Responding to God's Call

The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
January 28, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on Jer. 1:4-10 & Luke 4:21-30

During this season of Epiphany the readings urge us to examine our response to God. How can we tune ourselves to hear God's call to us? How can we discern the validity of someone's call? When God's call reaches beyond the norms that we have established, how do we respond? Those are the questions that have emerged for me from this week's readings. They are important questions for each of us to answer personally. They are important questions for us to grapple with as a parish. As we approach our annual Vestry, they are questions that should be forefront in our minds. What is God calling us to do during the next year of our life together?

The first call we read about is that of Jeremiah. The word of the Lord came to him telling him that God had chosen him to bear the prophetic word. That, you must know, is no easy task! Jeremiah is being called to be critical of institutional authority and to speak out against popular opinion. He is being called to bring the people to account, to speak the plain truth. People for the most part do not like to hear the plain truth spoken, especially when it is about them, for it no doubt means that they need to make some changes in their lives. He knows what he will be facing, and so he protests. "God, how can you expect this of me? I am just a boy!" And God responds with a deep affirmation, first of all that he should not fear speaking out because God is with him, and then an assurance that he will know what to say.

Jesus in the gospel is responding to his own sense of call. He was in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. There he announced the year of Jubilee. The long awaited Day of the Lord had come at last. It was good news. Something the people had been expecting. Prisoners would be set free. The blind would see. There would be freedom for the oppressed.

At least at first it seemed to be good news. People were moved by his words. They marveled at what this young man who had grown up in their midst was saying. After all, this was Joe's boy! He had grown up down the block in the carpenter’s shop. But their admiration was short lived. Jesus recounted two carefully chosen stories from Scripture – the story of the widow of Zarapheth, and that of Naaman the leper. The two people had something unmistakable in common. While it may not be evident to this congregation, you can bet that no one listening to Jesus that day missed the point. Both people were aliens, outsiders – not Israelites – and both were set apart by God to receive God's special grace. The message was clear. "Often," Jesus is telling them, "it is those outside the religious community who are able to hear and respond faithfully to God's call." And if that is the case, then often it is the "insiders" who miss the point.

The Pharisees taught that the Day of the Lord was to be the day when the chosen would be separated, once and for all, from those who were not chosen. It was to be a day of judgement on the outsiders. And here was this young man they had watched growing up, saying that it was not for them, the deserving, but for everyone. The cancellation of debt is wonderful news for the debtor, but not so good for the banker. The announcement of a coming feast is great news for the starving, but no big deal for the well fed. If inflation and the cost of goods is being kept down it is good news unless you happen to be an underpaid, overworked labourer in Taiwan. As the message began to hit home, they lost their enthusiasm. The year of grace is a great idea. But if it is not to be of benefit for them alone, then what is the point?

And what does all this mean to us personally as we discern our own sense of call? Do we ever seek excuses as Jeremiah did? Do we try to block people from becoming all that God means them to be? Do we retreat from the call of God through a sense of inadequacy? I cannot speak. I am not good enough. I wouldn't know how. There are others who have been here longer. I am an outsider. I have not been a Christian for long. God would never call me. After all, 'I am only a boy! I am only a woman! I am only a lay person!' It is often difficult to believe that God is with us. But we are called for a purpose. God is with us in that call. With the call comes a deep affirmation of whom we are and what we are called to do.

The wonderful thing about it is that God continues to call throughout our lives. God also opens up the way so that we can respond. My first recollection of God’s call to me is when I was about six years old. I knew then that I would some day be a priest. Even to serve at the altar was denied to me as I was growing up. While my brothers served I learned to play the organ and sang in the choir. After a while I forgot about the yearning. When the barriers to ordination came down, I put up a few of my own. How could I possibly afford to give up my teaching career and go back to school for three years? Do I have the brains to study theology? I’ll never be able to preach a sermon. My list went on and on. But God didn’t stop calling. I discovered gifts and talents that I didn’t know I possessed, and I discovered that God has a habit of making the way clear.

We are not all called to ordained ministry. But we are all called to fulfill our baptismal covenant. This church cannot function without the ministry of each one of us working together. I see my main function as your priest to affirm you in the ministry to which God is calling you. So often what happens in parishes is that we leave it up to a few individuals. We depend on them year after year to be the mainstays of the church, both financially and in the many tasks that need to be done to keep a volunteer organization going. Each of us needs to undertake a process of discernment about God’s call to us on a personal level.

What does it mean to us as a church? We have a faithful congregation here in Meadowvale. Our call has been to be a pastoral presence in the community. It is a community that is changing and developing. It is growing with families and children. They have a need to share in the gospel message. They need spiritual nurture. They need good programs for their children. Is God calling us to a greater participation in the life of the community?

It seems to me that we have only begun to answer God's call to us as a parish. Our community is going to continue to grow. We can not simply wait for people to seek us out. We must answer the call to be the bearers of the gospel in our community. We must provide programs and exciting liturgy that keep people interested and nurtured. We must be open and welcoming to newcomers in our midst. We must find a way to make our presence known in the community. And we must look to our future.

It is a future that depends on our taking fiscal responsibility. We need to meet our present obligations and we need to get out from the burden of debt that we carry from the past. We cannot be dependent on a Diocese that feels the pressure of recession and down sizing. We must all work together for the building up of the body of Christ. Together we can be everything that God is calling us to be.

We are gifted as a parish. We have a fine liturgical tradition. We have a sense of spirituality. We have people with energy and talents. We are a young and vibrant community. We have many children who are our present and future church. Can we dedicate ourselves to the task of the next few years and heed God's call? For God is there, healing, affirming, deepening our faith, drawing us ever closer in love.