March 19, 2023: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Several years ago, the BBC published a story about how people choose political leaders. While most people say that competence is why they vote for someone, how they determine that quality is sadly superficial – based entirely on the person’s appearance. According to the article, “Psychologists have correctly predicted the outcome of elections in the US, Bulgaria, France, Australia, Mexico, Finland and Japan…using [a photo of the face of the candidate] alone.”
Sadly, another scientific experiment in 2010 illuminated another aspect of the way in which we decide who is the most competent. “To set up the experiment, first they taught a computer what a strong leader looks like by randomly generating faces and asking volunteers to rate how able they looked. Then they used this knowledge to create a range of faces.” The result? “The competent faces were the most attractive, mature and masculine. Said one of the scientists, “It’s a bit disturbing because you can see that it’s gender biased. It’s essentially a male face that people want. The face which is incompetent is a female face.”
This isn’t a modern phenomenon, as we see in the stories we heard in our texts this morning. In the first reading today, the prophet Samuel is sent by God in search of the next King of Israel. The thing is…the current King, Saul, wasn’t dead! Samuel was deeply disappointed in what had become of Saul, apparently so was God. Anyway, God sends Samuel out to the family of Jesse, the one from Bethlehem, to find the next King. As soon as Samuel saw the oldest son, a handsome fellow – Hollywood action hero type to be sure – Samuel was sure this was going to be the next King.
Now, Samuel might have done better remembering this about the current King: “There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish …He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” That’s what the scriptures said about Saul. So, you’d think Samuel would realize that maybe looks aren’t all they are cracked up to be?
So back to the story, God rejected that fine looking older son, saying “‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” In fact, God says no to all of the sons…until they got to the last one, the youngest, the one out doing the hard and dirty work of shepherding – though that is a clue to the people of that day that David was suited to be king, as shepherd was an image of kingship. Anyway, it is David whom God chooses, not his better looking brothers. But just when God is saying to Samuel not to judge a book by its cover, don’t you just love how the narrator notes David’s beautiful eyes?
Today, as studies like the ones I mentioned from the BBC article have shown, we do the same. We expect our leaders to be tall, male, white, straight, slender, without any physical challenge, young – but not “too young,” experienced – but not “too old,” from particular schools, particular backgrounds, the list goes on and on. And, as one commentator noted, “…lest we in the church think we have risen above this shallow horizon, take a look at the leaders of the church– pastors, elders, bishops, college and seminary presidents–and ask yourself, “Are we really any different?” Sadly, we are not. It is still very true that when people think about calling their next church leader, if honest, they are imagining a young white man with a wife, in his early thirties, but with 20 years experience, 2.5 kids, and a dog. Okay, some might prefer a cat, but you get the picture. It would seem that we are in need of healing from our own spiritual blindness as much as the one in the gospel needed healing from physical blindness.
Yet these texts today are telling us that we must see the world as God does – which essentially means that we don’t use our eyes, but the ear of our heart. In that story about Samuel, he needed to remember that God didn’t ask him to look for a king, but to listen for the one God will name to him. Listening to God is clearly how we are to walk in this world, perhaps because God knows that our ability to see gets clouded by own tendency toward superficial judgements – creating outsiders and insiders – those we think look the part, and those that don’t.
In a very real sense, we are getting a similar lesson these past few weeks in the Gospel of John. Last week – Jesus engages in a powerful theological dialog with a woman and a Samaritan – an outsider on two counts, and she gets who he is! The week before Nicodemus, a learned Pharisee, comes to see Jesus, but doesn’t understand who is truly speaking with him. And this week, the sighted are blind, and the blind are sighted.
The world wherever Christ walks is turned on its head. Insiders aren’t the ones who are the heroes, the ones to model – it is the outsiders who see Christ for who he is. Just like the story of Samuel and David. It wasn’t the tall, handsome, oldest son that God chose, but the small, ruddy, youngest one of all. In God we have the unexpected, the unheard of, the unimaginable, and for some – the unbelievable.
