Let me begin by thanking our guest soloists today, Schadi Semnani and Alexander Parnell, for their beautiful music this morning. It is not often that you have the opportunity to hear an oboe and English horn duet in a worship service, as we have today. Thanks to both of you for sharing your talents with us.

The English horn has been a recurring theme for me this past week. Last Saturday I heard Carolyn Hove and the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform a new concerto for English horn and orchestra written by William Kraft. You may have read about it in the Los Angeles Times or heard the performance yourself. There are not many solos featuring the English horn, simply because it does not possess as wide a range of colors and dynamics as the more popular string instruments and brass. So the music was very different: not melodic like Schumann's Symphony #3 that followed later in the program, yet not so atonal as to make you hate the piece after the first 60 seconds. I came away thinking, "That was interesting. I'm not sure I understood all that was being communicated, but it was intriguing."

I think the characters in our scriptures today may have experienced a similar kind of feeling. Take, for example, the young boy Samuel, who was serving as an apprentice to the old priest Eli. Samuel is sleeping in the innermost part of the temple, next to the ark of the covenant. This place is the holiest, most sacred part of the building, for it is here that it was believed that God resided. It is, for the earliest Jews, as close to God as a human being can get.

Samuel is awakened in the middle of the night by a voice calling out to him: "Samuel, Samuel!" (1Sam 3:4). The young boy thinks it is Eli who is calling him, so he runs to the old priest and says, "Here I am, for you called me." (1 Sam 3:5). The problem is that Eli did not call him and the priest (who is probably pretty grumpy because this young boy is waking him up in the middle of the night) tells Samuel to just go back to sleep. This happens three times, in exactly the same way, before Eli finally figures it out: it must be God that is calling Samuel.

Now Eli gives Samuel a new instruction: when you hear the voice again, respond to it by saying, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening" (1 Sam 3:9). Samuel does hear the voice again, responds as instructed, and receives his first prophecy from God. Unfortunately for Eli, it is a prophecy of harsh judgment against the old priest and his entire family.

Why is God's voice so unfamiliar to our ears? When can we confidently say that we have heard the voice of God? The story of Samuel began by stating that "the word of Lord was rare in those days" (1 Sam 3:1). How common is God's voice in our own days? That is one of the main questions we have to deal with as clergy.

I know that all of us gathered here do not share the same opinions about almost any issue. But I am compelled by my calling as a pastor to say something to you this morning about our nation. I do not recognize God's voice in the preparations for war against Iraq. The United Methodist Church, as part of the body of Christ, teaches us that war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ.(1) It is our moral responsibility to ensure that all disputes between nations are to be resolved by peaceful means. Now that does not mean that we turn a blind eye towards those who would try to produce nuclear and chemical weapons; that also would be irresponsible and immoral. Everyone must be held accountable for his or her actions against other humans, including Iraq. But as Christians, we are called on by God to exhaust all other means to resolve such a crisis through peace rather than war. There are many other ways to argue the issue, including military strategy, international politics, and economic impact. Yet I say this to you today from a theological perspective, and I hope that you will hear it in that way. You may disagree with me, and I respect your individual opinions and welcome your feedback. To remain silent about it, however, is to ignore our Christian responsibility and tradition.

Not only are we challenged in our listening for God's voice this morning, but we may also experience difficulty in seeing God. Last week, we heard the story of how Jesus recruited his disciples according to the gospel of Mark. In very typical fashion, the writer of Mark was very terse and straight-to-the-point. Jesus encountered Simon Peter, Andrew, John and James as they fished the Sea of Galilee. He said, "Follow me," and the fishermen immediately dropped their nets and followed Jesus. That is very impressive, but I have a hard time imagining myself doing the same in that situation. I would be more like, "Interesting offer. Let me think about it, Jesus, and I'll get right back to you."

Maybe that's why I like the story from John's gospel that we heard today. Here is the same situation at the same point in the story. Jesus is recruiting his disciples. John the Baptist is the first to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. Andrew is one of those who hears John say this and decides to spend a day with Jesus to check this claim out (John 1:35-39). Afterwards, Andrew goes and tells his brother Simon. Simon then meets Jesus and also decides to join his group (John 1:40-42). Then Jesus goes to Andrew and Simon Peter's hometown, Bethsaida, and he finds Philip there. Now, Philip gets excited and everything is going along very smoothly with this whole disciple recruitment business (John 1:43).

Then Philip goes to his brother Nathanael and says, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth" (John 1:45). Philip is convinced along with the others that the anointed one, the Messiah, the very Son of God had arrived to usher in a new kingdom on earth. But his brother Nathanael spoils the party with his response to Philip's good news: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). Can anything good come out of Nazareth? That's a good question. My colleague, Professor Jonathan Reed, the biblical archaeologist who taught last year's Lenten study here, has these insights about Nazareth. The archaeological evidence suggests that in the first century, Nazareth was a small Jewish settlement with a population of no more than 400 people.(2) It was not a major trading center. Its entire economy was probably based on subsistence farming of such crops as grain, olives and grapes. There is very little evidence of any substantial buildings or public structures. The homes were probably made of fieldstones packed with clay and mud, and the artifacts that have been found are very modest: a few coins and some cooking pottery. John Dominic Crossan sums up Nathanael's response to Philip in this way: "His retort, insulting to be sure, is surprising insofar as anyone had actually heard of Nazareth"(3). In other words, Nazareth is about as insignificant as you can get, even in rural Galilee.

