Living as God’s People: Leaders in the Land
Calling The Young
There was an age and era of family life and parenting where children and youth were told to ‘be seen and not heard.’ Some of you may remember that or have grown up like that. It was a time when children were supposed to stay in the background and not draw attention to themselves, especially when there were other guests around, other adults. It was the adults at the table that were supposed to talk and carry the conversation around a meal. The polite thing for the young was to sit there quietly and only respond if directly asked a question. There was an implicit assumption that their voice did not really matter and they had nothing important to say. Better to stay quiet, not ask questions, not disturb the peace or rock the boat with new ideas. This advice does sound old fashioned in our day, and perhaps the pendulum has swung far in the other direction. I do wonder what kind of damage that stay quiet attitude did to children and youth as they grew up – what it did to their self esteem, their confidence, their understanding of themselves, their very dreams.
As humans we have a basic need to be seen and to be heard. To be seen – for the important people in our lives to notice us, to pay attention, to have curiosity and interest in what we are doing and who we are becoming; and to be heard – to know our voice matters, what we think, to be listened to, to know that someone hears and takes seriously our deepest questions and wonderings, even if they are not formed yet, to be assured that what we say matters to someone. It is when we are seen and heard that we grow and thrive and become the people God meant us to be.
Our story today is all about seeing and hearing, about being seen and heard. Those images of sight and sound are found throughout this well crafted, almost poetic, narrative. We heard the Peace Table version of this story, which is a little condensed to the core of the story. Let me lift out a few of the ways the writer of 1st Samuel plays around with the images of sight and sound, seeing and hearing, from the NRSV, which tries to follow closely the original Hebrew.
The chapter has a fascinating opening line. ‘Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.’ The Word – speech, voice, ears to listen to God – rare. And Visions – sight, revelation, insight – not widespread. What is not being seen or heard? What happens to a people, a faith, a walk with God when there is no listening or seeing? And then the author plays rather delightfully with both of these images. Old Eli is described as someone with eyesight having grown dim so he could not see… but the lamp of God had not yet gone out. Then in this back and forth with Samuel, it keeps talking about what has not yet been revealed, or perceived – another way of talking about seeing. And of course, the passage is all about voice and sound and listening. Samuel hearing this voice calling his name – ‘Samuel, Samuel,’ and not knowing who is calling. Finally Eli gets it and suggests that Samuel respond ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ I love the line that Michael read – ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.’ (verse 11) When God speaks, both ears tingle of all who hear and respond. As the story continues, it is Samuel who receives the vision from God, and it is not good news to Eli. Samuel wants to hide the vision, not let Eli see or hear what God has spoken, but Eli tells Samuel to tell him everything. Do not hide a thing, even if it is hard. The story ends with another delightful line – ‘As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.’ Words, speech, what we hear, is so significant that even the words themselves cannot fall to the ground. They are that precious! This is a story of Samuel, (and maybe even Eli,) being seen and heard. It is how Samuel comes into leadership, through this gift of being known.
The character I feel rather sorry for in the story is Eli. He has spent his life in dedication to God, in the Temple as a priest. It seems like it is his own boys, his sons, that are the problem – that do evil in the sight of God – that disobey, that speak blasphemy – notice it is speech again – bad words. But it is Eli who takes the blame – the sins of the sons visited upon the parent. Those of us who are parents ourselves shudder at this thought. It is hard enough trying to parent, and then to be blamed if your kids mess up or don’t turn out right. Maybe Eli was not the best parent – maybe he spent too much time in the Temple rather than at home. This is not the first or last story of a PK – a pastor’s kid, struggling to live up to expectations, or rebelling against the faith. But the message seems harsh. Chapter 4 then tells the story in a way that blames the death of Eli’s 2 sons in a battle with the Philistines on their disobedience, and that Eli, upon hearing of their death, fell over backwards, broke his neck, and died – age 98 – again, his fault for his son’s misdeeds. There are things I don’t understand in the Bible.
