Answering The Call
Sermon
It's News To Me: Messages of Hope for Those Who Haven't Heard
Cycle A Gospel Sermons For Advent, Christmas, Epiphany
Object:
A few years ago, I was on a retreat in northern Michigan, and I knew that some of our friends from home were sailing in the vicinity. One evening I went to the local boat dock, and walked through the lines of boats calling out the names of our friends, hopeful that they might be there. I remember the joy I felt when I yelled their names, and they answered! They were actually there, and they responded to my call!
However, there are times when we get a call that we don't hear, or don't want to hear. It might be a matter of thinking, "My plate is already full. Call back tomorrow." There are times that we don't even answer the call, especially if we don't know who's calling. That's true these days with "Caller ID" that can be put on our phones, identifying the person who's placing the call to us. Sometimes we don't answer the call because we're not home, or because we don't hear the call come in. There are a variety of reasons that many of us don't answer a call when it comes to us.
I think that's part of what makes the Bible passage for today so remarkable. Now, granted, we're not talking about a phone call from an unknown source; we're talking about a face-to-face encounter. Nonetheless, I've always found the story of Jesus calling his first group of followers to be something worthy of our attention.
Think about that part of the Bible passage with me. Here we have four guys; two sets of brothers, doing what they normally did -- fishing in the Sea of Galilee. Now, who knows? Maybe they didn't really enjoy what they were doing. Perhaps they were fishing because that's just what you did for a living when you lived in that region. Maybe they did it because that's what their family determined was in their future. Or maybe they did it because they genuinely enjoyed the outdoors and the challenge of bringing in a load of fish each day.
We don't know for sure why they were doing what they were doing, nor do we know how they felt about it. We only know that they were doing their normal, ordinary, everyday routine, when Jesus came along and called to them. He invited them to come with him, to leave what they were doing, to leave the people they knew and loved, and to embark on a new endeavor. They answered that call. They left what they had always done, and went with him.
Now I doubt very seriously that this was the first time they had ever encountered the man Jesus. We read earlier in the Bible passage that Jesus had begun his teaching and preaching in the area, and they may well have heard him during one of those sessions. It's also possible that they had been a part of the group that was hanging around John the Baptist, and they may have encountered Jesus there. The interesting thing to me is that when Jesus called to them, they were ready and willing to answer the call. They answered with a resounding, "Yes!"
That causes me to consider what we would have done in similar circumstances. Just suppose that you and I were at the office or in the store, minding our own business, and doing what we did every single day. Just imagine that someone we've heard speak, someone we know a little about, and someone we even find a bit intriguing, comes into the place where we're working, and makes us an offer. The person extends the invitation to come and work with this new endeavor. What would you do? Would you drop everything, and go? Or would you be more likely to say, "Hey, I've got my pension to consider. The kids have college ahead, and the mortgage has to be paid. I'd better stay where I am"?
I believe that's the question and the challenge for each one of us to consider, because I'm convinced that God calls to us today just as much as in times gone by. I don't believe for a minute that God only called the likes of Abraham or Moses, or that Jesus only called those twelve disciples thousands of years ago, and stopped. I think God is calling you and me today and wants us to get a sense of who we're called to be. I honestly believe that a lot of the confusion we feel would resolve itself if we could hear and respond to God's call to us, so how do we do that? How does God call you and me? How do we begin to respond to that call?
We can encounter God in a whole variety of ways. Sometimes, for example, we experience God's call through our passions and interests. God calls us by way of the things that fascinate and interest us. What is that for you? What is it that captivates you and gets your attention? I think it's important to pay attention to whatever that is, for within it may lie God's call for us.
I also believe we can receive God's call through some of the very ordinary experiences of our everyday life, just as those fishermen along the Sea of Galilee did. We need to be alert enough to look for what's around us, and see the opportunities. In fact, I've come to believe there really is no such thing as "coincidence." Rather, it's when events and experiences converge that we can often encounter God. It's what a friend of mine refers to as a "God-cidence."
That was the way it was for me. My first awareness of a call from God came through a convergence of experiences -- the deaths of two close friends in my neighborhood, being part of a women's singing group, and serving as a career development trainer for a volunteer organization in Indianapolis. Those things didn't seem like they could be at all connected, but everything came together, and I realized I was experiencing God's calling me and pointing me in a whole new direction.
