By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 21, 2024
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Jonah 3:1–5 (ESV)
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Last Sunday we spent worship cuddled under a warm blanket drinking a hot beverage. Well at least that is how I picture it in my mind. Most of us probably spent the time complaining about the temperature, and wondering why on earth we live in a place that gets so cold. We wonder, we complain, we judge, we do a lot of things. Many of these things we so often do, we do not even consider beyond the moment. It is just who we are, it is our nature we might say. But have we ever considered if those things we label human nature or just a cultural norm are things we are encouraged to change?
Last Sunday, if you happened to have logged into to YouTube and watched the meeting for worship we posted, we discussed the calling of Samuel. I presented some background history that lead to Samuel being in that place at that time. Israel at the time of Samuel was not exactly paradise. At the closing of the book of Judges, Israel was so bad that Sodom might be considered tame. The corruption was so bad that Eli, the priest’s, own sons were using their position for personal gain. This gain was financial, but they were also abusing their position for more lustful endeavors. Abuse is common within any organization. Wherever people gather together for any reason: for work, entertainment, worship, education pretty much any gathering for any reason. Wherever people gather, there will be those within organizations that will use their position for nefarious reasons. They may even justify that abuse and codify it into the rules and laws that these organizations accept as their governance.
We accept this. We label it as human nature, or we say that it is just how our culture operates. It is accepted, even defended while many know full that there is abuse within the system. I do not dwell on this often, but there are moments where I do think about it. I love the organizations I am part of. Of course, I do if I did not think that I would not be part of the organization. And I am a member of various organizations: from Cub Scouts, church, and other. I am a citizen of a nation. That is and organization. I have chosen to live in a certain place within this nation, a state, a city, a neighborhood. Each are an organization. They are organizations that operate within the confines on another organization, but they are different. Kansas is different from Missouri, even though they are neighboring states. Belton is different than Kansas City. Olathe, Overland Park, Independence and KCK are all different even though they are positioned within a similar geographic region. We do not think about the differences, it is simply the way things are. We do not think about it until we go somewhere else.
I grew up in Kansas and now live in Missouri. For the most part there are not many differences. But there are a few things that just annoy me. Things that I do not understand and at times I think are downright criminal. Like why do I need to go get a car inspection before I can get my car tag? Or why do I have to go to one place to pay the taxes on a car and another place to get the tag? Or why do car dealers not include sales tax in the sale of a vehicle in Missouri and I have to pay that later? There are reasons for those differences, and the people that wrote the laws that govern those rules could probably list them off and justify them in my mind, but they are different from Kansas. Since I know two different methods of handling these similar tasks, it annoys me. That being said I am not saying that Kansas is better than Missouri. I know people that have moved into Kansas from Missouri, and they are just as annoyed as I am at the little seemingly insignificant differences. And there are those that have never realized that there was any other way of doing things.
We often just accept as normal the things that go on around us. It is human nature, it is our culture. I have a great deal of respect for my nation. I think it is the greatest nation ever formed by men and I would not want to live anywhere else. And I am certain that many of us would agree. But how many of us have been somewhere else? How many of us have experienced real life outside this nation? I say real life because going on a trip to Cancun does not give you a real taste of what is like to live in Mexico.
You might not think much about it. To many of us, we might even consider the Constitution to almost sacred, but it is not. A nation, our nation, is an organization, some of our ancestors might have assisted in forming the organization, but like most organizations there are some things within it that are suspect. For most of my life I did not question it or even take notice because it is a good organization. But there are places where it is completely wrong. Luckily, we have a process where we can amend this document to correct past mistakes, but the reality that those things were in existence at one point in time has lasting effects within our culture.
You might not understand where I am going with this. You might even think that I am being political. I begin in this way because cultures can change. There was a point in our nation’s history where certain people were not allowed to vote, they were excluded from the greater participation in the governing of our nation. At one point only property owners could participate in government. It is easy to make justifications for this because landowners are the ones that have the most at stake if the organization is not run properly, but there is a problem. I do not own land. According to that way of thinking, I have nothing at risk, so I have nothing to say. My voice and my thoughts are of no value to the organization even though, the document forming our organization says “We the People.” Well to be honest, the constitution did not specifically say I could not vote without property, it says that the states determine who can and cannot vote. But there were debates within the various states that argued that concern, so it was not until the third president of this organization that all states allowed people like me, non landowners to vote.
