It’s a God thing!

1 Samuel 15:34—16:13; Mark 4:26-34

A couple months ago I happened to meet Judith Vogels, a Democrat running for Florida State House Seat 23. I invited her to our monthly Kiwanis meeting, and asked her to comment on how she would help Kiwanis fulfill our mission: improving the world one child and one community at a time. She did come, and we had an interesting conversation about children’s mental health.

It seemed only fair to invite the Republican candidates for the same House Seat to speak with us, so I found a contact us form on the Citrus County Republican website. I sent in my request. As it happened, the secretary sent the request to all Republican candidates, many of whom said they wanted to speak with us. So far, it’s frustrating to me that none of the respondents are for the same House seat as Ms Vogels.

Last Wednesday, three candidates for Citrus County positions attended, two for school board and one for judge, and we had a wonderful conversation about education and the court system. I had trouble getting the group’s attention to end the discussion so we could do a small amount of business before closing the meeting.

The next day, I had an email from Nancy, a club member, expressing appreciation for the conversation. I replied that it was a “God thing,” and Nancy agreed with me. It was God who caused me to invite Ms Vogels, and to send the email to the Republicans for House seat 23, and a God thing that the secretary sent it to all, and that so many responded. We have two more meetings until the Primary in August, and I am certain our conversations will be just as engaging.

📖 … Last Sunday, we learned about Samuel’s conversations with the people and with God. The people want a king and Samuel disagrees; God says – let them have a king, but warn them of the consequences! So, by now, Saul is king and behaving badly. To put it briefly, in 1 Samuel 13 – a couple chapters before today’s reading, the text reads, “Saul has not kept what the Lord commanded him.”

So in today’s reading, Samuel has been told by God to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king. We can imagine how Jesse and his wife (who … ahem! … is not mentioned) felt when Samuel came to tell them what he wanted. They must have first been startled and worried, then proud that one of their sons would be called by God to serve as King of Israel.

Then, imagine the dismay and frustration when the oldest son was not chosen, nor were the next 6 sons. Forgotten by the family, considered unimportant in the scheme of who’s who in the family, there is David the shepherd boy.

🤔 We had some discussion about this text on Wednesday, puzzling over what it means in verse 5 that they were to “sanctify themselves”, and then “Samuel sanctified them”. How, we wondered, do we make ourselves holy, when that’s a God thing to do? I promised to research it, and can only offer what we thought at the time. First, the family was to wash and put on clean clothes, to be ready to be sanctified, and then Samuel performed whatever additional rituals were necessary.

😊 I find it fun that Eliab had a pleasant appearance, but Samuel says, God does not look at appearance. And then in the end, David is described as ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and handsome. It's a God thing to choose the unexpected person to fulfill God's purposes.

David will not be king until Saul dies, and that will be years in the future. But Samuel and God are making it known that God is not pleased with Saul. It’s a God thing – to wait until the time is right.

🌱… Jesus tells us it’s also a God thing that plants grow, that seed is distributed and fruit is multiplied. It’s a God thing that tiny seeds produce giant bushes. In America, the saying is “from tiny acorns grow mighty oaks.” This is what Jesus is saying. Growth is a God thing.

He uses an agricultural figure of speech to talk about how the reign of God will grow and multiply. Seeds are planted in human hearts, they sprout, and faith grows, and soon, the believers have become a Church. Well, Jesus doesn’t say that, but that’s what happened once Peter and Paul and the others get busy spreading the seed of the Gospel and planting faith communities.

🛐 … Over the centuries since Jesus and the first believers, lots has changed. The Church (capital C Church) has seen boom times and failing times. In 325, the Council of Nicaea defined Christian beliefs. By the 600s, there were Christians in Spain, Britain, Libya, Egypt, and Iraq. 

The Church has at times done some terrible things that offend us today – such as the Spanish Inquisition, and the attitude that only Christianity matters so it’s ok to force it on those who believe in God differently. The Church has done terrible things like make sure that only men, and later only European men, and then only straight white men and sometimes women, are permitted to be leaders in the Church. 

Certainly, this is changing in some places, but not in others. We can be proud that we are ELCA Lutherans, and an open and accepting congregation.

Jesus’ Church is challenged today as younger people resist what they see as hypocrisy, a difference between what they read in the Bible and how it is expressed in the daily life of Christians. So, they believe in a God of their own description, using faith practices from a variety of religions as a way to connect with God.

Those of us who have been around for a few decades are worried the Church will die. We observe lower attendance, fewer young people in worship, especially compared to the 1950s. There many reasons for this, including the simple fact that families are smaller than they used to be.

But it’s Jesus’ Church, and the Church will survive. It will just transfigure, transform itself into something new. We Lutherans know something about that. It’s a God thing.

For you all this week, pay attention to the big and little things in your lives that could be God things. And don’t forget to tell the stories about them.

Amen