“Searched and Known”

“Searched and Known”

1 Samuel 3:1-20  Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18    John 1:43-51

Year B, Second Sunday after Epiphany

January 14, 2024

Pastor Andy Kennaly, Sandpoint, Idaho

God worked with Eli for a long time. Now young Samuel hears a voice and receives God’s call. Old. Young. Passages of time. Endings and beginnings. Stories of call, now past. But maybe this story from the past is as much about the present and the future. Who is God calling now, in our time? And what is the nature of that call? How does the future depend on the clarification of that call for it to be effective? Are those called by God confused like the boy Samuel? We think we hear one thing, but it’s actually another. Again, and again? How does a calling find clarification, in order to participate and cooperate with the unfolding of the future, even as we now have glimpses, like Sameul throughout the night? How do we get to the day, the light, the illumination of clarified vision? How do we get to the point, like Samuel, to recognize God’s movement, to avail ourselves of God’s Presence, and to participate in transformation in the world, which at its core is spiritual work?

A few years ago, Cynthia Bourgeault shared a video interview as part of an Advent series based on the work of Jean Gebser. Gebser was European, a cultural philosopher and magnificent in his noticing the intensities of spiritual unfolding in the world. Cynthia Bourgeault shares about spiritually opening ourselves to connection with God’s larger Realm. Developing a larger capacity to perceive God’s Presence and connect with Christ’s Consciousness in Integral ways, she makes an observation that seems compelling and gives another perspective to view this morning’s scripture stories as God speaks to Samuel and Jesus converses with Nathanael who was seen under the fig tree.

Cynthia Bourgeault talks about God’s Wisdom, [link to a Vimeo video, the reference comes from 2:55-7:12 on timer, but the section from 6 to 9 minutes is a great overview of Jean Gebser’s profound presentation of Integral unfolding] and how we typically assign assumptions to how God’s Wisdom works, or where it comes from. We look at Jesus and assume God’s Wisdom is in Jesus, or some other aspect of the past in a linear way. But Cynthia bends this understanding, reminding us that Wisdom’s way of knowing and mystical understanding is eternal, perennially expressed, and outside of time, interacts with time, not so much from the past, but if anything, from the future. She says, “Wisdom flows to us from the future.… It’s always coming to us with the same Wisdom, from that same wellspring. We call it the future, because it hasn’t downloaded in time yet. It’s really the center from which it suffuses out.” She talks about spiritual disciplines, faithfulness that does come “…up to us through time, from Jesus, from the Desert Fathers and Mothers, through the Rule of St. Benedict, through the wonderful practices… all this has been preparing us to receive what’s coming, so we can actually comprehend it.” (“Advent Coming Toward Us: A Conversation on Gebser, C. Bourgeault & Marcella Kraybill-Greggo” from Bob Sabath on Vimeo)

In that sense, the biblical narrative extends into our own time, teaches us how to be present, like Nathaniel under the fig tree, or Samuel attentive in the night. We hear our call to our place, while humanity and the larger creation continue to interact and engage with the LORD, the Wisdom of God that is above all, in all, and through all, the Living Christ who draws all things. We are invited, like Samuel, like Philip and Nathanael, to grow up, like Jesus, in Wisdom and in stature, to prepare our soul for an open perception to see heaven opened and divine activity at work.

We are extensions of the biblical narrative. We come alongside the disciples, like calling Philip who will see heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Perception grows, vision expands, and the glory of God in Christ becomes more and more developed, declared, and experienced. But this biblical narrative is more than linear, it’s an unveiling, a sharing within time of that which is already there, beyond time.  It’s also broadening, and this is a key point: the “you” in that last verse about heavens opened and angels, this “you” is second person plural, meaning it includes Nathanael, the reader, and us. You will see. Through the biblical story and life’s ongoing witness, God is active, trustworthy, and calling, through Christ, to a living faith. “The Word becomes flesh” is both a specific event in Jesus, and, a statement of reality shaped by the embodiment, the enfleshment, the materializing of Spirit, of God’s grace throughout the ages.

Friends, although it may not feel like it all the time, given so many challenges our world faces, we do live in an exciting time of promise. The old storylines cannot contain what’s coming. God’s Spirit is bursting onto the scene, persistently calls us by name to pay attention, to wake up, to become increasingly aware through our hearts, souls, and renewed minds to what God is doing in our midst. The calling through Wisdom from and toward future fulfilment is active, which we can welcome even now.

Thanks be to God for the Season of Epiphany revealing the essential nature of God’s Wisdom calling us from the future as we take our place in the circle of trustworthy servants who welcome the faithfulness of God. We are invited to “come and see” through the illuminated eyes of our hearts.

May God’s humble, vulnerable love, revealed in Christ, continue to teach us, lead us, fill us, and use us to the glory of God, NOW, even as forever.  Amen.