What changed? Somehow, the people with power within the organization recognized something was not right. People that did not own land were affected by the laws our nation made, and they should be able to participate. There was a point in time where colonists were not given a voice in government even though they were forced to abide by the laws made by others. This made some people furious because they fought a war to rectify that problem. Landowners and non-land owners fought side by side in that war, and they were saying just because you do not own land your voice did not matter. We realized that there was something wrong, and we changed. Those changes are ongoing and should continue to improve.
Often organizations use exclusive tactics and at other times it can be inclusive. This goes back to the book of Judges. The main theme in that book is that there was no king in the land and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This can be positive or negative. I personally see it as positive. The people were only subject to their God, their family, and their tribe. Those were the people that you were around every day. Those were the people that would help in your time of need and the people you would help during a crisis. Even after Israel had a king they retained this idea to some degree. That way of living only works if you truly live by the law, “Love God with all that you have and all that you are, and love your neighbor as yourself.” That was essentially the very law God wanted his people to live under. Take care of each other.
Why do I say all of this? I say this because God called Jonah to go to Nineveh. It is one thing to encourage change within our nation, but to go to another nation to encourage change is something different.
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’” This is how the story opens. God, the God of Israel. Yahweh the one who calls Israel his own portion of all the people upon the earth. God is concerned about the people of Nineveh. Why does he even care? And why does he call it “That great city?”
When we look at this, it is important to see beyond the surface. We need to look through all scripture to gain a greater understanding, and then we need to look deeper still. We know that, according to scripture, at one point in history all people were one people. We all have a common origin with Adam and Eve. Their children Cain, Abel, and Seth went into the world outside Eden and began to populate the earth. Well Abel did not participate in the population much as Cain hit him with a rock.
Seth remained with his father, Adam, while Cain fled from the presence of God and settled in the land of Nod. Cain fled, and he built a city. I encourage you to go online and listen to the Bible Project’s study regarding cities in scripture, because it is amazing. Cain built this city in honor of his own son, but the underlying reason he built the city was because he was afraid. He was afraid that people would attack him, enact vengeance upon him, and take what he saw as his. Out of this city various people emerged. People that played pipes and lyres, people that forged instruments of bronze and iron, people who made tents and had livestock. And people that said, “If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.” Cain started civilization.
But notice the attitude that emerges from civilization. They increase. They expand. They make great things of beauty and value, and they also promote war. That is Lamech’s rant. It is saber-rattling. In his fear of people coming after him for his own misdeeds he wishes to insight greater fear. It is as if the evening news is written on the pages of scripture.
As the story continues, we are told that, “man began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” For a long time I did not think anything of this, and wondered why this angered God to the point he would limit the life span of humanity because of it. Then I realized that humanity had not been referred to as sons of God before. And later in the same segment of the story it speaks of Nephilim, or giants. Throughout the known civilization in that age, the nations would refer to their leaders as both giants and sons of the gods. Their legends would speak about how these gods fathered children. Children like Hercules, Gilgamesh, and all the characters in the Percy Jackson series currently on Disney plus.
These sons of Elohim angered God, and he chose to rid the world of the resulting offspring. But who were these people? And why did they seek the relationship with the Elohim in that manner? Other spiritual writings from early Judaism calls these beings the Watchers, because that was their duty. They were supposed to watch over creation. They were to observe and report, but they lusted for the daughters of men they began to take a more active role, giving them knowledge of metal working, music, herbalism, and war. When we look at the larger picture we can begin to see something emerge. The descents of Cain formed cities, and these cities developed arts and trades that became the foundation of civilization. They began to use these things in their quest for power and domination. This quest began to alleviate the fear of others, but the fear began to consume them. They sought after greater knowledge to give them an edge over other cities, and at times this knowledge was found in inhumane places. They began to forget who their neighbors where, they were others, they were outsiders, no longer brothers and sister created in the image of God. Instead of sharing what they had, they began to exclude. Disaster was the result.
God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, that great city. Israel was not immune from the exclusionary mindset. They, too, were driven by fear of others. Its only human. It was their culture. They were the people of God, God himself chose them to be his portion as he divided the people among the sons of God after the third fall of Babel. They were chosen. But were they chosen to exclude? No, they were to become the light to enlighten all the nations. Jonah hated Nineveh, they were evil and corrupt. He had no desire to help this people, so he ran from God. He attempted to go as far away from Nineveh as he could possibly get, but God was there.
