January 18, 2015: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
Well, good morning everyone! It is hard to believe that today marks the end of our first year together as priest and parish. It has been, for me at least, a wonderful journey – not without its twists and turns, but the best journeys have them, right? And I would imagine that for those of you who were here last year at this time, you may have wondered then how this was all going to play out. But that’s what makes the journey worthwhile…not really knowing what will happen.
See, that’s the thing about journeys – they are never about the destination, but about the traveling. But one thing we do know, the best ones are usually life changing.
Jesus in the gospel today begins his journey in earnest, and he is asking others to “follow him.” And while they don’t know it fully yet, they sense this is an invitation they should answer.
Now, you gotta love this gospel story, well…I do – I love the snarkiness of Nathaniel. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And not to be outdone in the quick wit category, Jesus says, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” – now, you might not think that is all that snarky of our Lord and Savior, but if you think about it, it is kind of a back handed compliment. Then Jesus throws in the bit about seeing him under the fig tree in a sort of “I got my eyes on you, dude” sort of thing.
I think it’s a funny way for us to hear of Jesus beginning his ministry with off comments about his hometown and the chosen people, but we do know that this story is a lot like the one we heard in the Hebrew text today, a favorite lesson for many, myself included. There the child Samuel hears a voice, and as many seem to do, can’t imagine it is God calling. But, when he is finally told it must be God, he answers, “Speak, for your servant is listening,” and his life from that point forward is never the same. God called. Samuel heard and responded. Jesus called, Nathaniel, Phillip, and others followed.
These are call stories. Stories about responding to something – something we hear, see, or sense in some inexplicable way.
Now, I always think the word “call” as somewhat funny these days. I mean, I suppose now God would text or tweet. We walk around all day with these devices which can do all sorts of things – monitor how many steps you take, tell you where to find the nearest restaurant, or give instructions on how to skin a cat (well, I never looked that one up, but still). And sometimes it is almost surprising when the darn thing rings – hey, look…it’s also a phone! Go figure.
I remember a guy at my home parish, Redeemer, that related the following story. Serving at Redeemer was a sister of the convent in Mendham, whose name was Shane. And this fellow, George, said to her “ya know Sister Shane, I just don’t get this whole call thing. I mean, you just gave up everything and entered the convent? I just don’t get it. How did you know it was the right thing?” She listened and said that perhaps one day he would understand. About a year later, another sister, this one the founder of the Cameroonian orphanage I have told you about before, Sister Jane, was visiting Redeemer and talking about her life work. Later, when the church decided to send a delegation of 7 over there (which included me), George went up to Sister Shane and said “I just knew I had to go – when I heard Sister Jane talking – I just felt something. So I am going.” And Sister Shane looked at George and said, “Ya know, that whole call thing, did ya think it was gonna be on the phone?”
In some ways, maybe God would have a better chance of reaching us today if God used a Twitter account. I can see it: #greatIam with 2 billion followers. The funny thing is, there is a twitter account God@TheTweetofGod, and one of the things God apparently tweeted was “Elvis Presley would have turned 80 years old today if he were alive, which he is.” Perhaps if God did tweet or call us on our cell phones, we would respond as we sometimes do with phones ringing “Hey look! Church is more than something I do on Sundays…God is calling me to do something.”
But whether we get a phone call, or a voice in the night, ore even a tweet, often “when God’s call comes, in whatever way we perceive it, our initial inclination is not to respond as Samuel did, but to say, “Here am I, Lord… Send someone else.””
Maybe that’s because “there are three rather uncomfortable, uncontrollable characteristics of being called: 1) that God often calls us to do the very thing we have said we would never be caught dead doing; 2) that God often calls us to do the very thing other people are better at doing than we are; 3) that God often calls us when and where we least expect it.”
I have no doubt that back in 1955 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. heard a call from God. One that Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin (who had refused to give up her seat a few months before Rosa) had heard earlier. One that he had seen others respond to in the works he had read by Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi.
Looking back now, we can all think, of course – he was perfect for the role, and we owe a debt to him – and that is true.
But, did he know that?
Deep in his heart, this Birmingham preacher, all of 26 years old, a fairly new leader at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, could not truly have known fully where this would take him when he stepped forward to lead the Birmingham Bus Boycott planned by his colleague E.D. Nixon. And in taking that first step, we were all led by his prophetic voice to a new call to justice.
But this was not, for King, nor for many who followed his lead, a political thing. It was a religious call. In a speech in 1967, King said, “Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry.”
And it is clear in his life, which we celebrate as a nation this weekend, that call is about two things: It is about responding to God’s voice, rather than earthly voices, and it is not about getting to a particular destination, but about stepping forward on the journey of a lifetime.
While he could not have foreseen the effect his ministry would have on this nation and the world, he did know that he would not see “the promised land.” He made that clear in his Mountaintop sermon the night before he was killed. How could he…we have not yet seen it ourselves. There is still far too much work to do before we get there, and oh how I pray we get there some day. But King did know that his call wasn’t to complete the job, but to follow Christ and see where the journey with him would lead.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a call…thank God he didn’t say “I’m not good enough, or someone else will do it, or I don’t know what will happen if I go there.” Thank God because we can all say “Come and see – come and see how he changed the world. Come and see how following Christ changes everything.”
I love that our Annual Parish Meeting falls on the weekend we celebrate King’s life, because it is a reminder to us that the business of this church is NOT about packing the pews, but about emptying them. Emptying them as we follow Christ to come and see the work of God in the world – and to be a part of that work.
I have said this before – Church is NOT the destination. Church is where we are given strength for the journey.
The journey Christ calls each of us to walk.
The journey so many others before us have taken, and yet the one that is uniquely ours.
The journey that begins with a single step, but once taken, we and the world are forever changed.
So today, after the service, as I did last year, I invite you to “come and see.”
Come and see what God is up to here at Christ Church.
Come and see where we have been.
Come and see where we are.
Come and see where the Holy Spirit may be calling us next.
Come and see.
Amen.
[Sermons as written are not necessarily as delivered on any given Sunday]Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
January 18, 2015
Second Sunday After the Epiphany
1st Reading – 1 Samuel 3:1-20
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Gospel – John 1:43-51
