What God has to say is difficult and does not seem like good news at all.    God has hard words to say about punishing the house of Eli because Eli's sons were blaspheming God and Eli did not restrain them.  We know from the beginning of the reading that the word of the Lord was rare in those days and visions were not widespread.  In other words, we are told that the faithfulness of God's people was lacking.  In Eli's family in particular, the priestly family, Eli's sons, who were also priests in the temple, were abusing their status as priests.  Someone is needed to speak the truth to power, and Samuel is chosen.

Samuel is chosen to deliver the message to Eli that his house will be punished forever because Eli has ignored the blasphemy of his sons.  This is a turning point in the history of God's people, as God will now raise up kings to lead the Hebrew people, not more priests.  From here we get the stories of kings Saul, David, and Solomon.  We know from the rest of the story that the kingship of Israel will be a checkered affair, no pun intended, with some great high points, and some distressing low points, and will not last forever, either.

In Scripture, God clearly calls people to bring about the change God desires .  While we may sometimes feel like the word of the Lord is rare in our own day, and visions are not widespread, I believe it is still true that God raises up people to accomplish God's goals for us.  We celebrate a prime example of that this weekend.  Just as a reminder, the Episcopal Church celebrates the lives of those who have gone before us on the day of their entry into eternal life, rather than the day of their entry into earthly life, so we celebrate the life of Dr. King on April 4th, rather than in January.  This weekend, however, as a country, we celebrate the life of someone who was called by God to speak the truth to power, to point out injustice and oppression.  I don't know of any story where Dr. King heard an angel of the Lord say in a dream "Martin, Martin" but we do know that he had a dream.  Dr. King summarized that dream with the words of the prophet Isaiah "I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight and ‘the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."  Dr. King's dream was God's dream~ that oppression and injustice will be no more.  Dr. King's life, and sadly his death,  marked a turning point in recognizing the fundamental right of all people to justice and equality.  And just as the people of Israel never turned quickly in response to God's call, neither have we.

"Samuel!  Samuel!"  In a time when the word of the Lord seems rare, and visions seem scarce, then, as now, people are called to speak the truth to power to make God's vision for the world a present reality.  Some will be called by visions in the night, and others will be called by what they see in the daylight.  Dr. King also said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."  We are all called to respond with Samuel "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening," hear what God has to say, and respond.
Amen.