Disaster was the result for Jonah’s running. He was caught in a storm greater than any experienced before. He knew it was of God’s doing, so he told his companions to toss him over the side of the ship. Jonah would rather end his own life before he brought a message of hope to the people he saw as his enemy. But God did not allow him to die. God sent a great fish, a whale, or some other sea creature to swallow Jonah. For three days Jonah lived within that chaos, and after a prayer, he was vomited onto the land once again.
Jonah went through a lot, but God’s calling did not change. Before Jonah had a chance to get his land legs under him again, the word of the Lord comes again to him a second time. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” Jonah was given a second chance. He was given this second chance even after willful rebellion against his God.
He goes into the city. We are told that it would take three days to walk through the city, but Jonah stops after a day. And he calls out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
This is the extent of Jonah’s message. Eight words in English, six in the original language. Six words and the entire city believed God. The people were not given any additional knowledge. This strange foreigner comes into their city, and he yells, “you have forty days before your end.” Forty days. This number is often used in scripture, and it is usually associated with a trial followed by something great. I was curious about this number because forty days is important to Christian traditions as well. Jesus was in the wilderness of temptation for forty days, and to honor that time, Lent is a period of forty days leading up to Holy Week. During lent many faith traditions are encouraged to fast. Just as the people of Nineveh fasted. But again why forty?
I looked into this in relation to behavior and found that breaking a bad habit requires approximately eighteen to two hundred and fifty days according to Medical News Today. Other habit breaking websites say eighteen to sixty days. The range depends on how engrained the bad habit is. But when you look at the positive side of things. It can take eighteen to around twenty-one days to create a habit.
The message that God gave Jonah was to encourage the people to change their ways. And he gave them forty days, this is enough time for them to create a new habit different from what they were doing before. They did not know that this message came from Yahweh, Jonah did not tell them that, but they knew that the destruction they faced was coming from the spiritual realm.
They heard the message, and immediately called for a fast and to put on sackcloth. From the lowest servant to the most dignified noble within the royal courts. They did this even before their king made a royal proclamation to make it a law.
We are then told that when God saw what they did how they turned from their evil way, he relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. God changed his mind we might say. Or in these modern times, they averted disaster because they changed their behavior.
I have faced disastrous moments. I have had reports from my doctor saying that I should change my diet because I was beginning to show signs of high cholesterol. I have even participated in a Lenten fast where I gave up drinking Dr. Pepper for forty days. To change is hard, but occasionally we need to fast. We need to abstain from things for a period of time so that we can see just how much of a grip various substances and activities have on us. We need to become aware and be mindful of how our actions affect our own well-being and those around us. That is why God gave them forty days. He gave them the opportunity to make the change if they desired.
But what about Jonah? Well, Jonah was upset. He wanted God to overthrow this great city. He had experienced a second chance himself, he had sat in the belly of chaos and was redeemed, yet he was hesitant to move beyond minimal effort. God may have relented his anger toward Nineveh, but eventually they returned to their evil ways. Eventually they were used by God to bring judgment upon Northern Kingdom. Which ironically was the geographic are Jonah was from. They returned because Jonah did not provide any additional knowledge.
God showed Jonah that he did not exclude, yet Jonah did. God showed Jonah that he was a God of grace and mercy, yet Jonah did not reciprocate that grace. God showed, but Jonah could not be bothered to share what he knew. Who are we? Are we like the people of Cain, hiding in our cities, in fear. Rattling our sabers trying to drive away anyone different from ourselves? Are we seeking knowledge to give us an edge at the expense of others? Or do we resemble God?
Jesus told the pharisees who demanded signs that the only sign they would receive was the sign of Jonah. On the surface we see this as Jesus being buried and rising on the third day, but could it be more than that? Could the sign be the irony of exclusion and mercilessness coming back to bite us? We live in a culture much like Nineveh. We know that much of what occurs could cause disaster, but what are we doing to help?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 14, 2024
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
1 Samuel 3:1–10 (NRSV)
1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
We hear a lot about Genesis. We love the book of Exodus. We know about the wondering in the desert as God took a people that only knew slavery and formed them into a nation. At the end of Exodus Moses looked over the land that was promised to this group of people. God allowed him to see it with his own eyes, but Moses the great lawgiver was not permitted to enter into that land.
I have reflected on this often. To live your entire life driven toward one goal. Inspiring people to pursue this dream set before you. Taking the lead on an epic quest that would be remembered for all history. And amazingly after thousands of years we know the story. We know more about this little group of people called Israel than we know about ancient empires hundreds of times more powerful. Moses was given this mission, and just when the greatest breakthrough was about to happen, God told him he could not enter.
