The Second Sunday of Epiphany – January 15, 2006
John 1:43-51
 
            It was on the road to Damascus that Saul the persecutor of the church became Paul the Apostle, great missionary of the early church. It is indisputable that St. Paul’s conversion on the Damascus road ranks as one of the most amazing moments of God speaking to a person and turning their life 180 degrees.
 
            For most of us, and certainly for me, this is not our experience. We do not have one of those extraordinary moments where God strikes us down on a Damascus road and we go from persecutor of believers to the great missionary.
 
            Our experience is perhaps more like Samuel. It is Samuel that God quietly calls and Samuel misunderstands, thinking it is Eli, the priest calling him. When Eli catches on to what is happening he says to Samuel: When you hear the voice calling, say ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening…’ When the voice calls again, Samuel answers and listens to God’s Word of judgment upon Eli and his children.
 
            Notice how Samuel didn’t get it initially. God calls and Samuel is confused. It takes Eli to reveal to Samuel what he needs to be doing. I can really identify with Samuel. Sometimes God is trying to say something and I just don’t get it. It happens. It may even happen to you, perhaps. God speaks and we misunderstand. It takes an Eli in our life for us to hear God calling and speaking to us.
 
            I do believe that we can hear God speaking to us when we really want to listen. Like Samuel we need to be instructed some. It is helpful when someone reminds us that to hear God speaking to us we need to remove the distractions pulsating about us so that we can quietly hear God’s words.
 
            Remember that God did not speak to Elijah in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but in sheer silence. It would be exciting to have a Damascus road moment like Paul did, but it is more likely that God will speak to us in the silence of our lives. So, to hear what God has to say to us we need to remove the noise, the distractions of our lives and focus on listening in silence.
 
            As we listen there are two things to do: pray and search the scriptures. In prayer we open ourselves in mutual conversation with God. It is a time to listen and hear what God is saying to us. Likewise, in the moment of silence we open the scripture and read, hearing what God has to say to us.
 
            It is not unlike the Ipod music players that are so popular now. Through a computer you put on the player the music you want to hear. Then you can insert the ear pieces and listen to your music. It is your music. You listen, undisturbed by advertising and interruptions. Likewise, prayer and scripture can feed us such that in the quiet moment we can hear God speak to us.
 
            And when we listen we hear the truth of the gospel that in the cross God has through Christ brought mercy and grace into our lives such that our sin is forgiven and we are given life in the kingdom of God forever. Forgiven and unconditionally loved by God we are transformed. It may not have been as dramatic as the transformation of St. Paul on the Damascus road, but it is our transformation all the same.
 
Listening to God in prayer and scripture we learn of our calling to pattern ourselves after another disciple in the gospel lesson today: Philip. Philip is the disciple called by our Lord Jesus to follow. Philip does. In his faithful following Philip becomes the missionary, like St. Paul, inviting Nathanael into a relationship with Jesus as Lord.
 
The words of Philip’s invitation are very simple: ‘come and see.’ So often we feel we have to be some kind of evangelical super person, leaping tall buildings in single bound like Superman does. That is a misunderstanding. God only asks of us that we invite others, that we say, ‘come and see.’
 
And as we invite others with those simple words, the most important person of the readings today becomes the focus of all: Jesus, himself. Why we listen to God and then invite others with the words ‘come and see’ is because we love the one who loves us unconditionally, the one who gave his life on the cross for us. Amen.
 
o        Pastor Robert F. Holley