the Voice is calling

Samuel hears the voice of God calling. The Qol Yahweh rolling through eternity. “…God is forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The whole Bible supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is speaking. He is by His nature continuously articulate. He fills the world with His speaking Voice.”

Indeed the voice was calling Samuel—calling us—from the womb of the world.

“For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.”

Our calling is threefold: to Salvation, to Discipleship and to Ministry. I say three fold for it is one call. It is the eternal Speaking Voice of God calling us to Christ—to fellowship with him. We cannot claim ourselves saved and not count ourselves disciples. Paul tells me, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own.” Our bodies are members of The Body; our spirits united with His.

The Speaking Voice of God is calling us. And he is calling that which he knows. We are his own. Just as Jesus knew the thoughts of Nathaniel, Jesus knows us where we are, and calls to us. Our response is not optional.

“For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

The Qol

Morna Hooker:

The voice . . .from heaven is usually explained in terms of the bat qol. This Hebrew term, which means literally 'daughter of a voice', was used by the rabbis to denote the echo of a voice uttered in heaven. When the Spirit had withdrawn from Israel, and there were no more prophets, then, so it was said, the bat qol was occasionally heard. The bat qol was thus a means of revelation to men, a substitute for the direct word of God which had formerly been given by the Spirit. It might be significant that its sound was at times compared to the cry of a bird, and once like a dove.

She goes on to say that at the baptism this is no mere echo. Mark's understanding of the Voice was that it was the Direct Voice of God (Qol Yahweh?).

Can you imagine a time without the speaking voice of God. Oh God don't withdraw your Spirit from us agian!

Diocese of East Tennessee: Weekly Lectionary

Diocese of East Tennessee: Weekly Lectionary: "Today's readings extend the call to discipleship. In 1 Samuel, the voice of the Lord awakens a sleeping Samuel, who responds with attentive obedience. Paul outlines how those called by God are to honor their physical bodies. Jesus calls his first disciples Philip and Nathanael with the simple invitation, Follow me (v. 43)."

Is this the connection? The voice is the call to discipleship. What does this tell us about the nature of discipleship? We hear the voice of God, he knows our thoughts. His thoughts are weighty to us, his temple, Holy.

what is going on here?

· Samuel hears the voice of God
· God hears the voice and thoughts of the psalmist; the psalmist values the voice and thoughts of God
· Paul says the body is holy as the temple of God and should not be sinned against (anti-Gnostic?) Union with God.
· Jesus knows the thoughts of Nathaniel.

Sanctification and Sacrament

Purification rites are sacraments mystically depicting the real work of the Spirit. Jesus' baptism served as another kind of sacrament: it depicted the new hielsgeschicta. God tore the heavens rifting time. The mission commenced, Christ would atone for creation, and the Spirit would sanctify creation. Our baptism in water sacramentally depicts the Spirit's whole work of sanctification in us. Our baptism in the Spirit equips us to be participants in His sanctifying work through the use of Charisms.

Mark in synoptic context

Morna Hooker brings some interesting things to my mind. I have found Mark’s theme of the secret of Christ’s identity intriguing, ever since my synoptic studies class my senior year. Here we see Mark make plain who Jesus is. We as his readers are introduced to the fact that he is the Son of God by the veracity of a Voice from Heaven. Yet it is significant that only he seems to be the recipient of that news in Mark’s Gospel. We know, and he knows, but no one else seems to get it until his death.

His death is certainly connected to this periscope both in imagery and the Centurion’s later statement at the foot of the cross that He is the Son of God. Yet Mark presents this story with out comment, or question, his isn’t a statement of Christ’s sinless nature or preeminence, but a simple statement of identity.

I’ve also found it interesting that the baptism of the Holy Spirit keeps popping up on these “Baptism of Christ” Sundays. Mark sees the Spirit descending like a dove through rent heavens. He doesn’t say that the Spirit is in bodily form like Luke does, but the image is interesting none the less. “The Babylonian Talmud refers to Gen. 1.2 in this way: ‘And the Sprit of God was brooding on the face of the waters like a dove which broods over her young but does not touch them.’” The Splitting of the heavens, where God is thought to be on the top of a triple-decker universe, along with the decent again of the Creative God gives the impression of a new work of God among man. What an introduction! The Voice is speaking again!

What were you doing last year?

Last year at this time, I was remembering and mourning the loss of hundreds of thousands of voices as Tsunami rushed them to sea.  The imagery was apropos to the mystery of baptism.  

It is interesting to compare last year’s readings to this year’s.

Last year	This year
Isaiah spoke of the transcendence of the self-existent I AM	Genesis speaks of the creators power
Psalm 29 spoke of God’s voice over the waters	Psalm 29 takes on a creation tone when placed behind the Genesis reading.
In Acts peter witnesses the household of Cornelius being baptized in the spirit this time before being baptized in water.	Paul witnesses the Ephesians men baptized in the Spirit after being baptized in Jesus’ baptism.