God flips the expectations around to remind us not to think so small – not to box our perception of God in. God is doing amazing things in the world in the most unexpected places, the most unexpected ways, through the most unexpected people. And here’s the thing… you may very well be one of those unexpected people through which God has chosen to work…yes, you. You may be the one that God sees – really sees – and calls you to do great things. It reminds me of that sign on our sideview mirrors on our cars – only when it comes to call, it reads “The one God will name may be closer than you think.”
Perhaps that seems difficult to imagine because we are always our own worst critics. We cannot imagine God would have a purpose for us, given what we know about ourselves. Here’s the thing though, God isn’t looking for perfection. Which is a good thing, considering our shepherd, soon to be King, David. He ended up being no pillar of virtue, to be sure – raping Bathsheeba and having her husband killed. Yet through David, God also worked in the world for good.
The composer Leonard Cohen, in his work titled “Anthem,” wrote:
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” – that’s how God’s light gets in!
The author of Ephesians in the passage we heard today put it this way “Once you were darkness, but now in God you are light. Live as children of light– for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to God.”
And that, my friends, is what Samuel was trying to do – find what is pleasing to God. And…it is what we are supposed to do too. Because the thing is – God is raising up shepherds among us now – unexpected people called to serve in unexpected ways.
Yet there are a few things to know about call.
The first is that God has a call for you – every one of you.
The second, is that among us are others God is calling.
How do we know who and for what purpose? The same way Samuel eventually knew it was David that was to be anointed King. We listen with our hearts to the way God is speaking to us in our lives and in the lives of others.
And folks, this is something we need to especially do now in the church. A friend of mine, who serves as the Canon for Transition Ministry in another diocese, posted a very telling photo on her Facebook feed this past week from their recent conference. The Transition Ministry Conference is where these diocesan staff gather to share openings in the church, and the clergy available and seeking. They then try to see where someone might be a good fit, inviting them to consider a call at a particular place. The photo showed a flip chart with the following numbers:
Dioceses Represented: 25
Clergy Presented (the ones available and looking): 31
Congregations Presented (the ones with an opening): 60
Total Clergy Needed: 296 (FT 128/PT 168)
As the author of Ephesians might say “Sleepers Awake!” That’s some very tough math there: 296 clergy needed, 31 looking. Yet it isn’t for a lack of people called. If there is work to be done in the service of Christ’s church, and there most certainly is, there are people God wants us to go to with horns filled with oil to anoint. What we are not doing is listening to our own call and that of those sitting among us in the pews.
And so we must ask ourselves – are we listening – deeply, fully, prayerfully, to the way in which God is speaking to us? Perhaps one of you is called to serve the church in a way you never imagined before. I can tell you, with a successful business career I had trouble hearing the full call of God in my life. I needed others who were willing to affirm a call to the priesthood before I could really hear it fully for myself.
Put another way – we are all called to be Samuel – servants of God who lift up the call of others. And thankfully, the people of St. Mark’s in Teaneck were good and faithful servants of the Lord, for they saw in Jackie McLeod the calling of God to the diaconate – a calling she was beginning to discern in her heart. Today she joins us as she continues that path she and her parish discerned – a call to ordained life as a Deacon. Welcome Jackie!
And so now to all of you – where is God calling you?
Where is God calling those you know, those who sit here among you, those with whom you work or share time with outside of this place? Because the thing about all of this isn’t about the church, not exactly anyway. It isn’t about filling clergy roles or church growth. Call is not always about wearing a collar. Call is about listening with our hearts to the God that loves us beyond measure. Because when we live as we are called to live, when we are the person God hoped for us from the moment we came into this world, then all of heaven rejoices. As Saint Irenaeus of Lyon said, “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”
And when a person lives into their calling – the glory of God shines through them. They are living as children of the light – and they will feel more alive than they ever thought possible – and that, THAT, is very pleasing to God indeed!
So, let us listen to the ones God will name for us – listen intently.
The name you hear may be the very one that seems the least likely – the one so different than what you or the world expects.
The name you hear may even be your own.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
March 19, 2023
Lent 4
1st Reading – 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
2nd Reading – Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel – John 9:1-41
