Come and See
Psalm 18:1-20 • Psalm 18:21-50
Gen. 4:17-26 • Heb. 3:1-11 • John 1:43-51
We all have favorite scriptural passages. Some speak to the essentials of our common identity and principles. Romans 8: 38-39 ("For I am convinced...") and Philipians 4:8 ("Whatever is true, whatever is noble...") are among the usual suspects. Others are individually tailored, often tied to some personal memory. A couple of mine involve the transfiguration and Pilate's cynical "What is truth?" For many years I have been especially fond of part of today's reading, when Nathaniel, hearing that some unknown Nazarene is supposedly The One, asks Philip, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" In today's terms I picture Nathaniel leaning back, tilting his head with a three-second squint, and asking his friend, "You're kidding, right?"
Some Sunday in the last few years I was listening to this reading, grinning at Nathaniel's skeptical crack, when I heard-really heard-what comes next: "Come and see." I was more than a little gobsmacked. The three words situated me, and not just in the pew.
Thirty or so years ago I wanted nothing to do with religion, in part because I thought it required professing one set of beliefs or another: signing a spiritual contract. Then I began to explore it, pretty condescendingly, a bit like an anthropologist. And as I did, well, things happened. At some point I realized that worship in its broadest sense is a process, endless and indefinite, something to be lived into over a lifetime. Among many other things, it's a matter of being a learning practitioner, literally a journey-man.
It was my great luck to stumble into the process first at St. Martin's and then at St. Paul's. Both exemplify to me just that understanding of worship as lifelong engagement and exploration. Both are dedicated to welcoming the Nathaniels of the world. Now whenever Evan offers our traditional pre-Eucharist invitation, "Whoever you are and wherever you are...," I always hear: "Come and see."
Written by Elliott West
Elliott teaches history at the University of Arkansas. He has been a member of St. Paul's for nearly thirty years.