What I do notice in our chapter is the significant role Eli plays in the young life of Samuel. Eli has been gracious already in accepting and welcoming Samuel into the Temple from his mother Hannah, the story that begins this book. He becomes Samuel’s mentor – already encouraging his ministry to emerge. In today’s passage, it is Eli who is wise enough to recognize that it might just be God who is calling out Samuel’s name. Eli is truly listening – open ears. Where you really see Eli’s maturity, is his response to Samuel having received a vision from God, a vision he wants to hide from Eli. Eli could just as easily have hidden from this as well, but he pushes and encourages Samuel to share the vision, even with its tough message against Eli. Speak the truth. Have integrity. Be willing to hear hard things. Listen even when you don’t want to, trust new leadership. These sound to me like characteristics of good leadership. In doing this, Eli is truly listening and trusting. He is passing on the torch of leadership. He is recognizing that his time is almost done, and it is okay for a next generation to take the lead. Hmm… is this a Joe Biden- Kamala Harris moment? Maybe more important than anything else, Eli is making Samuel feel seen and heard.
Today is Milestone Sunday. A few minutes ago we gave out Bibles and bookmarks to our children and youth. It is a way of having them know they are seen and heard – that their voice is important to us and the life of this congregation, and that what they see and perceive and learn and share, is so significant to who we all are. Rituals like this make my ears tingle! So do all the many ways we encourage and listen to and lift up our children and youth.
I want to share a few short stories and then invite a little interview up front here. This summer, I have been so struck by the many forms f leadership I have seen with some of our youth and young adults. Yes, you have been seen and heard! Your voice is so important, and my ears tingle when I hear about the leadership so many of you are providing.
Near the end of summer, I attended the closing concert and musical at Conrad Grebel put on by the campers and staff of Ontario Mennonite Music Camp. It was a fabulous evening of song and choir and instrumental groups, a full musical and so much creativity and energy. Both Bertha Rich and Sean Carter were there as CIT’s – Counsellors in Training and near the end of the program were brought to the front and presented tuning forks for graduating from this leadership program. I saw Sean leading out with his cello playing and taking on the role of the King in the musical. I saw Bert singing and laughing, and then singing the solo of a hymn she helped song lead for the whole gathering group of us. These are great young leaders.
I also heard about some of our other youth in our Mennonite camps. Julia Schroeder-Kipfer was a counsellor again at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp and makes a difference there. I heard glowing reports of her compassion and wisdom during the Single Mom’s Camp. We had several counsellors up at Silver Lake Mennonite Camp too, a long tradition here at SJMC. Bertha spent a couple of weeks up there as well to start the summer. Both Alice Willms and Levi Bender spend their whole summers as first year counsellors. A couple of years ago Rachel and I volunteered for a week when both of them were doing their first year of CILTS, their counsellor training. Already then I could see and witness their passion and skills and the very natural ways they took on leadership. Levi has been hired there this fall and is helping the Men’s Retreat this very weekend. He told me about how much they talked about servant leadership this summer, using Jesus as an example. These young adults are all growing into leadership, and we see and hear them.
I want to highlight one more sign of leadership I have seen here from one of our Grade 9 youth. You may have noticed the inviting book table the last 2 Sundays in the upper foyer, and that our church library is being transformed. We have had wonderful leadership of the church library for many many years here, but that committee finished its time there and brought the question to Leadership Council of what should happen with the library. It happened that our outgoing LC chair, Ryan Clemmer, mentioned the library at home, and what do you know, daughter Nadia’s ears tingled, and she asked if she could help out. I want to invite Nadia to come forward now, and ask her a few questions about the church library and her new leadership there.
- This summer you had a vision for the church library and what it could become. Tell us about what you have been doing there and about your dreaming for the library?
- Why did you decide to venture into this library role? How were called to this role?
- What have you been learning about leadership and what makes for a good leader? What have you been learning about yourself?
Thank you Nadia, and thank you to all of our youth and young adults and the leadership that is emerging. Know that you are being seen and heard and that your voice matters, just as it mattered to Eli to see and hear Samuel. May all of our ears tingle. Thanks be to God! Amen.