Knowing and Being Known

I Sam 3:1-10; Ps 139: 1-6, 13-18;  John 1:43-51

Listen for the word of the Lord:  I Sam 3:1-10

…. the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread…

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.  (v1&7) 

The Lord, the one whom he served, was unknown to Samuel and to most people in that day.  It seems that Samuel, did as he was instructed, he follow protocol, the ritual, a routine, but had no first hand experience with this God whom he served.  Hm.

I wonder; to what extent do we who may refer to ourselves as servants of God really know God?  What does it mean to know the Lord God?  Is this something more than knowing about God, some deeper knowing?  The reading says, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Samuel.  What does that mean?  Has the word of the Lord been revealed to us?  Has God been revealed to me?  If so, how?  To what extend do we know about God, follow religious practices, but have not first hand experience with God.

Then there is David, the shepherd king of Israel, anointed king by Samuel some years later.  As a young shepherd boy, David, who was not a priest or prophet, seemed to know the Lord first hand, had encounter God.  In his song that we call, Psalm 139, David recognizes and sings of Yahweh’s complete knowledge of him. 

READ PS 139

Before we were even born, sings David, we were known altogether; our thoughts, words, and deeds. Everything about us, according to David’s experience was known by God.  God was the Knowing One.  What was it that enabled David to know and be known by God so intimately?

In the Gospel reading from John, we read of Nathanael who meets Jesus. His first words to the one who would become his rabbi was,  Where did you get to know me?  in other words: How do you know me?  or, You don’t know me.  You’ve never met.  How can you possibly know anything about me?  Jesus responded that he had seen and observed Nathanael while sitting under the fig tree.  In some way Jesus had experienced something of Nathanael that enabled him to recognize something IN Nathanael.  Nathanael, caught off guard, was amazed that someone noticed something within him and knew something of his inner being.  Nathanael then took the risk to know Jesus.

So I wonder, how do we begin to know God?   How do we know Jesus?  Do we know about God or Jesus?  or do we know  them?  and how are we known by God?   How do we come to know anything?

In infancy our first “knowing” is contentment or discontentment, feeling secure or insecure which is all dependent on the surroundings of warmth, being fed, being held.  We begin to know our world, whether it is safe or not by the way in which we experience it.  Like infants all that we know is by experiencing it; by observing, seeing, hearing, touching, some tangible encounter?

Do you know how to ski, water ski or downhill or XC ski?  You could study, observe, learn all about the technique and best gear, but not really know skiing until you actually gave it a try and experienced it somehow, the agony of defeat and thrill of the ride.  How about some exotic food- sushi or haggis?  Some one could describe it, you might see it on a menu, but you don’t KNOW about it until you experienced the taste and texture yourself first hand.  A live symphony concert or Blues club trio experienced first hand is quiet a different knowing than listening to a CD.  Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon and experiencing the grandeur is a different kind of knowing than looking at photos in National Geographic.  Spending an afternoon marching with the Martin Luther King, or sitting beside the Dalai Lama, or visiting with your next door neighbor, or sitting beside someone sharing a meal and conversation at a soup kitchen is quite a different kind knowing than reading a paragraph or two about them from a book or passing them by in your busy affairs.  Knowing comes from some kind of tangible experience, something beyond a heady information byte.

It seems to me that the Word of God in the readings for today invites us to consider this:  God is a Knowing God who wants to be known. 

Samuel’s first experience with God was when heard the voice calling to him.  Last week’s lectionary passages told of the voice of God calling creation into being, of the voice of the Lord over the water and in the thunder and fire, in all creation (Ps 29), and of a voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism.   When Samuel heard this voice calling he assumed it must be old Eli’s.  Blind Eli finally perceived, a different kind of seeing, that the Lord was calling to Samuel.  Not many heard the voice of the Lord in those days but Samuel had a first first-hand encounter not only being known but also knowing God.  In this holy knowing moment Samuel’s came to know God in a first first-hand experience, in the dark of the night in the sanctuary of the Lord.

An energetic contemplative, David, the singer-song writer, shepherd, inspirational king,  military leader, repentant adulterer and murderer,  father who witnessed the death of 2 sons experienced God as the Knowing One.  On starry nights in pasture lands, on the battlefield, hiding out in caves, and in deep depression David recognized God was with him and believed he was fully known by God. Yahweh, I know you are near, standing always by my side...For David, to be fully known, and to know this God in some experiential way, was both a mystery, a miracle, and a great comfort that this Knowing God was always near and present; knowing even David’s  strengths and weaknesses, his failures and successes, God did not leave him but was always there, always present, always experiencing life alongside David.

What about us?   How do we know God?  Is our knowing of God limited to the words of the Bible or experience of a Sunday morning worship?  Do we know God by our own experience or do we know about God from someone else’s experiences?  How often might the Knowing One be calling out to us in the night or in a sunrise, in the common ordinariness of life, in the needs of those around us, in the silence, in cries or in laughter but we don’t know it to be the voice of God because we don’t expect it?  Do you have a sense that there is a Knowing One who knows everything there is about you? and is that a comfort?  would you rather remain unknown?  Have you ever encountered, experienced God first-hand?

Although Nathanael became a follower of Jesus, he was a first suspicious of Jesus.  Everyone knew that neighborhoods of Nazareth didn’t produce much leadership.  How might we be like Nathanael, a little suspicious, hesitant, and private?  We don’t want anyone to know our business.  We don’t want to be known.  If someone claims to know something about us we might like to prove them wrong.   Nathanael, however, stepped into the risk of knowing and being known by this man called Jesus who seemed to know and be known by God.  To what degree are we ready to take the risk of experiencing God with us?  to be fully known and to know, first hand, beyond words, to touch and taste and encounter the Unknown One who wants to be known?

That’s what I believe - God wants to be known.  God, in creation…is always at work in self-revelation.  God desires for us to experience and know first hand the Holy Mystery of God’s creative love and life.  The season of Epiphany is an invitation to pay attention to ways Jesus was becoming KNOWN and how he enable others, and us, to know God more fully, to experience God in the everyday matters of life.

I ask myself,  how do you have a first hand experience with God, Miriam?  Do you hear voices calling?  Is there a comprehension that God knows all about you and still loves and desires to be hear you?  Can you experience God in the silence or in the voice of another?  Do you recognize the presence of God in the security of love? in the quiet grandeur of the sunrise? in the wonder of a new child or the sacred moment of a death? in taking a breath? in rising from sleep? in the eyes of another?  Where and how do you encounter and experience this God who seeks to be known?

May we take the risk of seeing, tasting, touching, being open and vulnerable in heart and mind, to be known and know the God who is always with us.  May we experience and know God everywhere and in everyone, every day.

Prayer:

Holy Knowing One,

you come near to us everyday

in the common things like fruit trees

and candle light,

while we sit under trees with friends

and in the quiet of the night.

You come near and speak in

ways we can understand

if we have ears to ears,

even without words.

Often we are too

occupied with something else

to notice your presence

to hear you calling to us

in the quiet

or in the tumult.

You long to be known

to be experienced by us

to be revealed.

Come Holy Epiphany

and open our eyes to recognize you 

in all that is.

Open our hearts to know your love.

Open our minds to receive your wisdom.

Open our lives to experience your presence.