The next phase of the story of Israel was left to someone else. All the people in Moses’ generation were left wondering in the wilderness, and Moses was their leader. He was the one that lead them through the wilderness, but this is a new time a new era. Joshua was chosen to lead the people of Israel, the nation of Israel into the land of promise.
Joshua followed Moses, he was by his side the entire journey. When they first approached the land of promise, it was Joshua and Caleb that looked into the land and saw hope where everyone else saw giants. Joshua was the man to lead Israel into the nation, because he believed, he saw what everyone else could not see. And the day that Moses was taken from the nation Joshua stood before the nation and said “you can follow the gods of Egypt or the gods of Canaan but as for me and my house, we will follow the Lord.” That of course is my own paraphrase. But the scene remains the same. Joshua looked out over the twelve tribes, he saw them each. He had participated in countless encampments where each of these tribes would take their dedicated place, surrounding the tabernacle. He had watched countless times over the past forty years as these tribes would pack up their belongings and set out to march, again taking up their dedicated place. Now they were encamped just outside of Canaan, and the tribes were in formation. He stood before them and he called in a loud voice I will serve the Lord, and the next morning they crossed the river and entered the land they would soon call home.
Joshua and his generation took hold of that land, they made it their home. They became a nation not only of people, but geography. The promise given to their father Abraham seemed to have fulfillment before their very eyes. And they celebrated.
Now that victorious generation had come to an end as well. They were in the land. The manna had stopped falling from the sky and those that inhabited the land we far enough removed from those days that I am sure they questioned the story. Who had ever heard of food just falling from the sky they might ask. They were in the land, each tribe taking up residence in their own allotted portion. They were free. They were able to live their own life. They could plant, grow, build, tear down what every they desired. They were at liberty. One nation under God.
They did not have a king, because God was their king. They were subject only to their God, their tribe, and their family. This was the time of Judges.
When we read the book of Judges we often do not see the freedom and liberty that fills the gaps between the words written on the pages. We often miss the beauty of what God had created in that land because what was written seems so dark. The book ends, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.”
There was no king, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. We see this as such a negative statement, and rightfully so because throughout that book we are told of terrible things. The last story within the book of judges has the people of Israel acting terribly, so badly Sodom would have blushed.
Moses lead the people out of Egypt. Joshua lead them into the land of promise. Throughout that time those leaders had boldly proclaimed God as their ultimate leader, but now as they became rooted in the land their attention had been pulled elsewhere. They had the freedom and the liberty to live their own life. They were subject only to God, their tribe, and their family. They were free, but at the end of the story it says, there was no king in Israel, all the people did what was right in their own eyes. We often miss the full reality of that statement. We look at it and think they need a king, they need strong leadership, they were just sheep without a shepherd. A king would be good. And eventually they do receive a king, and through that king we eventually are given our salvation. But we often miss the most important point of the statement. Why was their no king? Why?
There was not a king because Israel was supposed to be a nation devoted to God. They were each given the teachings of God, they were to be a people devoted to Loving God with all that they had and all that they were, and to love their neighbor as themselves. That is what Jesus says is the whole law. But they did not live that way. They instead looked to themselves. They sought to make their own names, build their own wealth. They began to look at the ways and the systems of the kingdoms of men instead of that of God. They were supposed to be image bearers and the light to the nations, instead they desired to be like the nations. “We want a king to fight for us.” they would eventually say. We want a strong man, we want our own giants. Israel within the first few generations rejected the kingdom of God, and desired the ways of the world of men.
This brings us to today’s passage. Eli the priest is often regarded as the last Judge of Israel. Some might say Samuel was the last Judge. I would even venture to say that Saul was the last judge even though most say he is the first king. But that does not really matter. The point of the story is not who was last, the point is what is going on in the story. Eli was the high priest. He was the top representative of God to the people and the representative of the people to God. He carried on the legacy of Aaron. He by all outward accounts was a righteous man, he was a priest. Unfortunately, he may have been a great priest, but his children were corupt.
