January 31, 2010 - Epiphany 4, Year C (RCL)
“The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’”
Today we heard the story
of the call of God
to the prophet Jeremiah.
It’s one of many call stories in the bible.
There’s Abraham,
called to travel from Ur of the Chaldees
to a promised land,
and Moses
called to lead the people
out of slavery in Egypt
into freedom in that same promised land.
There’s Samuel
hearing the voice of God in the dead of night,
and David, anointed as a young man to be king.
There’s Isaiah
with his vision of God in the temple
and today’s reading, Jeremiah,
called even before he was born.
And in the New Testament, Mary
promised a son,
and Simon and James and John, called from their nets,
and the women at the tomb,
called to be witnesses to the resurrection,
and Saul
on the road to Damascus.
For every one I’ve named
there are at least ten more named in the bible,
and hundreds more
left unnamed,
and in the years since then
thousands and millions
of people
called by God.
And the way it happened for Jeremiah
is that he heard a voice,
he heard the voice of God,
calling him
to speak on God’s behalf,
and then God reached out
and touched his mouth
giving the gifts that he needed
to the work he was called to do.
And that’s so often the pattern in Scripture,
God calling
and God gifting,
and God calls and gifs
in so many different ways.
Think of the readings we’ve had from the first letter to the Corinthians
the last couple of weeks.
It doesn’t use the language of call so much as the language of gifts,
but it makes the same point. In chapter 12, Paul writes,
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”
God calls each and every one of us, God gives gifts to each and every one of us
so that we can do the work
that God calls us to.
It’s all very clear.
But I suspect, it doesn’t matter how clear it is,
what makes the call of God hard for us
is how it feels.
Can you imagine
what if must have felt like to Jeremiah?
Hearing the voice of God,
and not just the voice of God,
but the voice of God
saying
that from before you were born, you had been known,
before you were born you had been chosen,
before you were born
you had been set apart
to speak on behalf of God.
What a wonderful gift!
But then God goes on.
Because the speaking
is not so easy. It’s to bring a message
that is not just good news
but bad news as well.
And so Jeremiah’s response,
“Thanks God, but no thanks. I’d rather not. I’m too young. Pick someone else.”
But God didn’t take no for an answer.
God continued to call Jeremiah
until he was ready
to the work God had
for him to do.
God calls each and every one of us, God gives gifts to each and every one of us
so that we can do the work
that God calls us to.
Our call
is less likely to be a call direct from the mouth of God,
as a call from the rector or senior warden,
a call that emerges
when we hear scripture
and look at our community
and discover the work that needs to be done
and the gifts that God has provided in our midst.
It’s a call that is rooted in our baptism
when we become inherently linked with God,
when our response of faith
is formalized
and when we pray for the gifts of God
through God’s spirit.
And a call that is most often expressed
in the context of our life together as a church.
God has called
each and every one of us,
first of all to be followers of Jesus Christ
and God has called
each and every one of us,
second
to serve Christ.
It’s one of those things
that doesn’t depend
on who we are,
what we do,
or how old we are.
The call of God
is heard before we are born
and lasts on beyond the grave,
and from the day we are born
until the day that we die
God expects us to answer that call
to faith
and that call
to service.
There’s no retiring
form the call
of God.
One of my favorite family photos
is one I took of my father and grandfather
on the morning of my grandmother’s funeral.
They are out in the garden,
dressed in dark trousers,
white shirts,
and ties.
Granddad is wearing a floppy white hat.
And they are hanging tea towels on the clothesline.
That’s one of two enduring memories I have of that day.
The other
is my grandfather talking about how important it is
that he be in church the following Sunday
because he’s scheduled to be an usher.
He was answering
the call of God.
Down another generation
and I grew up in a household
where serving God
was expected.
Dad was on the vestry and a warden,
and taught Sunday school.
Mum taught scripture classes and sang in the choir.
And they are still at it.
Dad is one of the lay leaders in his church, volunteers at the thrift shop,
and visits a prisoner regularly.
Mum coordinates a bible study group,
is active in Cursillo,
and cleans
in her tiny country church.
All their lives, they have been doing their best
to answer
the call of God.
And then it came
to my generations’ turn.
My parents made sure
that we were given opportunities to serve as well,
and supported us by driving us to music rehearsals
and youth group activities,
and getting us to church on time each Sunday
in spite of our protests
or more often
teenage sullenness and reluctance to get going early n Sunday morning.
And my brother
played his guitar
and ran children's programs
and became a churchwarden,
and now takes his children to church, even when it would be easier
not to have to deal with an active three year old
and a newborn.
And I taught Sunday school and did nursery and played music and led bible studies,
and fourteen years ago this week
was ordained to the diaconate.
I don’t come
from a family of clergy,
but I’m thankful to have come from a family
where the call of God
was something that was taken very seriously,
and where we learned to respond
in whatever form
it took,
in whatever ways
the Spirit led us.
Because God has called us, God has called
each and every one of use
to faith and to service.
No matter how young we are,
no matter how old we are,
God calls us.
And God will gift us
with whatever it is
that we need to fulfill
that calling of God.
And so today I ask you,
when did you last hear
the call of God?
Have you been listening for it?
What is God
calling you to do?
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2010