PostScript: Called by name
God calls each one of us as individuals because he knows us (John 1.43-51; 1 Samuel 3.1-10).
Revelation comes through the listening, response and the witness of all who respond to Christ’s personal call. It is worked out in human lives, and seen in the small and seemingly insignificant choices that we make.
God’s call to us can take us by surprise – we may feel powerless, unprepared, inadequate. The reading from Samuel tells us that God calls us all – choosing the apparently insignificant or unlikely and making something wonderful out of it. In the Gospel reading, Jesus recognises something in Nathaniel and calls it out from him. How might this challenge us to reflect on our faith community and to see people’s gifts and abilities in a new way? How can we help one another to live into the calling of God that comes to us afresh every day?
This week's news
Who am I?
This week, the impact of terrorist attacks in France is still unfolding. In a society made up of many different beliefs, values and cultures, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ is a more pertinent question than ever. This week’s readings give us cause to consider our own identity as God’s beloved ‘bought with a price’ (1 Corinthians 6.20) and ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139.15). As we travel through the weeks after Epiphany, we are asked to remember the love that God sets upon us – and to live in the light of this knowledge. It is the kind of knowledge that can transform us and remakes relationships.
Who are we?
Questions have also been asked about Europe and European values.
As the people of God, there is a prompt this week to reflect on the values that God calls us back to, time and time again. As a people, what does it mean for us to live the values of the kingdom in a world that is increasingly fragile, unpredictable and scary? There are also tough questions to answer about the kind of response we make when our core values and beliefs are threatened. Leaders of nations came together in Paris in a unique show of unity – how can this kind of response be maintained and provide energy for change and for long term solutions? How do we respond when the light of Christ exposes darkness and provokes anger or violence?
The last weeks have shown us some of the darkest corners of the human heart and the responding darkness that lurks in the shadows and appears as revenge that escalates into greater darkness. This week Clint Eastwood, hero of so many cowboy movies, reflected briefly on violence; ‘what it does to people, what it is constantly doing now.’
Reflection
‘We are all meant to shine, as children do…and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.’ (Marianne Williamson) What makes us afraid of shining as lights in the world? How can we support one another in a risky world? This time after the Epiphany is time to reconsider our own gifts and to place them again into God’s hands. How can we make time to do this in an intentional way?
The weeks of Epiphany give us time to explore the implications of the love that God sets upon us – and to respond to the love that knows us inside out and loves us still, with a love that knows no limits but is dependent on us saying yes to it.
The call to Samuel took place at night – we are called not only into the light of joyful relationship with God but also to walk into the night and to take the Christ light there. How will we respond to this challenge?
As the light of revelation shines again into our hearts, what do we need to face up to in our lives and what do we need to ask God to transform?
Prayer
Lord, when darkness surrounds us:
keep our eyes fixed on you.
When the darkness threatens to overwhelm us:
keep our eyes on the path you have set for us.
When darkness makes us afraid:
keep our ears alert for your voice.
When darkness is all around:
keep us faithful to Christ, the promised light of the world.
Amen.
You might like to use the following traditional evening prayer, found in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, meditatively:
Lighten our darkness we beseech thee, O Lord,
and by thy great mercy defend us
from all perils and dangers of this night;
for the love of your only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Questions
- How can we live into our baptismal calling? What gifts do we need to call out from each other to make the word of Christ alive in our culture and our world?
- Where is God asking us to be light bearers? What are we called to say ‘yes’ to in order for the light of Christ to shine – in our hearts, in our church, in our communities?
Action
The light of Christ shines when we are open and responsive to it – God places the future of the kingdom in our hands and asks us to be partners in shaping it. It is the ‘yes’ that God needs from each of us, young and old, that is at the heart of the famous painting of The Light of the World by Holman Hunt.
You might like to use this picture in reflection this week together with the following quotation form Henri Nouwen’s book Reaching out:
‘Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.’
How can this help shape our mission?
Young People
There are many stories in the Bible where names are important. Today there are two such stories. What importance do we attach to names? How can we build relationships that centre on depth and acceptance?
What difference does it make to daily life if we see ourselves not as insignificant but as loved by God and called by name?
Diane Craven is a freelance writer and education consultant.
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