The book of Judges ends with a story of how poorly the men of Israel treated and took advantage of women, and that attitude unfortunately can be found in the very tent dedicated to God. Eli’s own sons used and abused their position for personal gain and pleasure. They were chastised by the people for taking the good portions of the meat of sacrifice before they offered it to God. They justified it in their minds. God had ordained that the priests’ needs would be satisfied through the offerings brought to the altar. The problem was how they obtain their portion, and what they took. But what was worse than the theft of meat was that they would take advantage of the women that came to worship. They used their position, they abused their position. They would use the intense desire of those that came to worship to fulfill their personal lustful desires. Today we would call this assault and these priests should face criminal prosicution.
“And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” Eli, was the high priest while these things were happening. He knew what his sons were doing, yet he did not put a stop to it. The word of the Lord was rare. We might wonder why this was but the answer is pretty clear. The secular and religious leaders were not listening. They were not seeking. They had turned their backs on their God, and were turning to themselves for direction.
This sets the scene for the rest of today’s passage. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. Samuel is a miracle child. His history resembles that of the great patriarch. His mother Hannah was unable to bear a child for many years. In the ancient cultures children were important. They were a sign of wealth and favor. To have children ensured that the family would continue into the future. We often get mixed understandings as to why this is because we have centuries of cultural interpretation clouding our understandings. But I want us to understand one thing. Ancient Israel at this time did not have the understanding we have today. When we look at the books of the law, we will see that there was great concern about the inheritance of land, and what should happen if there was not a proper heir. Unlike many of the ancient cultures in the region, Israel was incredibly progressive. They have a precedent where male or female children could inherit the land and carry the family name to the next generation. And this was important because the land and the family was often seen as the source of blessing in this culture. If the family name was to cease, the understanding was that that family was no longer part of Israel.
Hannah was unable to bear a child, she held this stigma within her culture that God’s blessing was leaving the house of Elkannah. And like many husbands in those ancient days, because children were important not just for inheritance but also for providing labor within the household, he took a second wife. And this second wife did bear children for Elkannah. Yet Hannah was not comforted. She was his wife, his first wife and she was unable to fulfill the duty their culture demanded of her. And Elkannah said to her, “why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
We might laugh at his statement. We might grimance, we might join Hannah in her tears. We need to be careful with our words because we never know what people are feeling and at times our words can add greater burden. I am certain Elkannah loved his wife, I am sure that he was trying to provide comfort. But we cannot know another’s internal struggles unless they reveal them to us. Hannah wanted a son for her husband. Her greatest desire was to be the one through whom the blessings of God would flow. Yet that blessing was not hers at that moment.
She had only one course to take, she came to the end of herself, and all she could do was pray. This is so often how we think of things. Often prayer is the last thing we do. This is a sign of our times. And a sign of the times in Israel. We will do everything possible until we no longer see a way forward, and then we pray.
“And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” How can we hear the word of the Lord if the Lord is the last thing in our minds? I struggle with this, myself. I catch myself seeking to write great words of inspiration, and I wonder why I cannot begin writing and often it is because I had not been in prayer.
Hannah prayed, she poured her heart out to God while they were at the tabernacle offering sacrifices to their Lord. And Eli the priest saw Hannah praying, he believed her to be drunk and began to chastise her for that. It is interesting that that was the first thing that came to his mind, but once he realized that she was not intoxicated he had enough wisdom to encourage her instead. And he pronounced over her that God had heard her prayers and would grant her request. God did hear her prayers. And she gave birth to a son. And that child was named Samuel.
Hannah and Elkannah took this child to the tabernacle, and they dedicated him to the Lord. We might not understand this, we are told that the Levites are to be the priests, and Elkannah was of the house of Ephraim so how could their child serve God in the tabernacle? This goes into the deeper law. By law the first fruits of all the land, animal, and humanity belonged to God. This goes back to the when Israel walked out of Egypt, the last plague was the death of the firstborn. God preserved the firstborn of Israel, but that preservation had a price. From that moment on the first born child of every woman was dedicated to God and the parents would need to redeem their child from God through various sacrifices and offerings. This is why the tribe of Levi became the priestly tribe, because they were the ones that would stand in for the rest of Israel, they would take the place of the children that the other tribes ransomed. Hannah and Elkannah provided the required offerings, yet they proceeded to dedicate their firstborn son to the service of God.
This offering was something profound especially in their era of history. Eli the priest accepted the offering and he raised the child and Samuel became his eyes in his old age. But what is interesting is that Samuel lived in the tabernacle. He was sleeping in the holy place, laying his head down at the end of the day before the lampstand that stood before the Ark of the Covenent, which was the footstool of the God’s Throne.