What is it for you? What's happening in your life right now? What has been going on? What little seed has been planted in you that you might want to notice and be aware of? Where might God be in the midst of all of it? I think it's important to be aware of what's going on around us in the normal, everyday flow of things. You never know which experience may be God's call to us.
There's another way in which God's call can be clear to us, and that's through other people. There are people in all our lives who encourage us and affirm us -- people who recognize gifts and abilities that we can't see for ourselves. There are people who challenge us to move into new territory and try new things. We need other people to help us grow, and we can help them grow, too.
We all need someone around us who really represents God. There was a person like that for me, a clergy friend who nudged and nurtured me along until I finally tiptoed my way into seminary, not entirely sure why I was there, but a seminary student nonetheless.
Who is it for you? Who is the person who encourages you to dream dreams? Who helps you be more than you ever thought you could be? All of us might want to pay close attention to who that is, because that person just might be God's calling to us.
One thing is for sure, God does call us, and that call evokes an answer from us. We have the option of saying, "No," and turning the other way, and I suspect we do that sometimes. We can back-peddle and beg off and make excuses by saying, "This isn't the right time." "We can't afford it." "I don't have the right education; I'm too young; I'm too old; I'm not smart enough." It doesn't matter what it is, we can always find a reason not to respond to God.
However, I don't think that's what God wants for us. Rather, God's call is really an invitation to embark on a journey of self-discovery. To know God's call is to begin to know ourselves, to know who we are at the center of our being. We begin to discover the interests and skills and abilities God has given us, and the gifts and passions God calls forth from us. It is in knowing ourselves that we come to know the God within us, and God's call on our lives.
It doesn't stop with knowing who we are. It means being that person, being who God created us to be, our very best selves, being true to ourselves, and using the gifts and talents God has given us. That's really God's call to us -- to know who we're created to be, and to be the spiritual being God has designed us to be. God calls us to be ourselves, fully and completely the self we were created to be. All of life is the journey to discover who we are.
It's a great journey, but it means a little risk. Responding to and following God's call in our lives is certainly not always the easiest route to take. In fact, sometimes it seems like the most difficult. Sometimes we have to stretch to reach to new heights; we have to overcome or cope with some of our very real limitations and inadequacies. Just because we're going in the direction and headed where we believe God wants us to go doesn't mean the path will be without bumps. There will be just as many, if not more, detours and bumps along this path as along any other. However, even with all the risks, it's worth it.
Leslie Weatherhead has long been one of my favorite writers, and I really like what he says about his own call to the ministry in his classic book, The Christian Agnostic. After a lot of struggle and turmoil, he wrote: "I was right to want to be a minister. I had wanted to be a doctor and the conflict had been intense, but in that hour I knew the ministry was the right path for me. For me it was right, right, right... An indescribable joy possessed me...."1
It probably sounds as though I'm trying to convince you to go into the ministry, and that's not the point. I am saying that it's important for each of us to discover who we are and who God is calling us to be. That's the way it was with a woman who answered the call to help other women who were trapped in a pattern of spousal abuse and domestic violence as she once had been. That's the way it was with a researcher who has devoted his life to finding a cure for a disease that took the life of a family member. That's the way it can be for each of us when we're willing to answer the call. We'll know when it's right, because everything is in synch; it all works together.
The time is now for us to follow God's call -- not next week, or next month, or next year. Just step out, and give it a try. I'm convinced that we'll find God right there alongside, cheering us on, holding our hand, encouraging us, beckoning us onward.
Are you ready to answer the call?
Closing Word
When I think about God's call to us to be who we're meant to be, I get the image of a little seed, which God has planted. It's a flower seed, and soon the flower pops out of the ground, and starts to grow. First it buds, then blossoms, and then comes into full bloom. There are various types of flowers, and they're all different colors and sizes and shapes. No two are exactly alike.
Some grow best in the shade, and others need full sun. Some grow better if planted a few inches from one another, and others grow best if planted in clumps. But one thing is for sure -- they're all beautiful flowers, and they are beautiful because God made them that way. They spend their entire life, no matter how brief, being what they were created to be -- beautiful flowers.
That's the way it is with us humans. We are all created by God as unique, beautiful, wonderful creations. Our journey through life is one of discovering who we are, and living as that God-made spiritual being.
