Sun. Jan. 15, 2012 (Laura Eriksson)

Laura Eriksson focused on God’s call to Samuel and on Jesus call to Nathaniel. Using the image of a film, Laura noted that a call comes in the context of a person’s life, and sometimes we need to rewind the film to get the whole picture; a film has many frames. Samuel, a child living out his mother’s promise, is called by God at a time when ”the word of the Lord was rare.” The child Samuel is called to bring a harsh message to his mentor, Eli. In Jesus time Nathaniel was skeptical about Philip’s claim to have found the one of whom the prophets wrote. Philip told Nathaniel to “come and see.” Jesus said he saw Nathaniel “under the fig tree” – a Jewish figure of speech – meaning he was studying the Torah. Samuel and Nathaniel are invited to participate in the work of God. Samuel and Nathaniel teach us to test the call, to make time to listen. We need each other to look through the lens of faith. Sometimes God’s call gets drowned out by the white noise around us. (HN)

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