Is That You God?

J’Nevelyn Lloyd
Director of Children’s Ministries
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

Children’s Sabbath, November 12, 2009

Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10

It is good to be with you today. As you have heard, it is our children’s Sabbath. A day to celebrate children. If we let them, children have a lot to teach us. Samuel was no exception in today’s scripture. Hannah, Samuel’s mom dedicated him to the Lord before he was born & had taken Samuel to live in the temple to be trained as a priest. Eli, an old man, was the priest in the temple. The Bible tells us that Samuel did not know the Lord yet. He was 12 years old and this story is about God talking to him! We know that God called out to Samuel 3 times and each time he thought Eli was calling him. After the 3rd time, Eli realized that it was God calling Samuel. So he instructs Samuel to go back and lie down and tells him how to respond if God calls again. Samuel was obedient and says, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

The rest of the chapter tells what God had in store for Samuel. He was called to tell Eli what was in store for him and his family. It wasn’t good news, but Eli wanted the truth and Samuel told him all of it. Again, Samuel was obedient.

When studying scripture, I like to ask 3 questions: The first one is: What does this scripture tell us about God? It tells me that God knows my name. He was calling Samuel! Just like Jesus knew Zachaias’ name in the new testament. It also tells me that God is persistent. He didn’t give up that night when Samuel didn’t answer back. God called him 3 times before even Eli realized that it was God. It also tells me that God uses other people to speak to us! It tells me that God calls children! Our age doesn’t matter. I was 10 the first time that I knew God was speaking to me. It was clear to me that God wanted me to make a decision to love and follow him at that young age and again at 16, I heard God’s still small voice prompting me to dedicate my life to “full time service”---whatever that meant! I had no clue at the time. Just knew that I wanted and felt the call to say “Yes” to God!

The 2nd question that I ask is: What does this scripture tell me about human beings (or myself)? This one tells me that we humans don’t recognize God’s voice sometimes! It tells me that we question others and try to analyze situations that God is probably orchestrating. It also tells me that we all need an Eli in our lives----someone who is patient and who will point us to God. Samuel was IN the temple. Surely he knew that that was a holy place, even though it says he didn’t know the Lord yet. We put ourselves in the church and put ourselves in the path of God speaking but sometimes don’t listen. We might hear, but we don’t listen.

(Kids, how many times do you try to tell your parents or siblings or teachers something and you don’t think they are listening? I bet they hear you, but they aren’t paying attention to what you are saying. They are not really listening. They might be busy or have something else on their minds.)

Listening is an art. To listen means that we must stop our own mind of going ahead of the speaker. It means that we need to be fully present in the conversation, even if it is a non-verbal conversation. It is something that we must practice to get it right! We must be intentional about making time to listen. Many times in Jesus’ teachings, he says, “if you have ears, listen!” which meant what he was about to say was important and that we should listen up!

The 3rd question that I ask when studying scripture is: What is this passage saying to me? How should I respond? Is this passage calling me to action? I don’t know what this story of Samuel says to you, but to me it speaks volumes. It reminds me that God speaks whether I am listening or not! It tells me that it doesn’t matter on our age because God can use little people as well as old people! It also tells me that you & I need to be aware of when we can be Elis. We are all children of God! We are never too young, too old, too down and out, too rich, too poor or too important to be used by God. Many times it is in spite of us that God works!

Since I am listening right now!! I can hear you thinking: “I have not actually heard the Lord speak to me.” So I will ask you: Would you agree with me that God speaks in many ways? What might those ways be? I believe that God speaks through people, through books, through the written word in the Bible, even through movies, through nature—sunsets, sunrises, flowers, beaches, mountains to name a few, through circumstances, through hugs, through silence, through hardships and difficulties, through births and joys and of course, through music. God even speaks through chaos and through the most unexpected ways. The Bible is full of those kind of stories!

Think of other stories in the Bible where God spoke: in creation, to Moses through a burning bush, to Noah with instructions to build an ark in the middle of a desert, to Jacob and Solomon in dreams, through Paul who had the reputation of persecuting Christians. God spoke to Zechariah & Elizabeth about the birth of John. God appeared to Mary and Joseph to tell them about the coming of God’s son Jesus. God spoke through a blinding light and a helpful friend to Paul.

Do we think that God only spoke in the Bible times and that was then and now is now and God doesn’t do that anymore? If we believe the scripture from Hebrews 13:8 that says, God is the same yesterday, today & tomorrow, then I think it will benefit us to believe and trust that God still speaks!

Maybe it is in hindsight that we say, “Yes, God spoke to me.” “Oh, yeah, that was God for sure!” What would it take for us to be so attentive to God that we can actually know at the time that God is speaking? I think it takes us asking God to help us to be present! Maybe even asking God to help us to WANT to be present!

So, today, as I ask the question “Is that you, God?” I also leave a few questions for you to think about and answer: Who are your Elis? Who have you been an Eli to? Do you have the heart of a child? Are you willing to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening?” Do you listen with just your ears, or do you listen with your eyes, and your heart, and your mind?

There are MANY opportunities around this church and this community for you to be an Eli. As we begin the new year in January, both the children’s ministries and youth ministries are launching new mid-week programs that will need your prayers, your help and your support. We as a church are called to be Elis to our children and youth. Please join me in praying for these ministries and as you pray, take time to listen!!! Maybe God is calling you to help and volunteer! Remember your hand…We teach children to put their hands together to pray. That can even be a helpful tool for us. With your hands folded together in front of your chest, think of it this way: Thumbs pointing toward you reminds you to pray for people closest to you; the pointer reminds us to pray for things and people that we can point to that help us (doctors, teachers, a bug on the sidewalk, a pretty sunset, etc…); tall man finger reminds us to pray for our leaders; our 4th or ring finger (is the weakest finger) reminds us to pray for those who need our prayers (the homeless, those who are hungry or sad, or sick, or alone), and our little finger reminds us to pray for ourselves. BUT that’s not all of your hand---- the largest part of your hand is your palm (that’s the part that holds all the fingers together). AND its size fits right over your ear, reminding us to LISTEN to God more than just give him our agenda. Try it…