When God calls the boy Samuel to be His prophet, He reminds us of how much we need His word, and how much we need the right heart as we listen for His voice.
Like the Israelites in I Samuel 4, we often are tempted to put God "in a box" when lost the daily battle against sin self, that is, we are tempted to recreate God into our image, a God that we can use to do what we want.
As the man of God pronounces God's curse against Eli and his family, we are reminded that the richness of God's grace always provides the backdrop for the conviction and correction of our sin.
When all of our human priests show that they are not immune from the effects of sin, God's priest, Jesus Christ, is always standing to mediate for us through the priestly work of the Cross.
The Christmas carol Silent Nights points us back to the true beginning of the Christmas Story in John 1, and they both remind us that with God, there is always more than meets the eye.
The Christmas carol "Angels We Have Heard on High" point us back to the Christmas story of Luke 2, and reminds us of the grace we have received because of this "good news of great joy", and calls us to be radically interrupted by God's message from heaven each and every day.