As you leave here this morning, I hope and pray that you're ready to answer God's call, and to become who God created you to be. Go in peace. Amen.
____________
1. Leslie D. Weatherhead, The Christian Agnostic (Nashville: Abington Press, 1965), p. 76.
However, there are times when we get a call that we don't hear, or don't want to hear. It might be a matter of thinking, "My plate is already full. Call back tomorrow." There are times that we don't even answer the call, especially if we don't know who's calling. That's true these days with "Caller ID" that can be put on our phones, identifying the person who's placing the call to us. Sometimes we don't answer the call because we're not home, or because we don't hear the call come in. There are a variety of reasons that many of us don't answer a call when it comes to us.
I think that's part of what makes the Bible passage for today so remarkable. Now, granted, we're not talking about a phone call from an unknown source; we're talking about a face-to-face encounter. Nonetheless, I've always found the story of Jesus calling his first group of followers to be something worthy of our attention.
Think about that part of the Bible passage with me. Here we have four guys; two sets of brothers, doing what they normally did -- fishing in the Sea of Galilee. Now, who knows? Maybe they didn't really enjoy what they were doing. Perhaps they were fishing because that's just what you did for a living when you lived in that region. Maybe they did it because that's what their family determined was in their future. Or maybe they did it because they genuinely enjoyed the outdoors and the challenge of bringing in a load of fish each day.
We don't know for sure why they were doing what they were doing, nor do we know how they felt about it. We only know that they were doing their normal, ordinary, everyday routine, when Jesus came along and called to them. He invited them to come with him, to leave what they were doing, to leave the people they knew and loved, and to embark on a new endeavor. They answered that call. They left what they had always done, and went with him.
Now I doubt very seriously that this was the first time they had ever encountered the man Jesus. We read earlier in the Bible passage that Jesus had begun his teaching and preaching in the area, and they may well have heard him during one of those sessions. It's also possible that they had been a part of the group that was hanging around John the Baptist, and they may have encountered Jesus there. The interesting thing to me is that when Jesus called to them, they were ready and willing to answer the call. They answered with a resounding, "Yes!"
That causes me to consider what we would have done in similar circumstances. Just suppose that you and I were at the office or in the store, minding our own business, and doing what we did every single day. Just imagine that someone we've heard speak, someone we know a little about, and someone we even find a bit intriguing, comes into the place where we're working, and makes us an offer. The person extends the invitation to come and work with this new endeavor. What would you do? Would you drop everything, and go? Or would you be more likely to say, "Hey, I've got my pension to consider. The kids have college ahead, and the mortgage has to be paid. I'd better stay where I am"?
I believe that's the question and the challenge for each one of us to consider, because I'm convinced that God calls to us today just as much as in times gone by. I don't believe for a minute that God only called the likes of Abraham or Moses, or that Jesus only called those twelve disciples thousands of years ago, and stopped. I think God is calling you and me today and wants us to get a sense of who we're called to be. I honestly believe that a lot of the confusion we feel would resolve itself if we could hear and respond to God's call to us, so how do we do that? How does God call you and me? How do we begin to respond to that call?
We can encounter God in a whole variety of ways. Sometimes, for example, we experience God's call through our passions and interests. God calls us by way of the things that fascinate and interest us. What is that for you? What is it that captivates you and gets your attention? I think it's important to pay attention to whatever that is, for within it may lie God's call for us.
I also believe we can receive God's call through some of the very ordinary experiences of our everyday life, just as those fishermen along the Sea of Galilee did. We need to be alert enough to look for what's around us, and see the opportunities. In fact, I've come to believe there really is no such thing as "coincidence." Rather, it's when events and experiences converge that we can often encounter God. It's what a friend of mine refers to as a "God-cidence."
That was the way it was for me. My first awareness of a call from God came through a convergence of experiences -- the deaths of two close friends in my neighborhood, being part of a women's singing group, and serving as a career development trainer for a volunteer organization in Indianapolis. Those things didn't seem like they could be at all connected, but everything came together, and I realized I was experiencing God's calling me and pointing me in a whole new direction.
What is it for you? What's happening in your life right now? What has been going on? What little seed has been planted in you that you might want to notice and be aware of? Where might God be in the midst of all of it? I think it's important to be aware of what's going on around us in the normal, everyday flow of things. You never know which experience may be God's call to us.
