People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: Are Your Ears Tingling? ~ Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. '24 Yr B

For Sunday, January 14, 2024, Readings: 1 Samuel 3:1-20, Ps 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Cor 6:12-20, John 1:43-51

[SsAM Parish4 readings, see below: The Rt. Rev Quintin E. Primo, Jr.*, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. **]

And Samuel said, "Speak for your servant is listening." Then the Lord said to Samuel, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle..." As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him...And all Israel...knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. [1 Samuel 3:10b-11,19-a-20]

Lord you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar...You trace my journeys and my resting- places and are acquainted with all my ways. Indeed there is now a word on my lips, but you O Lord, know it altogether...Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb... [Psalm 139:1-2, 15a]

But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him...do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ...do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? [1 Corinthians 6:15a, 17, 19]

Nathanael said to [Philip], "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see..." And [Jesus] said to [Nathanael], "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." [John 1:46, 51]

[What we are doing at this moment is a symbol of what black and white people must continue to do as we offer our lives to be instruments for bringing the Kingdom of God reality on earth. ~The Rt. Rev. Quintin E. Primo, Jr.]

[Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson scratched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. For more than two centuries our foreparents labored here without wages; they made cotton king; and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation -- and yet out of a bottomless vitality our people continue to thrive and develop. ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]

4These Prayers of the People were originally commissioned in 2013 by The Rev. David Andrews, then Rector of The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (SsAM) in Wilmington, Delaware. They continue to be used by the Parish that in 2021 celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the blending of a traditionally white parish ~ St. Andrew's, founded in 1829, and a traditionally African-American parish ~ St. Matthew's, that began in 1846. St. Matthew’s was founded in the lower level of St. Andrew's as the Robert Smith Sunday School until it became St. Matthew's Parish in its own location in 1891. Much later, in the racially fraught year of 1968 after Dr. King’s assassination, Bishop Quintin Primo, then an African-American Episcopal Vicar, guided St. Matthew's from mission status to full parish status and lived to see the joyous union of these two parishes into one. As many of us were privileged to know him personally, we are pleased to celebrate his life and prophetic voice this day along with the vibrant legacy of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. The selections from Bishop Primo's autobiography and from Dr. King (below) are SsAM's readings with the Psalm on this Sunday and will be read by the late Bishop Primo’s daughter, Cynthia, a member of SsAM. To learn more about the historical significance and current mission of SsAM click here: www.ssam.org

We're all invited, we've all been called ~ what is our RSVP? I think of young Samuel, confused and wondering, and then, following his instructions from Eli, he answered with Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Later he grew into a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. Would it be easier to be like young Samuel again, merely following the instructions of an elder? Well, most of us were at one time, many still are in a way, and a very rare few of us have become a trustworthy prophet. Perhaps there’s more than merely following the directions to receive the tingle in our ears when God speaks to us. Perhaps we also need to remember that God knew Samuel, and Eli, and all that was going on. What does God know about me ~ everything!
There are many Psalms that resonate within me and Psalm 139, particularly, always has a profound effect on me when I read it. There is my Creator, my Divine Parent, who knew me while my limbs were being knitted in the womb and still traces my journeys and my resting-places. Sometimes, admittedly when I’m not at my best (too often), my inner child tries to lie lower as if not to be seen or heard by that Parent, especially when some words on my lips are, well, frankly, quite far from God-like. And then Paul reminds us that our bodies are members of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s far easier to intend to live up to those holy standards than to actually do so, and then I remember that God knows me, more than I know about me or want to.
Could I have been like Philip, readily follow Jesus and then invite the slightly snarky Nathanael to simply "Come and see" as Jesus, reminds Nathanael of the Jacob’s Ladder passage [Genesis 28:10-17] as the angels were ascending and descending only in this version upon the Son of Man.
I show up at church regularly, even now that it’s also online. I give to charity, do occasional good deeds for others, I even pray often and not just for Divine intervention to get myself out of a jam. But, taking in the readings for this Sunday ~ have I really answered THE CALL? Have I turned my life over to God, truly followed Jesus, and listened to the Holy Spirit? Well, God knows.
It is time again to consider how I am to live my life. It is almost never too late to begin again ~ even Constantine, the first Roman Emperor to claim conversion to Christianity, declared Christianity as a state religion, built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Old St Peter's Basilica, convened the Council of Nicaea in the year 325 from which we still use the Nicene Creed ~ all that, yet, he wouldn’t be baptized until his death bed, because, well, he might want to do some things so he cut it pretty close! Then there’s St. Augustine of Hippo who said in his Confessions [written between 397-400] that in the early days of his conversion he asked God to make him chaste and continent (self-controlled) but not yet. SO, when does YET arrive? Or, how many times have I waved it away? God knows.
What will it mean for my life, how will I have to change, what will others think, am I ready? Yes, God knows all about who and where I am. And as I form the words in my heart: Speak, Lord, for I, that is, ~ um, er ~ your (slightly frightened) servant, is listening. I think that maybe, possibly, I'm more or less ready to come and see what I’m called to be and do.
And then, when I read these words of Bishop Quintin Primo: What we are doing at this moment is a symbol of what black and white people must continue to do as we offer our lives to be instruments for bringing the Kingdom of God reality on earth; and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands, suddenly I feel a sudden tingle beyond my ears that tells me “yet” has more than merely arrived! Oh my…Ok, Samuel, and Philip, Nathanael, Quintin, and Martin, walk with me, too. And, just maybe I'll even be able to pass along the tingling to someone else to come, to see, to be and to DO!

*The Making of a Black Bishop by the Rt. Rev. Quintin E. Primo, Jr., Pub 2006:

The day of the yearly (Diocesan) Convention arrived. Presenting to the assemblage our (St. Matthew's) formal application to become a self-supporting unit of the diocese, the Rev. Canon James Birney, program developer/director for the diocese, spoke most eloquently, "What we are doing at this moment is a symbol of what black and white people must continue to do as we offer our lives to be instruments for bringing the Kingdom of God reality on earth. For the past 122 years, the white congregations have patronizingly supported the black mission of St. Matthew's. Today, when black men everywhere are breaking the bonds of patronage which we hope are the last remnants of slavery and inequality, the people of St. Matthew's now both black and white, are freeing themselves and this Diocese from bondage to each other. Subservience and patronage are both gone. The congregation is free and the Diocese is free. And being free, we are both free to be One. What binds us together now is our common loyalty to Jesus Christ and to this branch of his Church.

** Letter from a Birmingham Jail by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with," and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular. There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But they went on with the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven" and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest. Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo.

Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are presently misunderstood.

We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America. Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson scratched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. For more than two centuries our foreparents labored here without wages; they made cotton king; and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation -- and yet out of a bottomless vitality our people continue to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ All-Knowing, All-Seeing God, You have searched us and known us from before we were in the womb and throughout our earthly lives. Tingle our ears and awaken our hearts to remember that we are not our own but members of Christ’s Body and living temples of Your Holy Spirit. Open us to hear again and offer our lives to be instruments for bringing the Kingdom of God to reality on earth.

O Lord Who Calls

RESPONSE: Help us to Listen and Answer

~ All-Knowing, All-Seeing God, guide our path to truth, integrity, and justice in a world filled with alienation and violence among people and nations. Grant each of us, and the leaders of this Country, our local Communities, and this World, the wisdom and selflessness to choose the well-being of us all, over destructive actions of temporary earthbound-only power and greed. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Lord Who Calls