And we are told that Samuel lay there on the floor before this lampstand and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. This lamp was significant in the religious practices of ancient Israel. It was there to symbolize the presence of God. The lampstand stood before the Ark which was seperated by a curtain and in front of the lamp stood the table of show bread. This lamp was supposed to burn throughout the night until morning. After the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees the lamp was to burn continuously at all times. It is interesting that here they mention that the lamp of God had not yet gone out. This has a double meaning, it tells us that it was nearing dawn because the oil had not yet run out, but it also says that the presence of God had not completely left the people of Israel. The light remains in the darkness.
Samuel slept in the presence of God, his duty was most likely to tend the lamps for Eli the priest, because Eli was unable to do this himself, and his sons were not worthy of that job. Samuel tended the lamp. And he dozed off, and as he slept he heard a voice call his name. Samuel was not accustomed to hearing anyone but Eli call for him, so he immediately went to wake his master. And Eli in his own sleepy state told the boy to go back to bed. Again Samuel heard the voice, and again he went to Eli, the second time. Only to be given the same advice. A third time the voice cried out to Samuel, and he ran to Eli’s side, this time Eli realized that the boy was actually hearing something so he said, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” Why Eli gave this advice is up for debate. Did he recognize that God was actually calling Samuel or was he simply hitting the metaphorical snooze button? I joke because, “the word of the Lord was rare in those days.” so it was not something Eli would expect. We may never fully know but the advice was sound.
Samuel goes back to lay down, “And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” God stood in the tent, while Samuel responds. Was there a physical manifestation of God standing in that room with Samuel? The text suggests this, it could have been a vision or real. What we do know is that this meeting had a profound effect on the boy. They spoke there just before dawn. Just before morning’s new light came to chase away the darkness.
“And the word of the Lord was rare in those days.” I want us to focus on this phrase. We live in a world so often seen as dark. We want strongmen to come fight our battles. This is evident throughout the world. From the war waging in Ukraine to our own presidential campaingns. We want strong personalities to lead us into the future. We are placing our faith in these strong people, these giants. We might even say that they are called by God.
“And the word of the Lord was rare in those days.” So often we seek the strong men or women. We want them to lead us, we want them to provide for us. But we also want to do what is right in our own eyes. We want strong leaders, but do we know what we are even looking for? The word of the Lord is rare in these days.
Hannah was at the end of herself, and she gives us direction. She went to God to pray. And her response was to give back the very blessing God had given her. While the rest of the world was doing what seemed right in their own eyes, Hannah, Samuel’s mother dedicated her own son to God. And Samuel grew under Eli’s guardianship, and he did not yet know the Lord. He grew up dedicated to God yet he did not know him.
We live in a dark world. We seek strength in the world. And do we even know what we are looking for? Samuel ran to Eli. Are we seeking God or humankind? “The word of the Lord was rare in those days.” The same could be said today. What are we seeking first? What are we listening to? Have we taken the time to seek the very real presence of God or are we seeking giants of mankind? Four times God called to Samuel before Samuel was ready to listen. How many times has God called us? How many times have we ran this way or that? How many times have we relied on ourselves or those around us before we were willing to say, “Speak, for your servant hears.”?
We live in a world where people are going about doing what is right in their own eyes. We live in a world where we would like others to fight our battles for us. We live in a world, but the lamp of God has not yet gone out. There is still hope, even in the darkness we perceive surrounding us. We want hope, we want revelation, we want to hear the word of the Lord but are we listening?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 7, 2024
Genesis 1:1–5 (ESV)
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void,In the beginning. This statement is one that grabs my attention. It might be because it has that storybook feel from the books I used to read as a child, or movies I still love today. Long ago in a galaxy far away. Something important is about to be explained. Something profound, something that might just change our way of looking at things if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
In the beginning. This statement is one that grabs my attention. It might be because it has that storybook feel from the books I used to read as a child, or movies I still love today. Long ago in a galaxy far away. Something important is about to be explained. Something profound, something that might just change our way of looking at things if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
For those of us who have been part of the church for a while, we know this story. We have heard it as children. Our Sunday School teachers probably had flannel-graph cutouts depicting all six days of creation. Unless you are in my Sunday School class because kids today have screens, and we do not need fanciful flannel-graph.
I have mentioned before that I love the Book of Genesis. I like it because it begins in this way. I also love the Gospel of John because it also begins in this manner. In the beginning sets the stage, it prepares us for some epic drama that is about to unfold. Unfortunately in recent history we often lose the mystery of this story. We have lost the mystery because various factions want scripture to prove their various points.