There's another way in which God's call can be clear to us, and that's through other people. There are people in all our lives who encourage us and affirm us -- people who recognize gifts and abilities that we can't see for ourselves. There are people who challenge us to move into new territory and try new things. We need other people to help us grow, and we can help them grow, too.
We all need someone around us who really represents God. There was a person like that for me, a clergy friend who nudged and nurtured me along until I finally tiptoed my way into seminary, not entirely sure why I was there, but a seminary student nonetheless.
Who is it for you? Who is the person who encourages you to dream dreams? Who helps you be more than you ever thought you could be? All of us might want to pay close attention to who that is, because that person just might be God's calling to us.
One thing is for sure, God does call us, and that call evokes an answer from us. We have the option of saying, "No," and turning the other way, and I suspect we do that sometimes. We can back-peddle and beg off and make excuses by saying, "This isn't the right time." "We can't afford it." "I don't have the right education; I'm too young; I'm too old; I'm not smart enough." It doesn't matter what it is, we can always find a reason not to respond to God.
However, I don't think that's what God wants for us. Rather, God's call is really an invitation to embark on a journey of self-discovery. To know God's call is to begin to know ourselves, to know who we are at the center of our being. We begin to discover the interests and skills and abilities God has given us, and the gifts and passions God calls forth from us. It is in knowing ourselves that we come to know the God within us, and God's call on our lives.
It doesn't stop with knowing who we are. It means being that person, being who God created us to be, our very best selves, being true to ourselves, and using the gifts and talents God has given us. That's really God's call to us -- to know who we're created to be, and to be the spiritual being God has designed us to be. God calls us to be ourselves, fully and completely the self we were created to be. All of life is the journey to discover who we are.
It's a great journey, but it means a little risk. Responding to and following God's call in our lives is certainly not always the easiest route to take. In fact, sometimes it seems like the most difficult. Sometimes we have to stretch to reach to new heights; we have to overcome or cope with some of our very real limitations and inadequacies. Just because we're going in the direction and headed where we believe God wants us to go doesn't mean the path will be without bumps. There will be just as many, if not more, detours and bumps along this path as along any other. However, even with all the risks, it's worth it.
Leslie Weatherhead has long been one of my favorite writers, and I really like what he says about his own call to the ministry in his classic book, The Christian Agnostic. After a lot of struggle and turmoil, he wrote: "I was right to want to be a minister. I had wanted to be a doctor and the conflict had been intense, but in that hour I knew the ministry was the right path for me. For me it was right, right, right... An indescribable joy possessed me...."1
It probably sounds as though I'm trying to convince you to go into the ministry, and that's not the point. I am saying that it's important for each of us to discover who we are and who God is calling us to be. That's the way it was with a woman who answered the call to help other women who were trapped in a pattern of spousal abuse and domestic violence as she once had been. That's the way it was with a researcher who has devoted his life to finding a cure for a disease that took the life of a family member. That's the way it can be for each of us when we're willing to answer the call. We'll know when it's right, because everything is in synch; it all works together.
The time is now for us to follow God's call -- not next week, or next month, or next year. Just step out, and give it a try. I'm convinced that we'll find God right there alongside, cheering us on, holding our hand, encouraging us, beckoning us onward.
Are you ready to answer the call?
Closing Word
When I think about God's call to us to be who we're meant to be, I get the image of a little seed, which God has planted. It's a flower seed, and soon the flower pops out of the ground, and starts to grow. First it buds, then blossoms, and then comes into full bloom. There are various types of flowers, and they're all different colors and sizes and shapes. No two are exactly alike.
Some grow best in the shade, and others need full sun. Some grow better if planted a few inches from one another, and others grow best if planted in clumps. But one thing is for sure -- they're all beautiful flowers, and they are beautiful because God made them that way. They spend their entire life, no matter how brief, being what they were created to be -- beautiful flowers.
That's the way it is with us humans. We are all created by God as unique, beautiful, wonderful creations. Our journey through life is one of discovering who we are, and living as that God-made spiritual being.
As you leave here this morning, I hope and pray that you're ready to answer God's call, and to become who God created you to be. Go in peace. Amen.
____________
1. Leslie D. Weatherhead, The Christian Agnostic (Nashville: Abington Press, 1965), p. 76.
