What?! Who’s There?!

Sometime during my high-school years, I came home in the early dusk of a Winter’s evening. Mom was still at work in the drugstore; and I knew Dad was probably napping, since he had had a rough night. So I quietly let myself in, and without turning on a light, crept upstairs. Try as I might, the old staircase creaked–and my father (who indeed had been sleeping soundly) sat up and quavered, “Who’s there???” After our mutual adrenaline rushes had subsided, no amount of explaining could convince him that I wasn’t trying to scare him into an early grave… Readings for this weekend after Epiphany are about recognition.

In I Samuel, Chapter 3, we hear about the boy Samuel, who was apprenticing at the temple with Eli, the High Priest. In the middle of the night, he heard his name being called–and thinking it was old Eli, who was nearly blind, he rushed to help his mentor. But no, Eli hadn’t called…. This happened again, and yet a third time; and now Eli realized that this was GOD calling. “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord,for your servant is listening.'” Sometimes it takes a few tries before we recognize the Holy right next to us.

Paul’s message to the Corinthian Church (I,6:12-20) is about fornication; Corinth was a seaport with many sailors, and commercial sex was everywhere. I’m thinking that most of us have a hard time defining “fornication”: maybe “casual sex” is better wording. Paul tells his flock that sex without involvement with one’s partner is shallow, even blasphemous to the Creator. Do we recognize our lovers as bearing the image of Christ?

Early in John’s Gospel comes the calling of Jesus’ disciples (1:43-51). “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?'”(47-48) What does the Lord recognize in us, even as we seek him? Some will feel spied upon by an all-knowing Lord–but it comforts me to think that God knows my few better parts, as well…disguised even as they are!

Urbane and crowded as I am, I’m often glad to be anonymous. Yet I also long for a place where everybody knows my name; thus I seek out a faith-community of like-minded persons who may care enough to get to really know me. May we apprehend the nearby holiness in the late-night voice, in our lovers, in those who follow and in those who lead!

God bless Us, Every One…. Horace Brown King