In the beginning. It might surprise most of us that the phrase used here, is not as definite as we might like. I will stop right here and let you all know that I believe that God created the heavens and the earth. I make this disclaimer because I want us to understand what is being said. The phrase we translate as, “in the beginning,” has two possible interpretations. It can mean the absolute beginning of all time. But the interpretation we are less familiar with is a nonspecific general beginning. If we were to say, “in the beginning,” in reference to our own life what do we mean? Are we speaking of our birth? Could it be the beginning of college or a new career? Maybe we are speaking of our wedding? We all have multiple beginnings depending on the context of which we are speaking. Just saying, “in the beginning,” does not fully tell us what is happening. We need more information.
To finish the first verse, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The storyteller gives us some additional information as to what beginning is being spoken of. This is either the absolute beginning of all things, or at the very least the beginning of God’s creative work.
I say at the very least the beginning of God’s creative work for a reason. We are bound to this plane of existence. We reside within the dimensions of our sensory universe. We do not know what, when, or even if something or someone was present before what we can perceive came into existence.
I want us to just sit with that for a moment. Many of us asked or been asked how life began. Many of us have quoted this very scripture in defense of that question, but I want us to recognize that even the words of scripture leave this a bit of a mystery.
This might make some of us uneasy. I understand. We all need to realize that the people in the ancient world were not asking the same questions that we ask today. We approach scripture in our contemporary culture and era, with preconceived ideas about what those ancient people meant. It was thousands of years after the telling of this story that the concept of ex nihilo, “out of nothing,” was formed. This is alluded to in the Book of Hebrews, and we can see segments of that theological stance take shape throughout scripture. We want this to tell us our scientific origin story, but science was not even on these ancient peoples’ minds when they shared this story. What they were interested was a purpose and reason to live.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This is an idiom in the Hebrew language that basically means everything from one extreme to the other. God created the heavens and the earth. The story continues, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”
Mysterious. I want us to really listen to what is being said once again, “The earth was without form, and void, darkness was over the face of the deep.” Tohu wabohu is what the Hebrew is. It means many things. It can mean empty space, unreality, confusion, complete disorder or chaos. These two words describe something that lacks boundary, order, and definition. Darkness was over the face of the deep. Darkness throughout scripture is a word that represents evil or calamity. With Tohu, bohu and darkness here at the beginning of this story, the storyteller is catching our attention. They are using the power of words to heighten our awareness by speaking to common fears. The fear of the dark. The fear of chaos. The fear of disorder and lack of control. This is where things get interesting. “Darkness was over the face of the deep.”
For many years I have been fascinated by various philosophies and theological thoughts. I am the type of person that wants to understand where someone that may not agree with me is coming from. In many cases I have found that many of the disagreements that I have, is because I assume that the words they say and the ideas they have, carry the same meaning as I have for them. I should not do this because I am a Friends pastor, Friends say things like, “weighty Friend,” and we are not speaking at all about physical features, instead that term weighty speaks of the depth of knowledge and spiritual discernment. And many of you might notice that I often say meetinghouse instead of church when I speak about the building we worship in. This is because when I was younger I was taught that the church is the people, not the building, the building is only a place the church meet, so it is the church’s meetinghouse.
The words people use sometimes carry different meaning depending on their own context. The Hebrew people, like us, lived in an area with various world views. And each of these world views have their own understanding of things. But when we dig a bit deeper we might find something of we can build a conversation on.
The ancient near east was not isolated. Israel was not a culture that developed on a remote island far from other people, instead they were a group of people that lived between. They were between Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, the Hittites, the Canaanites, and Ur. Each of these cultures participated in trade, and when people trade their cultures are shared. The interesting thing about these various Near Eastern cultures is that many of their earliest stories resemble each other. Some find this as being threatening, but for me, I find it fascinating. Some use these similarities to prove that words of scripture were just pulled from other places, patched in, and because of this it lacks meaning. For me this means that maybe the opposite is true. Perhaps the words of scripture are more accurate than we ever believed.
