The Rev. Dr. Pamela Dolan
The Power of Listening: A Sermon for June 2, 2024
The Episcopal Church of St. Martin
Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
Eli, the aging priest in today’s Old Testament story, has been a faithful servant of God for many, many years, without much to show for it. His sons have followed in his footsteps and are serving as priests, but they are wicked men who abuse their power and exploit innocent worshipers. Eli has tried to correct his sons, to persuade them to repent and return to the Lord, but they are utterly without remorse.
I wonder what Eli felt on the day that Samuel came into his life. I wonder if he was astonished when a woman arrived at the house of Lord in Shiloh with generous offerings and sacrifices, her son in tow. To give a firstborn into the Lord’s service was a grand gesture! But Hannah explained herself, reminding Eli that they had met before, when she had come to pray for a the gift of a child. She had been so distraught that Eli had thought she was out of her mind with drink. However, when he realized that she just was a faithful woman pouring out her pain and her desire to God, he had sent her on her way with a blessing.
Three years later, and here she was, ready to give that much longed-for child into his service, for the sake of the promise she had made to the Lord. I imagine Eli was touched and a little in awe of God’s mysterious ways, knowing that somehow he had been part of this child’s life from the beginning. I wonder if he also felt some foreboding, seeing how his own sons had turned out to be such faithless scoundrels, or if he saw Samuel’s presence in his life as a chance at a fresh start. The narrator does tell us that Samuel arrives at a moment when a fresh start is needed, since “in those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”
The motifs in Samuel’s origin story are ones that recur throughout Scripture: a woman miraculously gifted with a child after she has been deemed unable to conceive, promises to God made and kept and rewarded, conflict between generations, and even a child with a divine mandate to lead a people to righteousness. These are themes that run through Scripture, through literature, and that find their way into how we interpret our own personal history and cultural moment.
The portion of the narrative we have today, the story of Samuel’s call, is one of the happier parts, where the elements of conflict are quieted while we hear of how God directly touches Samuel’s life. The action begins when both man and boy are lying down, likely asleep, when suddenly Samuel hears a voice calling his name. This happens three times and every time Samuel loyally runs to Eli, eager to be of service.
It is touching that Samuel continues to go to Eli even after he has twice been corrected and told to go back to bed. I can easily imagine myself as a child becoming frustrated by this continued rebuff and putting a pillow over my head to block out any more confusing voices so I could get some sleep! Luckily, Samuel is more compliant and, when he hears the voice a third time he obediently goes back to Eli yet again, at which point–luckily–Eli finally understands what is happening.
Listening is the key to this whole story: Samuel is willing to listen to Eli, even though Eli doesn’t immediately get everything right. There is grace and generosity between them. Eli also listens to Samuel, believing him when he claims to have heard a voice in the middle of the night. This speaks of the mutual nature of their respect and affection. And both the boy and the man are willing and eager to listen to God, who clearly responds favorably when they do so. In Godly Play we describe these moments of prophetic contact as a form of intimacy, saying, “And then God came so close to Samuel, and Samuel came so close to God, that Samuel just knew what he had to do.” It’s a lovely thing when this happens, in scripture and in life, and it can change the trajectory of history.
This is a story that many of us learn in Sunday school, but I think it means more for me as I age than it has in the past. As my children are becoming adults, I am seeing how much I have to learn from them and others in their generation. And even very young children can teach us things that change how we see ourselves and the world around us. I am also lucky enough to still have parents who are alive and well, and I want to learn to be a better listener to them and their generation as well. There is wisdom in abundance to be gleaned from both the young and the old, and perhaps being somewhere in the middle gives me a special vantage point from which to listen and learn. It is just as we heard a couple of weeks ago on Pentecost Sunday: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh: your young men will see visions, and your old men dream dreams.” I would add, of course, that visions and dreams are not the exclusive preserve of any gender or generation.
Listening is in short supply these days, and generational tensions are running high, although they’re hardly the only source of conflict that’s plaguing us. Samuel and Eli model mutual respect in a way that I find inspiring. Although the larger culture tends to place a high value on youth, along with certain very unrealistic beauty standards, in the church it can sometimes seem like young people are not valued for who they are as individuals but are rather seen as a demographic box we need to check. Having been part of a church all through my teens, 20s, and 30s, I can tell you that nobody wants to be seen as a box to check!
Just as with any other kind of diversity, investing in young people takes sensitivity and openness to change. We don’t welcome people in our church only so that they can become more like us and fill our pews. People are not replacement parts. Everyone who comes to church has something to add, something to contribute, something that will make St. Martin’s an ever-changing, ever-evolving community rooted in faith, growing in hope, and reaching out in love.
I could go on and on about all the ways that young people today inspire and challenge me. There are the one who have achieved celebrity status, like environmental activist Greta Thunberg, but there are also countless unsung young people pushing boundaries, asking hard questions, and challenging how we understand everything from gender to capitalism to the meaning of privacy, not to mention what we’re going to do about the climate crisis and growing threats to our democracy. Sometimes listening to their new ideas is hard, because they are new and could require us, me, to make changes, to make sacrifices, to admit that the old ways may not work anymore. Listening requires humility, curiosity, and a willingness to set aside, at least for a moment, what I think I already know and believe. Listening doesn’t always lead to agreement, but it should lead to greater respect and understanding. Ultimately, I have faith in the generations coming up behind me, because I see how often they step up and say, “Here I am, Lord” and model faithfulness, compassion, and courage.
Of course, you don’t have to be young to be a change maker, to stir things up, to keep trying to make the world a better place. Just ask the Raging Grannies, or the Seniors Climate Action Network. Just ask members of our Prayer Shawl ministries, whose beautiful creations make a difference in so many lives. For that matter, see who is showing up at our groups working on social justice and outreach, care for God’s creation, hospitality, and so many more important ministries. All our ministries rely on people from different generations to make them tick and to do the work that God has called us to do.
Ultimately, that’s what all of this is about–listening for and to God’s voice and answering God’s call, confident that you are never too young or too old for God’s good purposes to work through you. As St. Teresa of Avila’s prayer teaches us, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which He is to bless His people. Amen.”