Bible discussion on Monday 26th June: 6.30pm led by Rob Oulton - ‘Hearing the Divine call’

Bible discussion on Monday 26th June: 6.30pm led by Rob Oulton- ‘Hearing the Divine call’.

Our discussion will look at the story in 1 Samuel Chapter 3: of the boy Samuel’s calling in the night by God; whose voice he repeatedly fails to recognise.

Samuel seems to be one of the special ones found throughout the Bible who have a quality of intense affiliation to the Divine, and whose life seems to be ‘set aside’ or dedicated to God. Samuel, as the much longed-for son of the formerly barren Hannah, is formally given to God by his mother, and is essentially brought up in the temple by Eli, the chief priest, from a very young age. Perhaps shades here of the current Dalai Lama?

Are people still called by God, or by the voice of a deeper wisdom that takes them by surprise? Do we hear prophetic voices or deep heart promptings, perhaps in dreams or in night reveries, or unexpectedly in waking life. Can these callings lead us toward a different kind of life than we had previously planned? Is the Unitarian movement a place where people can bring such promptings and find encouragement and understanding?

Maybe you have your own story of a ‘voice in the night’, or perhaps you never felt you ‘fitted-in’ until you found your own spiritual path?

The story’s simple narrative, like so many in the bible, may conceal layers of meaning that can surprise by their richness, and their continued relevance for our contemporary lives.

Do come along and share your response to this story and its resonance with your own life.

The Zoom details remain as follows:

Join Zoom Meeting Monday 18.30

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82378042367...

Meeting ID: 823 7804 2367

Passcode: 460019

Painting by Marc Chagall