Sunday Homily, January 18, 2015, 2nd Ordinary Time, B
Readings: January 18, 2015
1 Samuel 3, 3-19, Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Psalm 40, Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.
1 Corinthians 6, 13-15, 17-20, Your body is a temple of the Spirit within you.
John 1, 35-42, What are you looking for?
1 Samuel observations:
What: 4 books about 4 big leaders of the People, Samuel & Saul, David & Solomon. 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings.
Who: Samuel is the first big leader of the people. He is a judge and the last. The following 3 are kings of the people, Saul, David, and Solomon.
Time: The events take place ca. 1100-1000 before Christ. The compilation & recording of the events takes place ca. 555 before Christ. Sound familiar? Babylonian Captivity
Today's Selection: Yahweh is calling Samuel in a dream. This ties in with the Gospel where three future apostles are called. Samuel's mother was Hannah, and she is famous because of a touching story about how she came to have Samuel.
I had the story of King David read the Sunday before Christmas and I talked about Samuel.
Hannah, Samuel's mother, had promised Yahweh that she would dedicate to the temple her son, if she got one. Consequently, our selection finds Samuel residing in the temple with Eli the prophet. He would be about 12 years old.
Be aware that while these marvelous stories are mythological, the writer is attempting to convey to a simple people lessons in trust in Yahweh.
The Samuel reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel are all about call. I would like to talk about this at homily. As the Psalm says, "I come to do your will." What is that? What if it is just being peaceful?
Big Calls and Little Calls
Like I mentioned, I would like to talk about calls this morning. I would observe that there are big calls and little calls. A big call would be like my call to go work in Tanzania and East Africa. A little call could be like this. Our story of the week.
So I go to the J this past Friday morning, the Jewish Community Center. You know I go there Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a 6 o’clock spin class. The room has 25 stationary bikes and often the majority are occupied.
I had not been to the spin class since the Monday 10-12 days before. I had a low grade, almost cold during the cold cloudy period and I just could not get it to go away. One of the things I do to get ahead of a cold, beside heat and hydration, is rest. I do no exercise and I force myself to lie down for an hour in the morning and in the afternoon.
I knew what it was going to take and it did. The sun came out Thursday, the temperature moderated, and, voila, the cold disappeared. I could not wait for Friday morning.
So I get there, say, ten minutes early. I walk in, say hi to the lady who gives me a locker key for the change room and a towel. I walk into the change room and say hi to two other old geezers I like to joke with.
All this time I am expecting that someone, at least the lady at the entrance, might say, “Where you been? I’ve missed you.” No, nothing, not even the two old geezers.
So I walk down the hall and enter the spin room about 5:50. Perhaps 8 people are there, including a lady who always rides on the bike immediately to my left.
She is doing pre-ride exercises on the floor. I say hi to her and talk with two guys I like, younger guys. Yep, you guessed it. No word about me being gone. I was deflated. I like the spin classes, but I equally like the people and I know pretty nearly everyone by name. In fact, when I first started coming, people would just walk in, get on a bike, and start riding without a word to anybody. Now I greet everyone and it seems like people are talking more.
Eventually I just told people I had been gone almost two weeks because of a faint cold. Then I had a couple of people say they had noticed I had not been around.
The temptation? Baloney on those people. I have liked them, greeted them, and told them that I missed them when I noted that they had been gone, even for one class. It is easy for me to notice, because the majority use the same bike each class. I know some of them were flattered when I noticed.
That’s the temptation. What’s the call? Even a little call. I think the call to me, at least, is to continue to greet these folks, to chat them up, and, yes, to tell them I missed them when they are gone for a class or two. People are worth more than my deflation.
So, be sure to tell Rosemary and me how much you missed us the next time we are away for a week. Only so much deflation I can handle, and you know Rosemary.
How do you handle being deflated like this?