Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

                                                                                    1 Samuel 3:1b-3

Dear friends in the fellowship of Christ,

            Thus begins the story of the calling of the child Samuel, who was sleeping in the temple on a day when it seemed that the vision of the people had nearly expired. The setting itself is striking: an empty temple, with only the ark of God at its center, and the dim light from the oil lamp of God offering what seems to be minimal illumination (but, as it turns out, enough). The authorized priest of the temple can no longer see, but the sleeping child is aroused by the voice of God. The old man is the child's teacher, and the child must go to him for an explanation. The old man interprets the calling for the child, but knows at once, with melancholy, that this new message from God is no longer his to expound. Thus passes one generation to the next in a time of great transition.  

            Now consider our own time, because this too is a time for questioning our vision, and for putting aside some of the very institutions and methods and forms of religious life that once formed the very center of our spirituality. It is a time when many have begun to feel that the lamp in the temple of our churches has grown dim, and that the older forms of congregational life and worship are not able to convey the message of the Gospel to a new generation of believers. When we hear such things, many times we feel disappointment, loss, a sense of melancholy for the former days. But in our faithful moments we realize that it is God's time of change. The gentle light of God has not gone out. It only needs someone with eyes to see and ears to hear God's calling.

Like the days of Samuel, this is a time for seeing and listening anew, for recognizing the skeletons in our closets and the cobwebs in our corners that continue to muddle the vision of Christ within us - the latent habits of racial pride, religious chauvinism, exclusionary language, and all forms of cultural hierarchy. It is a time to enjoy the communities we love while also affirming with joy the new communities forming in the world of social media and emergent gatherings. In this time of change in our religious communities, may the light in the temple of our churches be sufficient for a cleansing vision, so that we may hear Jesus speak to us in each day's unexpected ways.