PAST SERMON 2009 #2
by Canon Bill Kibblewhite, delivered on Sunday January 18, 2009,
at the Church of the Holy Spirit.
“Come and See” and Follow Christ
1 Samuel 3: 1–10, John 1: 43–51
Gracious God, whose will it is that your Church should be one visible body, so that the world might see and believe, draw your people closer together, that united as the Body of Christ, we may cherish the beauty of diversity and serve as instruments of hope and peace for all people. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almost forty years ago, on July 20, 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. Armstrong prepared for his famous moon walk, which so many of us remember, while Aldrin unpacked some bread and wine. Unlike Armstrong, what Aldrin did, was not reported. Aldrin describes what happened and how he felt: “I poured the wine into the chalice…In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that, the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were communion elements. I sensed especially strongly my unity with our church back home, and the church everywhere”
Bread made from many grains of wheat, wine made from many bunches of grapes and Christian community made from many different people, speak of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which was introduced in 1908 by Fr. Paul Wattson, a Roman Catholic Priest. The dates were originally chosen to reflect the feast days of St. Peter on January 18 and the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25.
While we have witnessed significant progress in the ecumenical movement over the years, we have also seen significant divisions develop within our own worldwide Anglican communion. Closer to home, we acknowledge the need to work and pray for a spirit of unity in our own parish. “Everything we do in our congregation, our workplace and our families…..has a ripple effect,” wrote Bishop Gene Robinson. Some years ago, when he was our diocesan, Archbishop Terrance Finlay said, “the church desparately needs to find the unity that God wills for His Church, if it is to be faithful to its mission. But Christian unity is not an end in itself. Wholeness in the Church must lead to wholeness in the world.”
When we look at the turmoil and war in our world and the conflict between the three great monotheistic faiths — Islam, Judaism and Christianity, we are being called to pray, not only for unity in the Christian community, but also for peace and justice in the world.
On Friday, I had my annual eye exam, my doctor is a Muslim. She is one of the most beautiful, gracious people I know. Before she begins every exam, she inquires about my family and we always talk about the common approach we and our two faiths have to some of today’s most pressing concerns.
In this post-Christian era, I believe God is calling us to acknowledge our differences, celebrate what we have in common and work together in every way we can.
There is a difference between unity and uniformity. It is the unity of Spirit that God gives us in Jesus Christ, that holds us together. This is not necessarily organizational uniformity but unity of purpose and spirit.
When my wife Linda and I were married, her Baptist pastor said in his homily, “denominations are like a symphony orchestra. You wouldn’t want all strings or all brass, but a blend of all the sections.”
According to an old legend, when the Magi were following the star of Bethlehem, they came to the house of a certain woman. They said to her, “Come with us! We have seen his star in the east and we are going to worship him.” “Oh”, she said, “I would love to come. I heard that he would be coming one day and I have been looking forward to it. But I can’t go with you until I put my house in order. Then I will go with you.”
But when her work was done, the wise men were out of sight and the star was no longer visible in the night sky. She missed her opportunity to “come and see”. She never saw Jesus.
Our day is not unlike that of the age of Eli and Samuel. In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, we learn that the word of the Lord was seldom heard. Spiritual vision had dimmed and became confused. As in our day, many different things competed for the attention of the people.
That Eli’s sight was failing, is symbolic of the weariness and loss of insight that can happen, not only to individuals, but also societies as a whole.
Like Eli, we can become tired and dispirited, or like the woman in the apocryphal story of the Magi, too busy. As a result, we too can miss God’s call of us. But we read that “the lamp of God had not yet gone out.” Our vision of God may dim, but that doesn’t mean that God’s light flickers and becomes dim.
Samuel is an example of one who was responsive to God’s call. The twelve year old apprentice to the temple priest was lying in his room where he could keep the lamp burning all night. In contrast, Eli, the temple priest was sleeping in a darkened room. Throughout the story, Samuel moved from the light of his room to the darkness of Eli’s room. Samuel heard God’s voice, but Eli did not. God’s call came to a young person, not to a seasoned priest. By his watchfulness, Samuel showed that he was ready to assume the mantle of leadership. His eyesight, as well as his insight was keen, while Eli’s had grown dim. It was time for a new response and a new chapter in the leadership of the people of God. Samuel’s response to God marked the beginning of his ministry as a prophet of God. It reminds us of last week’s gospel, in which Jesus’ baptism marked the beginning of his public ministry.
Samuel’s call also reminds me of one of Dr. Cliff Elliott’s “Moments of Meditation” broadcast on the radio, on C.F.R.B., many years ago. n it, he described a man who woke up in the middle of the night to hear God talking to him. “Why is it,” the man asked God, “that you always choose two o’clock in the morning to talk with me?” “Because”, God replied, that’s the only time I can get your attention.”
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is seen traveling north to the Galilee where Philip introduced Nathanael to him. Nathanael became one of the disciples, though certainly a lesser known one. At first, Nathanael didn’t recognize Christ’s true nature. He saw Jesus only in terms of his human origins from the “insignificant” town of Nazareth. In responding to Philip with scorn, Nathanael said, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” This was no doubt a sign of the rivalry that existed between Nazareth and Nathanael’s nearby home town of Cana or between Nazareth and Sepphoris, five miles north of Nazareth, which was the jewel of the Galilee in those days.
Nathanael’s contempt was quickly transformed into wonder when Philip introduced him to Jesus. Jesus told Nathanael that he was a “true Israelite,” meaning he was a descendant of Jacob who followed God’s way. It was when Jesus told Nathanael that he has seen him sitting under a fig tree — symbolic of a place of peace and meditation, that Nathanael became truly awestruck and exclaimed that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. With these words, Nathanael indicated the depth of his faith and his willingness to accept Philip’s invitation to “come and see” and follow Christ.
We identify with Nathanael because we so often see things as Nathanael did: Cana vs. Nazareth, us vs. them, one church or denomination vs. another.
The real miracle of the gospel story came when Nathanael saw Jesus as the Son of God, not as a rival from a discredited neighbouring village. Nathanael bridged the gap between “us” and “them”. It is the same challenge we face today with those with whom we have differences in our own parish as well as in other denominations.
Like Samuel and Nathanael, God calls us in different ways, in different places and at different stages of our lives. God called a youthful Samuel in the middle of the night and a mature Nathanael in the midst of his everyday activities. We are called to be people of God, to live with integrity, responsibility and creativity.
During this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us remember that no matter what our differences are, God calls each one of us as individuals and as communities of faith to work and worship together as disciples of Christ, so all may “come and see.”
AMEN.