“Darkness was over the face of the deep.” This word deep in English is an adjective. We use it to describe something, but in Hebrew this word is a noun. It is a person, place, or thing. This thing we call the deep is a large body of water, the primordial or primeval sea, or cosmic waters of chaos. In Akkadian stories (Tay home) Tehom or Tamtu is the goddess of the sea. In the Mesopotamian stories Tiamat is a personified primeval ocean who Marduk splits in half, and from the two halves everything comes into existence. Ur, from which the religions of the Canaanites emerge, also speak of a watery deity which must be defeated. Each, of the cultures that encompass the Hebrew people in those ancient times speak of Tehom, the deep. In most of the cultures the Tehom is either a beast or lessor deity that must be battled, but in all the cases including the Hebrew scripture this Deep represents an existence based on fear and disorder. The main difference is that the Hebrew culture does not personify the Deep, it is a formless, unbound body of primordial fluid.
“And the Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters.”
What do we see in our minds when we hear of the Spirit hovering over the water? For me, I see a Coast Guard helicopter as it lowers the harness down to a struggling shipwreck survivor. This hovering is not stationary. It is fluttering, trembling, or moving about. It is sometimes used to describe, brooding over young chicks in a nest. What I once saw as this stationary helicopter, I now see a sheepdog gathering the flock together.
God’s Spirit is gathering this primeval sea, these chaotic waters, the deep together. What was once formless and unbound, is now being drawn together to one place. The formless receives form, and a boundary is placed around what was once unbound.
The Spirit gathers the Deep, “And God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light’”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God , and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Today is the first Sunday of Epiphany. Usually in this season the church celebrates the revelation of God with us. To have an epiphany, is gaining insight or knowledge about something that was once unknown to you. We might say that epiphany is the beginning of wisdom.
I mentioned when I started this morning that I like Genesis and that I like John because they have similarities. The similarities revolve around light.
Often when we read through this first day of creation, we make the assumption that God created light on the first day. Then our minds begin to question things. In our minds light comes from something. The sun gives us light, but the sun was not created until the fourth day. This is where our scientific mind and the storytelling of ancient days diverge.
What if light does not mean light. What if light in Genesis 1 is more like John 1?
In John light is knowledge and wisdom. It is the Word of God which is the embodiment of divine wisdom. God’s spirit hovered over the waters of the deep, the Spirit gathered the formless, meaningless, chaos together and speaks let there be light.
I marvel at this story. In my mind I see the cosmic dusts of a nebula submitting to the forces of gravity. I see the physics of the various forces, working on what was once formless and suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere the celestial bodies of our solar system emerge. What was once without form now has a form, what was once meaningless now has meaning. What once lacked purpose now has a purpose.
I sat this week contemplating this passage. I sat wondering if we were going to be able to rip the ceiling out in time for the electricians to start their work. I sat considering everything going on in my life. I sat fully expecting to speak today about creation, but instead my mind drifted between faith and science, between hope and despair, between heaven and earth.
This story is not about our origin. It is about meaning. This story is calling us to participate in the quest to find meaning, hope, and a purpose. It is an invitation for us all to explore God and everything he created. And that begins with light.
“And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” I sat with this last verse of this week’s reading, and I began to look at it differently. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. These are words that speak of fear, but fear of what? Disorder, chaos, void. All of this points to the lack of knowledge of some form. We fear what we do not know.
A few years ago, we faced something unknown. A virus was spreading around the world and we did not know how to contain it. Various experts were telling us things and sometimes their wisdom only increased our fear because we could not make sense of it. During that time, I received a call from a reporter, I do not know if she was a real reporter or not because I did not ever find anything written anywhere by her. But she wanted to interview me as a pastor about how and what we were doing in the face of that great unknown. I sat in a parking lot talking to her on the phone. Explaining what we were doing and what our plans were. For about an hour we spoke and at the end of that time she said something to me that I hope I never forget. She said, “you do not sound afraid.” And then she asked why.
God separated the light from the darkness. We fear what we do not know, we fear when we cannot see, when we do not believe there is meaning. I did not fear. Was I concerned? Yes. I did not want to be sick, nor did I want to see anyone I care about sick. I hate being sick. But I did not fear. I did not fear because of what knowledge I did have and the faith I have in God in reference to the things I did not know.
God separated the light from the darkness. Good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, hope and despair. The spectrum between the extremes. The first thing that God created as he gathered in the sea of chaos was light. God spoke, he transferred his wisdom into our realm of existence, and brought order to the primordial disorder.
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth1”
God separates the light from the dark, He calls it day and night. He also calls it belief and rejection. We can look at the world around us and be gripped by fear, but what does this tell us about our faith and our hope? Do we trust the wisdom of God? Will we shine light into a world of darkness?
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2016, p. Jn 1:9–14.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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