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There is an old, old story of a man who kept falling asleep
during the sermon. His pastor was getting frustrated and, one
Sunday, decided to teach the man a lesson. As was his practice,
he started to preach slowly, almost in a monotone - sure enough
the man soon fell into a deep sleep. So the pastor said to the
congregation, "Everyone who wants to go to Heaven, stand up."
Everyone stood...except, of course, the man who was fast asleep.
The pastor had everyone sit down. Then he gently said,
"Everyone who wants to go to Hell," and with a bang on the pulpit
and a rise in his voice, "STAND UP!"
The sleeping man snorted awake and jumped to his feet as
everyone around started to snicker. The man looked at all the
folks sitting around him, then looked at the pastor and said,
"Preacher, I don't know what we're votin' on. But it looks like
you and me are the only ones for it."
"The Danger of Sleeping in Church." Of course, young Samuel
apparently was SUPPOSED to be sleeping. Some years before, his
mother Hannah had brought him to Shiloh in fulfillment of a
promise she had made to God before the boy was ever born - as a
woman who had been unable to have children, she promised God that
if she were to be granted that privilege, she would return the
child to divine service. She was as good as her word - Samuel
was born, and as soon as he was able to make it on his own, she
brought the lad to the High Priest Eli. After all, he was only
hers for a little while; he was on LOAN from the Lord.
It was not the best of times for the people of Israel, but
not the worst either. There were no wars going on, no threats
from hostile neighbors, although the Philistines were always
looming near. The nation was not the unified whole it would come
to be, but rather still a loose confederation of tribes.
Religiously, no new ground was being broken. In fact, it seems
that the faith that had sustained the people through centuries of
slavery, the exodus from Egypt, a generation of wilderness
wandering, and finally settlement in the promised homeland, was
now reduced to the routine, and for some pious charlatans even an
occasion for corruption. As the text has it, "The word of the
LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread."
Sounds unnervingly familiar, does it not?
Now we find Samuel. He is asleep in the sanctuary,
apparently his assigned position near the Ark of the Covenant. A
voice comes in the early morning darkness: "Samuel...Samuel."
The boy assumes it is Eli calling...no one else is there.
Eli has called like this before - he is old, nearly blind; he
needs help getting around. So, rubbing sleep from his eyes, the
boy goes in to the old man and says, "Here am I. You called?"
Just as sleepily, the aging priest turns over on his palate
and says, "No, I didn't. Go back to sleep."
So the boy turns, goes back through the curtain and lays
down again. But now the call comes again: "Samuel!"
You can imagine the perplexed look that comes over the
child's face. He comes back to Eli, not quite so sleepily now.
He was still awake from the first visit. "You called?"
Eli was wide awake now himself. No doubt he wondered at
Samuel's first visit. What was the voice the boy heard? Could
he have just imagined it? Was it something he ate? Or was it
something more? Could it have been the voice...of God?
Possibly, but not likely. God's direct contact with human beings
seemed to be a thing of the past. Oh, there was no doubt that
God was involved with the lives of the people - Samuel's very
existence was the answer to a most specific prayer. But now,
with this second call, Eli wonders. Maybe...just maybe? "No, I
didn't call. Go back to bed."
So a puzzled twelve-year-old(2) turns and goes out once more.
But before he can get comfortable again, the voice returns:
"Samuel."
WHAT IN THE WORLD? This is getting ridiculous - up again
and back to the priest. "You called?" He must have thought Eli
was playing a game with him, but it was certainly a strange time
of the night for games.
But by now, Eli knows to whom the voice belongs. He turns
that old grey head and those age-dimmed eyes to the boy and says,
"No, I did not call. Go back and lie down. But if the voice
comes again, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'"
Now the boy's mind is racing a mile a minute. What could
the Lord want with him? He had never heard of anyone else being
called this way. So, with a little shrug of the shoulders, it is
back to bed again. And sure enough, a fourth time it comes:
"Samuel...Samuel!"
"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." And the rest,
as they say, is history. The young boy who met God in the
sanctuary responded to the divine call and went on to become
Yahweh's messenger to Israel...ranking in the eyes of the
faithful with Moses and Abraham.
The New Testament lesson for this morning is another "call"
story - Nathanael. The Gospel writer tells us of a Galilee day,
Jesus' meeting with Philip, and the invitation to "Follow me."
The story is obviously compressed because the very next thing we
read is of Philip's search for his buddy from nearby Cana,
Nathanael. "Yo, NATE...We have found the one we have been
waiting for all our lives! The one the prophets predicted. The
one Moses pointed to. He is Jesus of Nazareth!"