So, Nathanael's response about Jesus is pretty nasty. However, let's not condemn him too quickly. We ourselves say the same kind of things today. Another way to say the same thing is to say that someone "is from the wrong side of the tracks." In its original context, it referred to the railroad tracks that would physically split towns and communities in half. Invariably, the rich, white people would live on the "right" side of the tracks and the poor people of color would live on the "wrong" side of the tracks. I wish I could say that such a designation has gone by the wayside as the automobile has replaced the railroads, but I can't. Whether it's north of 125th Street in Manhattan or south of the 10 Freeway here in Los Angeles, there still exists a wrong side of the tracks for most people.

It is very easy for us to make Jesus look like us. It is easy to envision our Messiah as a clean, friendly, polite, upper middle-class Messiah whoms we willingly follow without hesitation. Our depiction of Jesus in artworks, including our very own stained glass windows, reinforces that image of Jesus. But Nathanael's remark reminds us that our Messiah is actually very different from that image. He is a peasant from a backwater farming town. He is probably covered with dust and dirt from his travels. His words in scripture often indicate someone who can be quite curt, even judgmental, in his teachings about the Kingdom of God. He probably looks like the least likely candidate for the Messiah and Son of God. Nathanael is not sure he wants to give up the life he is living now to follow this Messiah from the wrong side of the tracks. Honestly, I probably would have reacted in the very same way.

Yet, Philip gives Nathanael a reply that challenges his brother's thinking. "Come and see," Philip says (John 1:46). These are the same words that Jesus speaks to Simon Peter and Andrew when they ask him where he is staying: "Come and see" (John 1:39). In Samuel, we are invited to use our ears to hear God's voice. In John, we are invited to use our eyes and see for ourselves the true identity of Jesus. Come and see this Jesus perform great miracles, beginning with turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana and ending with the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Come and see this Jesus who stands up without fear to the religious leaders of the day and challenges their understanding of God's will. Come and see this Jesus who befriends the most undesirable people of society-the poor, the sick, the crippled, the unclean-and has the audacity to say that they are part of the Kingdom of God. Come and see and be amazed. Witness for yourself the power of God incarnate in Jesus the Christ and then maybe you, too, will begin to believe and follow him as a disciple.

At the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration held here in this sanctuary last Monday, we heard Dr. Sylvia Rousseau give the keynote address to a packed house. You may know Dr. Rousseau from her days as the former principal of Santa Monica High School; she now serves as a Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her focus was on describing the real Dr. Martin Luther King. Her complaint was that in the 18 years since Congress created the King holiday, Dr. King's message has been over simplified. The whole of King's prophetic work has been boiled down into a sound bite of his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.

What Dr. Rousseau reminded us was that Dr. King's work did not stop with that speech and the passage of Civil Rights legislation. After 1964, he turned to other issues that went beyond race relations. He attacked poverty as he organized the Poor People's Campaign. He spoke out publicly against the Vietnam War, encouraging our nation's leaders to bring about peace in order to save lives. For those actions, he was branded a communist and was criticized for getting involved in matters beyond civil rights for African-Americans. To only remember the "I Have A Dream" speech is to avoid the more complicated and controversial ministry of Martin Luther King, Jr. You may not agree with all of his positions, but it is important not to forget them. We would do well to grapple with these issues that still remain with us this very day. It is hard to hear such criticisms, especially when we believe they come from the wrong side of the tracks.

The more I read the scriptures, the more disturbed I become. The deeper I go, the more challenges I find to my pre-conceived notions of what it means to call myself a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. I oftentimes doubt whether I can meet the very tough requirements that Jesus lays out before us to truly be his disciples.

But there is always hope for us in these stories. Remember that God did not give up calling Samuel, even though it took him four times to finally respond to his voice. Philip doesn't walk away from his brother Nathanael when he makes his nasty remark about Nazareth. Philip still succeeds in bringing Nathanael to Jesus. When Jesus meets Nathanael, he proclaims him to be an Israelite without deceit (John 1:47). Jesus knows that even if Nathanael is narrow-minded and skeptical, he is still an honest man who is worthy of discipleship. I find hope in a God that keeps trying to get our attention. I find hope in a God that is patient with us when we struggle to understand what we are supposed to do as his people. I find hope in a God that welcomes us back into the arms of grace and forgiveness even when we turn to sin again and again. I find hope in a messiah from the wrong side of the tracks. Amen.

NOTES

1. As stated in the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church, published in the 2000 Book of Discipline (Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House), par. 165.C.
2. John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed, Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts (San Francisco: Harper, 2001), 31-36.
3. Ibid., 18.