Superheroes

This sermon was delivered to the people of the Lutheran Church of the Nativity on the 13th of October in 2013.  It is a sermon based around 1 Samuel 3:1-21 on Care Ministry Sunday.  

I love superhero movies.  More specifically, I love the origin stories of superheroes.  There's something about watching these seemingly normal human beings transform into something more.  It's why I prefer Batman Begins to The Dark Knight, and why Casino Royale will probably be my favorite Daniel Craig James Bond film - even though Skyfall was amazing.  But my favorite superhero movie is probably last year's The Amazing Spider-Man.  As many of you might remember, the beginning of Spider-Man involves Peter Parker being bitten by a radioactive spider, standing aside over some crime that leads to the death of his uncle Ben, and the rest of his career as a superhero is spent trying to redeem himself from that one act.  But the reason I love this incarnation of Spider-Man isn't because of the cast or the villain, rather it's one line near the end of the movie.  Peter Parker slides into class late as his teacher is talking about English literature.  Her line is "I had a professor once who liked to tell his students that there were only 10 different plots in all of fiction.  Well, I'm here to tell you he was wrong.  There is only one: "Who am I?"

What a great question.  Who am I?  Not only does it sum up the whole movie - Peter Parker's quest to find a new identity because of his supernatural gifts, but it accurately sums up how many of us spend a good portion of our lives. I believe Peter's teacher is right, most of our literature revolves around this basic question: Who am I?  

Am I the clothes I wear?  Am I the job I do?  Am I the movies I watch?  Am I the people I spend my time with?  Who am I?

Even Samuel wrestles with this question.  He thinks he knows who he is - he's a boy that works with Eli to serve the Lord.  He knows his name and his lot in life.  He thinks he knows what the status quo is, and he's ok with it.  Then he falls asleep one night and hears a voice calling his name.  We know that this voice is God, but it takes Samuel and Eli some time to get there.  It's only after this happens the third time that Eli puts two and two together saying telling Samuel God is calling him.  And so, when God calls Samuel a fourth time, Samuel is ready to answer, ready to embrace this gift that is going to be poured out upon him, and he takes ownership of that.

But even still, once God tells him what Samuel is supposed to be doing, Samuel still wrestles.  We can imagine that he spends the rest of the night tossing and turning as he tries to make sense of what God has asked him and as he tries to work up the courage to go through with it - a feeling I'm sure many of us resonate with as we have spent one or two sleepless nights wrestling with major life changes or trying to work up the courage to say something we know needs to be said.

In the story, Samuel goes through with it.  He tells Eli what needs to be said and hears Eli's response.  But the story ends with Samuel spending the rest of his life trying to live into his newfound identity as God's prophet.  He spends the rest of his life as Israel's superhero because of his connection with God.  And as we'll see in the next several chapters, it's not always easy.  As is the pattern with superheroes, they are pushed out onto the fringes of society or ignored because they have gifts that frighten people because "they're not natural"

Samuel wrestled with his "who am I?" question and finds an answer, but what about us?  Who are we?  We want the clear voice in the night to call our name and tell us who we are.

Yet, we have heard that voice at some point in our lives.  However, this voice isn't as clear as the one Samuel heard.  Instead, we hear that voice call to us in our baptisms - (like Ana this morning).  We hear the voice in our family and friends as they help us figure out or discern our gifts and talents.   We hear that voice in our teachers and pastors that walk with us as we explore God's work in our lives together.  We hear God's voice in people like Eli who encourage us to just answer it and say that we're willing to work to bring in God's kingdom.

We forget that God works more subtly than we traditionally expect.  We want dramatic moments of clarity like Samuel and Moses got.  Yet, God works through the communities we are a part of, and in our gifts.  We all have those moments where we feel like we are doing the right thing - or maybe that we aren't where we are being called.   There are moments where one person influences us, they say something that resonates within us and helps us focus.  Like the doctor, by whose care, encourages a young woman to become a doctor.  Or a teacher who identifies within a young man that he should teach.  When someone comments on a young child's gift for art and encourages them to pursue it.  These are all places where God speaks to us through those in our lives.

I heard God's voice in college.  God spoke through my good friend and mentor Brian Bennett.  Brian was the pastor at the local congregation I attended while I was enrolled at WVU.  After my first semester when Chemistry killed my dreams to become a doctor, he quietly encouraged me to think about parish ministry.  It was by listening to God speak through him that I changed majors, worked with the church, and discerned a call to seminary, which led me here.  I affirmed God's call through him and it has been a journey worth walking.

We affirm the new sisters and brothers who have just joined our congregation as they again respond to God's call.  We hear God call their names.  We hear their hearts respond to that call as their spirits' call out to God to speak because they are listening.  We too respond with them, promising to encourage them as they continue to answer God.  We hear their words as they encourage us to do the same. We promise to walk with each other on our journeys of faith.

We affirm the call of those involved in the prayer shawl ministry today, as they serve God with their creativity and their prayers for those in need.  We hear God speak to us through their gifts as we seek to serve God using the very gifts God has given to each one of us. We witness their steps on their journey as God continues to call all of us.

Samuel's call story isn't just a model story for pastors and preachers - as much as we might want to make it that way.  Samuel's call story is for those who go into medicine to care for the ill and the elderly.  Samuel's call story is for those who become engineers and keep us safe.  Samuel's call story is for those who create art and make music.  Samuel's call story is for those who study and learn so that they might teach.  Samuel's call story is all of these and yet none of these.  Samuel's call story is just one more step in this search for the answer to "Who am I?"  And that makes it our story too.  We ask, we plead, and sometimes we even beg to understand who we are.  And God answers us.  He calls our name and says that we are children of God.  Amen.