These past several months of physical distancing during this global pandemic have been pretty challenging for many of us, to say the least. One of the ways that I have been coping these past several months is by listening to music. And not just any music but for me it was mainly songs from the 60s and 70s.
As I listened to these hits from forty to fifty years ago, I became interested in the background for many of these songs. And one of those was the song, “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers. The song was a huge hit when it was released in 1972, rising to #11 on the charts. You are probably hearing this song being played in your head now as I talk about it.
I read where the writer of that song, Tom Johnston was struggling to compose that first big hit for the band. And someone gave him the simple advice which was to, “Just go listen to the music.” And he did, and it led to him coming up with this hit song, “Listen to the Music.”
In our Old Testament reading, the Priest, Eli offers similar advice to young Samuel after he hears his name being called in the night. Samuel thinks that it was Eli who was calling his name, but Eli knew that it was the Lord.
And Eli gave Samuel this simple advice. The next time you hear someone calling your name, just say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
So Samuel did what Eli told him to do. The Lord called Samuel’s name again and this time, Samuel was ready to listen to the Lord’s voice.
Who encourages you to listen to the music of God calling your name? Who are the people in your life who have come alongside of you to help you know that God just might be calling your name?
In our Gospel reading today, we have the story of how Nathaniel became a follower of Jesus. He became a follower because Phillip introduced him to Jesus. That introduction led to Nathaniel having a conversation with Jesus and he ended up becoming one of Jesus’ twelve disciples.
Samuel had Eli. Nathaniel had Phillip. Who are the people who help you to listen to God’s calling in your life?
As I reflect back on my decision to become a pastor, I think of the many people who helped me to listen to respond to God’s calling in my life. People like my pastor when I was in the 9th grade. He came up to me at a church event and very nonchalantly said, “You should think about becoming a pastor someday.”
And then when I was in college, some of my friends would say to me, “We think God might be calling you to go into the ministry.” All of these people were encouraging me to listen to the music, to listen to God’s voice.
It was during this time when my college friends were encouraging me to think about going into the ministry that I went on a retreat that was held in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. During one of the sessions of the retreat, the leader invited us to take our bibles and find a place and just spend that time listening to God.
That’s like the simplest spiritual exercise to tell someone to do. “Hey, go somewhere and listen for God to speak to you.”
I remember opening the Bible randomly and it opened to Jeremiah, chapter one. And so I read that first chapter. It’s the story of when God was calling Jeremiah to become a prophet and Jeremiah is coming up with all these excuses, and God then tells Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid. I’ve put my words in your mouth.”
As I read this, it hit me that I was like Jeremiah in the story who was in need of reassurance from God. And that was the moment when I finally heard the music. I heard God calling me to become a pastor.
If it wasn’t for my home pastor when I was in the 9th grade, if it wasn’t for my college friends, and if it wasn’t for that retreat leader who said, “Hey, go somewhere and listen for God,” I don’t think that I would have heard and responded to God calling my name to go into the ministry.
When somebody is exploring the possibility of becoming a pastor in the United Methodist Church, we talk about the importance of having both an inner calling and an outer calling. The inner calling is when the person believes he or she has been called by God to become a pastor. The outer calling is when the people who know that person believe that God may be calling him or her into the ministry.
In our Old Testament reading, Eli represents Samuel’s outer calling. And Samuel’s inner calling was when he listened and responded to God’s calling by saying, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
We need both an outer calling and an inner calling. When those two things come together, we are able to listen to the music of God’s calling in our lives.
Who are the people who encourage you to listen to the music of God’s calling in your life?
This past July, one of our church members, Cathy Bigger contacted me to say that if I ever needed a Sunday off and needed someone to preach, that she would be interested in filling in. I knew from past experience in working with Cathy here in the church that she had always done a great job whenever she needed to speak in front of people. Cathy had also recently attended a United Methodist Lay Servant training class that was held in our district.
So I think she may have been a little surprised when I responded so quickly and told her that I needed someone to fill in for me in about two months. When she said that would work on her schedule, I sent her the appointed scripture readings for that Sunday along with a possible sermon theme that she might want to use in developing her message.
As we got closer to the date when she was to give the message, we went over some more details about her Sunday and about a week before she was to preach, she sent me her message so I could look it over. I was impressed with the time and prayer she put into writing it and it ended up blessing a lot of people that Sunday.
Cathy later told me how much she appreciated the opportunity to preach and then she shared a thin place God moment with me. She said that the day that was chosen for her to preach ended up being really special because that happened to be her mother’s birthday anniversary. She said that her mother had also been trained as a Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church and Cathy was honoring her mother’s memory by preaching that day.
When we hear God calling our name to serve, we are often reminded of those who have been like Eli in our lives, people who have loved and nurtured us in the faith. This is what makes our church family so important. We are here to help each other listen and discern God’s calling in our lives. Is really is a team effort.
People share with me how they have felt God calling them to teach Sunday School or serve on our Leadership Board or help record our online worship services or make prayer shawls or help with church mailings or go on a missions trip or any number of ways of serving. Without God calling each of our names, we would not be the church that God is calling us to be.
It takes each and every one of us to listen to God speaking our name, to discern if that calling is matching up with our particular gifts, abilities and passion. And the good news is that we are here to support each other in that whole process. We are often each other’s cheerleader, advocate, spiritual guide, sounding board, voice of wisdom. Sometimes we are more like Samuel where we are seeking to discern if we are truly hearing God’s voice. Other times, we are more like Eli helping others to listen for God’s voice.
My prayer is that we can see ourselves as both Samuel and Eli. God is speaking to each one of us. The question is how can we help each other hear that voice that is calling our names.
Our music director, Peter Jarjisian who is on sabbatical this year shared during a worship service last spring how he was able to hear God’s calling to pursue a music career. He attended Upper Darby High School near Philadelphia, PA where he was part of the school choir.
His choir director took them on a singing tour to the state capital in Harrisburg one year. The capital has a large dome and so when you sing there, the music travels around that rotunda in such a beautiful way.
The choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus and he said that it was such a beautiful sound that it was one of the defining moments that led him to choose music as a career. Peter literally listened to the music and it led to his very distinguished music career here at Ohio University as well as through the life of our church as our Director of Music.
How do we know if God is calling our name? Just go and listen to the music. It will lead us to write a new song, one that God is calling us to sing out.
Perhaps the sweetest melody is the one yet to be heard. God is calling our names to listen to the music and then sing it for the world.
Now that you know how the song, “Listen to the Music,” was created, be open to how God might be calling your name.
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