Second Sunday after the Epiphany 1 Samuel 3:1-20

Preaching Commentary

The farther you go…the harder it is to return. The world has many edges and it’s easy to fall off.

—Anderson Cooper, Dispatches From The Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

Hearing God's Call

For most of us, when we speak of “hearing God’s call” or obeying God’s call,” we mean it in a figurative way. We pray, spend time in discernment with a community, and ultimately experience God “calling” us in a particular direction. The events that unfold in 1 Samuel 3 on the other hand, are quite different. Samuel “hears” (Hebrew: Shema) a voice, what he would most definitely perceive as a literal voice, vocal cords and all. The voice is not his…