Then there was Nathanael's response: "Can anything good come
out of Nazareth?" What was that all about? Was there some
little backwater rivalry between two inconsequential towns that
has been lost to history? Did Nazareth and Cana play each other
in football every year? Would it be enough to allow Nathanael
sufficient excuse not to bother? Perhaps.
But Philip gently persisted: "Come and see." Nathanael
came. He listened. He heard a unique voice. He responded to
the call, and it changed his life.
A few minutes ago I suggested the title for this sermon
might be "The Danger of Sleeping in Church." Actually, a better
title would be simply "The Danger of BEING in Church." Just like
the boy Samuel, you or someone you have brought with you may hear
the voice of God, and as with Nathanael and countless others
through the centuries, that can change life forever.
A while back Will Willimon, Dean of the Chapel at Duke,
got a call from an upset parent, a VERY upset parent.(3) "I hold
you personally responsible for this," he said.
"Me?" Will asked.
The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound
daughter had just informed him that she was going to chuck it all
("throw it all away" was the way the father described it) and go
do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti. "Isn't that
absurd!" shouted the father. "A BS degree in mechanical
engineering from Duke and she's going to dig ditches in Haiti."
"Well, I doubt that she's received much training in the
Engineering Department here for that kind of work, but she's
probably a fast learner and will probably get the hang of
ditch-digging in a few months," Will said.
"Look," said the father, "this is no laughing matter. You
are completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this.
I hold you personally responsible," he said.
As the conversation went on, Dr. Willimon pointed out that
the well-meaning but obviously unprepared parents were the ones
who had started this ball rolling. THEY were the ones who had
her baptized, read Bible stories to her, took her to Sunday
School, let her go with the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship to ski
in Vail. Will said, "You're the one who introduced her to Jesus,
not me."
"But all we ever wanted her to be was a Presbyterian," said
the father, meekly. Hmm.
Dr. Willimon writes,
Are you ready to hear the voice of God? Do not answer too
quickly. You might hear something that is not what you had in
mind. What Samuel heard was not something warm and fuzzy - he
heard a word of severe judgment. You are very liable
This past week the nation remembered the life and work of Martin
Luther King, Jr. He had his own story to tell about listening to
the voice. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his
father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him
to do. Martin wanted a quiet life as a professor, possibly
President of Morehouse College in Atlanta someday. He did not
intend to be a national civil rights leader.
Through an odd turn of events, as a young pastor he was
thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott. He came
home late one night, tired, frightened. The phone rang. An
angry voice on the other end said, "We're gonna get you, Nigger!" Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen in fear.
He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice.
But Daddy King was not there. Then he said it was like a voice.
"Martin, you do what's right. You stand up for justice. You be
my drum major for righteousness. I will be with you." He had
heard his name called. He knew what God wanted. His life was
forever changed and through his life, so was the world.(5) The
voice. It could happen to you. Be careful.
Where are you most likely to hear the voice? It could be
anywhere, but I will submit that the most likely place will be in
the church, and the reason I say so is that the church is the
most likely place for getting the help we need in hearing and
understanding. Samuel needed Eli's help; Nathanael needed
Philip's help. You and I need each other's help.
What a concept! I know we are always encouraged to invite
our friends and neighbors to church. After all, this is the way
the church grows. But what reasons do we give ourselves for
extending the invitation? To hear marvelous music? To meet
interesting people? To enjoy delightful fellowship? To listen
to stimulating sermons? How about TO HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD! As
I say, what a concept! To hear the voice of God! Invite someone
to church this week.
We are living in a time much like that of the boy Samuel, a
time when the "word of the Lord was rare." But the message of
scripture is that God is not silent forever. One morning, as you
prepare to begin the day, one night, when you are minding your
own business trying to unwind, or one Sunday when you are sitting
quietly (even sleepily) in church, there is THE VOICE - you hear
your named called, and like little Samuel, your world changes.
Are you ready? Are you?
Amen!
1. Acts 20:7-12 2. Tradition suggests that this is Samuel's age at the time of this incident, but we have no
way of knowing for certain. 3. William Willimon, Pulpit Resource, Sept 10, 1995 4. Will Willimon, sermon, "The Dangers of Going to Church," 1/19/97 5. ibid.
Some of you have heard my theory of church design: I
think the reason why we pad our pews, and bolt the
furniture down to the floor, print up the service in a
bulletin, and carefully, deliberately plod through the
prescribed acts of worship is an inner fear. We tie
everything down, we make church so predictable, so
settled and fixed because, in our collective memories,
we remember [these] stories...of ordinary people who
have heard their names called. We know that the
temple, or this church can be a risky, dangerous place,
what with the living God roaming about.(4)
to hear something you do not want to hear,
calling you to do something you do not want to do,
Really listening can leave you really disturbed.
and with people you had rather not be around.
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