January 24, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Mark 1:14-20[1]
Please pray with me. Insistent God, by night and day you call
your people. Wake us with your voice and shine the light of your grace into our
lives so that we may respond to the call of Christ in mission and ministry.
Amen.
“So, what do you do?” That is the question that often begins
a conversation with someone new. What we usually mean by that is “What do you
do for a living?” or “How do you make money?” or even “What sports do you
play?”
That question can sometimes give a good impression of who a
person is, at least on the surface. But it usually doesn’t go deeper than that.
What do I do? I’m a minister. And if the conversation doesn’t end at that
point, there is the can of worms of explaining the United Church of Christ, how
I can be a “priest” and be married with kids, etcetera. But after all that, you
really have only scratched the surface of who I am.
I love ice cream; I’m very particular about my milkshakes. I
watch sunsets. I dream of travelling to Mars, or taking my family to
So I tried asking a different question once. “What would you
be doing if you could do anything?” And the first person to whom I posed this
question startled me with her answer. “What I do right now. I’m an
archaeologist. I am helping to excavate ruins in
I wonder what would be different if we answered that
question, “What would you be doing if you could do anything?” with “What I do
right now. I follow Jesus.” We are Christians after all. We are the modern-day
disciples of Jesus, and following him is what we do. “What do I do? I follow
Jesus.” Whether or not we choose to follow is up to us, but we have been
called. We have been invited. We have been seen by Jesus, he has fixed us in
his gaze, and he has said, “Follow me.”
Now, you and I were probably not called in the same way as
Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus didn’t appear to me and say, “Come on,
time to be a minister.” My calling sprouted in high-school when I joined group
of youth planning and leading retreats each year at a camp called La Forêt.
I served two years on this committee learning skills for leading groups and
planning meaningful experiences. I was, as a youth, in ministry with young
people and adults. After college I served as a camp counselor as often as
possible, taking on more and more responsibility, and was eventually asked to direct
the program.
I served as a delegate to the UCC General Synod in 2001.
Through the workshops, worship, and speeches, I heard God’s clear and
persistent call to ordained ministry. My peers recognized God’s call on my life
and my skills for leadership. My pastor and other leaders in my church
encouraged me to go to seminary, and I entered Chicago Theological Seminary in
2003.
However it may differ from the way the prophets and
disciples were called, we have been called by God. We have been called by God,
who formed our inward parts; who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. We
have been called by God who knows who we are in the depths of our being, who
gave us our talents, our gifts, and nurture our abilities. We were called by
God before we were born. We have been invited to participate in the
captivating, ensnaring work of the master. “Follow me and I will make you fish
for people.”
Not everyone responds with an enthusiastic “YES!” when God
calls them. We might respond to God by saying, “Me? Are you sure?” “Who am I
that I should go?” (Exodus 3:11); “What shall I say to them?” (3:12); “What if
they do not listen?” (4:1); “Send someone else” (4:13). You hesitate. You are
reluctant. You feel inadequate to the task. Well, I’ll tell you a secret.
You’re not the only one. These are the same objections that Moses raised when
God spoke to him out of the burning bush. “Truly I do not know how to speak,
for I am only a boy” said Jeremiah. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jonah all questioned
their call. And that is actually a good thing. Why?
When God calls people to service in the world, it is not
those who think they have certain skills or who seek leadership. Rather, God
calls those who understand how inadequate they are for the task, yet are humble
enough to depend upon God for guidance and empowerment. The great leaders of
the Bible did not campaign for the position; they were placed there by God, or
by the community. Not a single leader of the Old Testament is portrayed as
having in themselves the abilities to be a great leader.[2]
In fact, if you look at who God chooses to do special
things, they are usually people who are totally outside the traditional power
structures: David, the youngest child; Deborah, a woman; Abraham, a wandering Aramean;
Jacob, a scheming liar; Gideon, a coward; Peter, a simple fisherman; Mary, a
teenage girl from a remote country village.[3]
What made them, and makes us, capable of doing what God is
calling us to do is found in the answer that God gives to the objections: “I
will be with you.” We don’t need to rely on our own strength and abilities. God
promises to give us the power and the ability to accomplish our task. God is
with us, even, as the psalmist says, in the valley of the shadow of death. The
most frightening places we can imagine are filled with the presence of God.[4]
OK, I’ll go. So, what is it I’m supposed to do again? Where
is it, exactly, that we are called to go? It’s not really a specific “job” or
occupation, but rather a call to live out God’s beautiful purposes not just for
our personal lives, but for our communities and for all of creation. It is
living with an understanding of ourselves and everyone around us as precious
children of God.[5]
Now, it is easy to see the beauty and wonder of God’s
creation when we gaze at the stars, the purple mountain majesties, the endless
oceans. It is easy to see God’s purpose in a newborn baby, a child discovering
the thrill of the swings, or when a poet takes our breath away. What is harder
is to see that same beauty and purpose in ourselves, especially for those of us
who have been alive a while and know our failures, our shortcomings, our
faults. Even though we spend a lot of our time trying to polish our image, to
hide our weaknesses, and gather up credentials to prove to others how good we
are, we know the truth.
Yet the truth is more than what we think about ourselves. We
are not worse than we should be. We are better than we think and better than we
deserve to be. Why? Because, underneath everything, we are created in the image
of God, in the image of goodness, and beauty, and strength. One day you may
lose everything you have, everything you have earned and all that you value;
but, no one can ever take away from you the fact that you are a child of God
and that God’s image is embedded in your very soul.
The author and spiritual guide, Marianne Williamson, put it
this way:
Our deepest
fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We
ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small
does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as
children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light
shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are
liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.[6]
You, my friends, are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are
precious children of God. And God is calling you to live like you believe it. Amen.
[1]
The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
[2]
Dennis Bratcher, “The Prophetic ‘Call’ Narrative: Commissioning into Service”
from http://www.crivoice.org/prophetcall.html.
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
Kate Huey, “Called and Recalled” from http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/weekly-seeds/called-and-recalled.html.
[5]
Ibid.
[6] Marianne
Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A
Course in Miracles" (New York: HarperOne, 1992).
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