Called to be Rejected

1 Samuel 8:4-20

How many of you are the oldest child in your family?

Me too

If you were the oldest child, you know that your parents were much stricter with you than the siblings who came after you.

My brother and sister got away with a lot more than I ever did.

I wanted to go to the movie that all my friends were going to and I was told I couldn’t go because it was rated PG.

I would cry in protest, “but all of my friends are going to it?”

I would get dressed for school in my favorite punk rock gear and my mom would say, you are not leaving the house dressed like that.

But mom, all of my friends are wearing it.

I wanted to go to a party that my friends were going to, but was told no.

But all my friends are going.

Not only was I upset about what my parents wouldn’t let me do, but I got even more frustrated with my mom’s response.

When I would say everyone else is doing it, my mom would say “if everyone else jumped off a bridge would you?”

What does that even mean? What does that have to do with anything? And where are these bands of kids jumping off bridges? I would try and argue back, I just want to go to the movies we aren’t going to jump off a bridge.

But I have to admit these many years later, there is some wisdom behind what my said.

We all want to be accepted, we want to fit in, we want to have and do what we think everyone else has and does.

But just because something is popular doesn’t make it a good idea.

The most popular singer in pop music is probably not the most talented singer.

The most popular restaurants are the places with fast food, not the ones with the best food.

Just because something is popular does not mean that it is good.

The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote that the crowd is untruth.

Psychology describes this as groupthink: “Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people makes irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform or the belief that dissent is impossible.”

We can see how groupthink works throughout the Bible.

It is the crowd that says to Aaron: hey, Moses has been gone too long, make us a golden calf to worship and follow.

It is the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is described as looking at crowds with compassion because they are helpless and hopeless. But then those same crowds turn on him and says “crucify him, crucify him”.

And here in today’s scripture, the crowds of Israel are shouting out we want a king, we want a king, we want a king.

God has told them, no you don’t want a king. The second commandment says you aren’t to bow down and worship anything besides God. But people want a king.

Samuel, Sam I Am, who in last week’s scripture was called by God tells the people, you don’t want a king. A king will take away your sons and send them to war. A king will take away your daughters to serve in his court. A king will take away one-tenth of whatever you make and use it for his empire.

One tenth. That is the amount of a tithe. The money that people were supposed to be tithing to God would end up going to the king.

Samuel, the person called by God is speaking on behalf of God and saying, you don’t want a king.

But the crowd is untruth.

The crowd says the big countries have kings. The wealthy countries have kings. Egypt has kings, Babylon has kings. We want a king.

Samuel is frustrated.

Maybe he should’ve said to them, “if all the other empires of the world jumped of a bridge will you.”

Because that is in effect what they were doing. They were saying, we can’t just trust in God to protect and provide for us, we need a king in God’s place.

Samuel is doing what God called him to do, but the crowd won’t hear it.

God says to Samuel, give the people what they want. They aren’t rejecting you, they are rejecting me. They’ve been rejecting me ever since I got them out of Egypt. Now they are doing the same thing to you.

Warn them what will happen to them, but welcome to being rejected.

To live in to God’s call is to face rejection.

In Acts, Chapter 4, it says “Jesus is “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
   it has become the cornerstone.”

Since we worship a Messiah who got rejected why should we be surprised when we get rejected?

As I said last week, we are all called.

It is not only the elder, the deacon, the deaconess, the chaplain who is called. As follower of God we are all called to be set apart from the crowd.

We are called–not to go along with whatever is popular in the moment, but to be faithful.

God called the people of Israel to be distinctive and set apart. A shining city on a hill. But in this scripture the people of Israel are saying we don’t want to stand out from the crowd, we want to be like everyone else.

It is both beautiful and uncomfortable to be different.

Today is the second Sunday of pride and the events are in full swing. Yesterday I spoke at Marysville Pride, Tuesday will be the interfaith pride service at Stonewall Columbus, Friday the United Methodist prayer service at Bethel International, and Saturday the pride parade.

Part of the reason we have pride is to celebrate our differences. We don’t all love the same. We aren’t all made the same. But we are all children of God and pride gives us the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of God’s creation.

Pride is also a time to remember the call to justice. The first pride events were not parades but protests. People standing up against police harassment and brutality.

Being different isn’t always easy, but God made each of us unique. Maybe that uniqueness you have is something that you feel you have to hide. Remember Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? His dad, Donner, covers his son’s red nose out of fear. But it is that nose that saves Christmas.

Whatever it is the God has made unique about you is the very thing that could bring salvation to us.

God created you to be who you are. God called you, not only to do a certain job, but to be a unique person.

We are called to be the Church for All People. The place that welcomes the misfit toys and to tell the people who have been rejected that no matter who they are that they are a beloved child of God.

Don’t let the crowd tell you what you can be or can’t be. Don’t listen to the voices that say you are too much.

When you live out of your full self, people may very well reject you.

But the voice of God calls out to you like to Samuel, they aren’t really rejecting you, they are rejecting me.

If there is something about you that people reject, it is God who made you who you are. If someone rejects you, they are really rejecting God.

Don’t let the pressure of other people define you, when it is God who has made you who you are.

Keep being you and keep speaking your truth.

In this scripture God doesn’t tell Samuel to be quiet and deal with it, but even as Samuel is being rejected to remind the people that having a king will not go well for them.

Who you are is not only something that deserves to be celebrated, but is a witness to the work still to be done.

If you are a person of color, that is a call for us to work to dismantle racism so that all people can have equity.

If you are a person who is older, that is a call for us to hear your wisdom and not dismiss you like the people who told Samuel he is too old.

Our role as the church is to celebrate how God has made you unique and to make sure that all people are heard so that we keep adding on to the front porch of the kindom of God until we shine with the full diversity of all who God is.

May you shine in the glory of all that God made you.

Amen.