Someone Has Your Back
Dear Friends,
As I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, the word Epiphany means “manifestation, demonstration, or appearance.” It is a season of revelation and illumination: a time to see the daily events in our lives and in the world in a new or different light. It is also a time to look out for where God might be calling us to head in a new or different direction.
There are two “call stories” in this week’s readings. The first is from the Old Testament and tells how Samuel, a child, hears God’s voice in the middle of the night but isn’t able to accept its validity until his mentor, Eli, convinces him it is real. The second call story is from the Gospel of John and concerns a fellow named Nathanael who is in the “outer circle” of Jesus’ followers. When Nathanael is told that Jesus of Nazareth is The One about whom Moses and the prophets wrote, he balks: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth? In response, the disciple Philip says to him, “come and see.” And when Nathanael agrees to follow along, he is astounded by the Jesus he finds.
These two stories have some definite differences, but also some striking similarities. One of those similarities is that, while both Samuel and Nathanael had encounters with God or Jesus, they were helped along that path by a mentor or friend. Maybe they would have found the way by themselves in time, but an invitation to listen, to go and see, was just the nudge they needed to start in the right direction.
This has had me thinking about the times I have seen or heard something that touched me, but was not able to act on it until someone stepped in to assist me, guide me, pray for me. I am also thinking about the times that I have stepped in to mentor or befriend another person just when they needed it, something I often don’t realize until with hindsight. How about you?
The point is, the journey of life is so much easier if someone assists us along the way - helps us listen, encourages us, walks with us. In a study on friendship that I read years ago, 34 college students were taken to the bottom of a hill and given a weighted backpack, then asked to estimate the angle of the hill’s steepness. The students who were standing alone estimated the hill to be much steeper than those who were standing with a friend. And the longer they’d known the friend, the less steep the hill seemed to them.
When we know someone “has our back,” even if they can’t shoulder our weight for us, our climb is easier, our steps are surer, our load is lighter, our day is less troublesome. We are all capable of being intermediaries between another person and the callings God places in our lives, in good times and in challenging times. We can be intercessors when there are exciting new opportunities just as much as we can when there is trouble; channels of encouragement when days are promising or when they are wearying; agents of peace when worry rules, instruments of hope when life begins anew.
As these days of Epiphany unfold, I invite you to look around and give thanks for those who have been intermediaries for your holy encounters. Then go and do likewise.
In Christ,
Amelie
