Calling

January 28, 2007

Epiphany 4, Yr C, RCL

I almost always preach on the Gospel, but today, I’m going to focus on the Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah. I do this because I believe that it has something important to say to all of us. God comes to Jeremiah and says I need you. Jeremiah begins to tell God why he cannot serve God – I am too young and I do not have the words to speak of you as you deserve. I think that we can read into this – send someone else – you clearly must be mistaken by choosing me – I cannot do what you are asking me to do – there are others who can do this much easier than I. God comes back and says – I don’t care what you think or say, I’ve chosen you and you will serve me – it will not be easy, and I want you - I am calling you.

I could be wrong, but I think that it is safe to say that none of us have been called to be a prophet as Jeremiah was. Even when we have heard or felt a call from God, I don’t think that it was this intense, or that we were called to be a prophet to the nations. (If I’m wrong, please see me afterwards.) Thing is, it doesn’t matter that we haven’t been called like Jeremiah. What is important is that we are all called in one way or another. We have all been called to serve, we have all been called to a ministry, because God has a vocation or ministry in mind of all of us. I know from my experience that when I have felt called by God to serve in a new way, many times I argued just as Jeremiah and the other prophets did. Let's see how many of these phrases ring true for you today. . . "I am too young," "I am too old" "I don't have enough experience" "I am too busy" "You know, I think that so and so would be better at this than I would" "I am too tired" "I am too small for this big job" "No one will listen to me" "Maybe next year when this project is out of the way I can do that" I know that those are all things that I have said to myself, to others and to God when I am trying to justify not wanting to do what God has placed in front of me.

I make excuses, we all make excuses as to why we can’t do things, why we think someone else would be better for this, but the bottom line is, we are just as good as anyone else. The problem is that many times we don't believe in ourselves. The good news is that God believes in us, God calls us to be prophets in today's world, and God gives us the tools to be a great prophet. The only problem is, that we tend to sell ourselves short, we don't believe in the gifts that God has given us, and we can easily come up with excuses to try and work our way out of a situation. We question ourselves, our call to ministry, and our relationship with God.

That’s okay, because when we question God and what God has called us to do, we are joining a large group of people. Some you know well. Moses who stammers, Jonah with his misguided notion of what needs to happen, Jeremiah who is overwhelmed by the call and is sure that he’s too young and inexperienced, Isaiah who does not think that he is worthy enough for the job, Mary questioned God, Sara laughed at God, Peter who was fearful and impetuous. I could go on and on and those are just the people in the Bible. Questioning God and our place in the grand scheme of things is part of the journey of finding ourselves and God.

Here’s what it comes down to… God knows us better than we can know ourselves. For many that is rather scary, but if we look at it from a different angle, there is great comfort in knowing that God knows us, that God understands us - even when we do not understand ourselves.

Your calling to serve God does not happen when you are ready, but it happens when God is ready. The only thing that we can do on our part is try to be open to the conversation. If you really think about it – God does not need us because God is God. However, God has chosen to work through God’s own creation – that’s you and me. Our job in the midst of our lives is to find ourselves and thus find where God is calling us to be in the world. What is your truth, your passion – where do you put your heart and soul?

The first time that the thought of becoming a priest entered my head was not in prayer or in church, but rather standing in the kitchen at a youth event when I was 17 years old. The bishop was hanging out with us and simply said, “You will make a great priest someday.” I laughed – almost spewing coke out of my nose and said – no thanks – I’m going to go be a physical therapist. God works in mysterious ways and through the people around us and in the everyday of our lives. You never know when or where you will find God.

Let me share with you a few people in my life and their various ways of serving God through doing what they are called to do.

My mom is a nurse. When she is helping people, she is in her element. She glows when she is taking care of people and hates it when administration and other things get in the way. Her calling is to be a nurse and to bring God’s love and healing to those around her.

My friend Amy is a mother and a lawyer. I have known her since eighth grade and she has always been one to try to improve the world around her either by making it a more cheerful, fun, beautiful place, or by changing things that weren’t right. She is now a lawyer who does water law – thus is working for the environment and saving God’s creation from ruin and from greedy people who are not thinking of the future.

My friend David, is not afraid to say that he truly loves Jesus. Jesus guides him, Jesus is his friend and savior. He is currently serving as a youth minister and that is a true calling. He is so gifted in bringing people out of themselves, into the group and into talking about their faith, their journey, their questions about God.

My friends Ron and Steve are the maintenance guys – the guys that take care of the buildings and grounds of my old seminary. They are people who are truly committed to making the world a better place for those around them. They will do whatever it takes to make the place run more smoothly, to make it function better and to take care of the students and faculty there. This is a true and deep calling for them. They have been doing it for years and see it not only as something that they do, but something that they live each day.

I could go on, but I think that these five people give you a picture that you don’t have to fit into one box or another in order to serve God. Serving God means living into what God has made you to be. God knows what that is and it is our job to find where God is calling us to be, where we will find our passion, our faith, our truth.

One of my favorite Simpsons episodes is one where Lisa declares that she is no longer a Christian and that she is going to find a faith that truly speaks to her. She goes on a quest to find who or what she believes. There are many people troubled by the fact that she has stepped away from the way she was brought up and they keep trying to pull her back in. Rather than allowing that to happen, she continues on – no matter what anyone says. Finally, she discovers that she is a Buddhist and finds great peace in that and is once again at peace with herself.

Our journey and our calling are one in the same. They are about finding ourselves and thus finding what God created us to be. God needs us in the world because God has chosen to use – no matter who young or old we are, no matter where we live or what we study or what our job is – God has chosen us to be in the world and God has chosen us to change the world through how we live our lives.

God, grant us ears to hear,

Eyes to see,

Wills to obey,

Hearts to love.

- Christina Rossett