"With These Hands"
God judges our hearts, and calls us to use our hands.
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, June 2, 2002
Text: I Samuel 16:6-13
It was in June of 1975, in a small, mining town in central New Brunswick, that I was confirmed. I will never forget that day and I will never forget those with whom I was confirmed, in the same way as I am sure you will not forget those with whom you are confirmed.
Like you, we had gone through a year-long program but, unlike you, I had to have my father teach the program. It was not the most pleasant experience because whenever I got a question wrong, or didn't know something, I had to somehow give an account of what I had missed later, at the dinner table.
I remember one particularly meaningful moment during my confirmation time and that was the day after the rehearsal. After we had rehearsed, like we did this past week, we got ready to go home. We were all talking about what we were going to wear; whom we were going to sit with; whom we were going to invite; and where we were going to go for lunch afterwards. There was a great spirit of excitement.
But there was one young girl in our confirmation class who came from a very poor family, whose father had been a miner and had been laid off, who looked most glum and sad. The very next morning, after the rehearsal, my father received a telephone call from the young girl's mother, informing us that she was pulling out of the process and that she wouldn't be there on the day. The mother gave no reason but she was adamant. She wasn't going to go ahead with it.
My father, thinking that the girl had a problem with the church, or had decided that she wasn't ready to recommit her life to Jesus Christ, decided to go over to the house to find out why.
Well, after they had talked for about 10 or 15 minutes, it was very obvious: With everyone talking about what they were going to wear, this young girl who had no money to go out and buy anything new felt so bad at the thought of not being able to wear anything special that she had decided that she would be an embarrassment, and so she withdrew her name.
My father, realizing that this was a predicament that should never hold anyone back from being confirmed, decided that he would make arrangements for that young girl to receive some money to go out and buy an outfit. And so she went out to a local Stedman's store on the Saturday morning, the day before the confirmation. On the Sunday morning she came in and, sure enough, she had a new outfit. She had bought a brand-new pair of jeans, a brand-new pair of sandals, and a brand-new tee-shirt. She was so proud of this.
She went through that confirmation service, with everyone else dressed beautifully and looking gorgeous, and she had hands laid on and she was confirmed. I have thought back to that moment: the embarrassment that people felt when she walked up in jeans; the embarrassment that her parents felt because they didn't think she had any new clothes; the sadness that was often in their hearts. It only just so happens that in that very church right now, some 27 years later, that same young woman is in fact the head of the Sunday School program. Of all the people who were confirmed that day in that church, it is she who may have been the most faithful and for whom confirmation meant the most.
Today's wonderful passage was read for us from the First Book of Samuel. It is about when Samuel was deciding who would be the next King of Israel. In a glorious moment, The Lord says to Samuel: "People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts."
You see, confirmation is about the heart and the heart, in Hebrew, is not just emotion. It is not just the pumping of blood through our system: It is our intellect. It is our personality. It is our desires. It is who we are. What God really wants from us, in fact, is ourselves and ourselves in faith committing our lives to him and desiring to serve him.
But so often we look - even in the church, as we did that Sunday in Minto when everyone closed their eyes - at the outside, rather at the inside, and it is the inside that matters.
There is a wonderful story about St. Bartholomew's Church, on Fifth Avenue, in New York. It is an Anglican, an Episcopalian, church. One day a man came in, walked down the aisle and sat in the very second pew, just where you, the confirmation class, are. He wore this great, big sombrero.
One of the ushers came along and said: "Excuse me, sir, but I don't think you should wear that during the service."
The man said: "I'm sorry. I have come in here. I am going to wear the sombrero."
The usher went to the Head Usher and the Head Usher came down and said: "Excuse me, but you know, really - I don't think wearing a hat like that is appropriate in a service of this kind. Even the Bishop might be coming today. I don't think this is a good day to wear the sombrero."
The man said: "I'm sorry. I have come to worship God. I am going to wear my sombrero."
Then the Head of the Sanctuary Guild came down and she spoke to him. Now, you'd think that that would do it, wouldn't you. But oh, no. Not even the Sanctuary Guild could get him to remove the sombrero.
Finally, they went and got the Senior Officer of the Board to walk down and to plead with him: "Please take off this sombrero."
He said: "I have come to worship God. I want to wear my sombrero."
Finally, when the choir was processing, as our choir processes, he decided to take it off and to place it next to him. Throughout the whole of the service he sat just like everybody else.
At the end, the Senior Officer came to him and said: "Excuse me, but why did you wear this? Don't you know that, as Episcopalians, men are not supposed to wear head-gear during worship?"
The man said: "Yes, I know that. I have been an Episcopalian for 25 years and I have been attending this church for two years, but in all that time nobody spoke to me. But today, I have met the Head Usher, the Head of the Sanctuary Guild, and the Senior Officer."
Sometimes we are so concerned with outward appearances that we miss what really matters. What matters is the heart. What matters is our commitment. What matters are our lives.
In a few moments you are going to go through what Christians have gone through for 2,000 years - the laying-on of hands. In this passage from First Samuel there was a bit of a concern. The concern was that Samuel didn't know who was going to be the next king after Saul had been disgraced. One after another of these handsome people came forward, but Samuel was told not to have any of them.
Finally there is the young one, the youngest in the crowd, no less. We are told that he had a ruddy complexion and that he was handsome as well; but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that this was the one whom God knew would have faith in him and would live his life faithfully.
You know, so often in the Bible it is the youngest members of the family, the youngest representatives, whom God chooses, whether it be Jacob, or Joseph, or Gideon or, in this case, David. God isn't even concerned with our age. God is concerned with our hearts and what is within them.
As you prepare yourselves to be confirmed today, and as you get ready for the laying-on of hands as Samuel laid on hands and anointed David, I want you to ask yourselves deep within your hearts about your faith, about the reason for your doing this, and to ask God to bless you; for with those hands, Samuel sent young David out to be great.
But there was also a sense in which the laying on of hands was not just when David was recognized for future greatness. It was the beginning of what would be a magnificent and a splendid life for God. Oh, David made mistakes. David made many mistakes, some of them, I hope to Heaven, you never make in your lives; but even though he made mistakes and even though after the laying-on of hands he still wasn't perfect, God knew that in his heart, David loved Him. And because God knew that David loved Him, He enabled him to do great things in his life for God.
For example, David did a great thing for God when he looked upon the City of Jerusalem and decided that it would be the capital of the people. With David's hands, then, after the laying-on of hands by Samuel, he did great things for God. He changed the worship and improved the ritual. He was wise in his counsel. He unified a nation that was divided. He established a dynasty that would lead all the way to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He brought Jerusalem back to its roots and many times throughout the years, prophets would refer to the time of David as a time of justice and a time of truth.
You see, David was young when Samuel laid hands on him. David wasn't even aware completely of everything that he was doing. God had chosen him. God had called him and God certainly used his hands to do good.
In a few moments, when you come forward for the laying-on of hands, then, this will be only the beginning - the beginning of your using your hands and your lives for the sake of God. As I look at the state of the world in which we live and I look at the challenges that lie before my generation and your generation, when I look at the state of our earth and the poor environment, when I look at conflicts and potential conflicts, when I look at diseases that are ravaging continents, when I look at the challenges of the poor in our midst, when I look at the challenges of bearing witness when people are falling away from the faith, all of these challenges lie before you and God needs your hands and God needs your commitment, like David, to do something about them.
And so this morning, my prayer for you is that God will look into your hearts, that you will look into your own hearts and that the Holy Spirit, as you come forward, will bless you as God blessed David, for that is the true sign and the true symbol of God's eternal presence. With these hands we confirm you. With your hands you serve God. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.