Jeremiah 1:4-10

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."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

Call.  this is about call.  Or at least I want to talk about call.  Some elements of call.  

Jeremiah’s call echoes a theme we may all recognize, our hesitation…..I can’t do that, you must mean someone else…..there is no way…….

Sermon Preached at St. Aidan’s

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

February 3, 2013

Most of you know that I serve on the diocesan Committee on Priesthood.  In that work, those of us on the committee spend a lot of time talking and hearing about “call.”  We also spend a lot of time pushing back against the all-too-common idea that “call” has something to do with ordination.  Call is not about ordination. Ordination is one response to a particular kind of call, but they are not the same thing, though that is a common misconception.  Sometimes the language we use encourages such a limited understanding of “call.”   We say things like, “she received the call and went into the ministry.”   (ministry in that sentence, of course is referring to ordained work, but that is not the primary meaning of ministry.  Another common misconception.)   I can remember even hearing people in my deep, Bible-belt-South beginnings speak of call almost as if it were an affliction.  “He was a pretty good old boy until he got the call.”  That kind of talk might make any of us afraid of hearing our “call,” but we have all been called or we wouldn’t be here.  The call to become part of this community, to be baptized and to bring our children for baptism, is itself a life-changing call and here we all are.  

For Jeremiah in today’s reading, call is a commissioning, a sending out on a particular mission.  Jeremiah’s call becomes a life-defining purpose into which he is called to live.   Would that we might all have such a sense of purpose and vocation in our lives.  Maybe the first question for those seeking to live in response to the call of God is where to look for our calling.  How can we figure out where God might be inviting a response from us.  I can think of a few signs that might be worth attending to as we try to discern our call.  Some of them we hear in Jeremiah’s call this morning. 

What have you thought of doing in the world that needs doing that you walked away from because it was beyond your abilities?  Is there a category where you have said, but what can one person do?  or simply, that’s too hard.  What might happen if you worked in that area long enough to challenge those responses.  Maybe it is hard, but not too hard.  Or maybe one person can’t do much but one person can do something.  Or one person can be part of a community that does something.   Maybe the sense that the job is too challenging is itself a sign of call.  Jonah learned that his real call lay in the work he ran away from.  Moses who, like Jeremiah today, told God he was not a gifted speaker, took up the work anyway and discovered that the call really wasn’t about speaking to the crowds as much as it was about remaining faithful to the path in the most difficult of times.  David, king of Israel was the weakest and youngest, almost not presented as a candidate for anointing because he was surely not up to the task. 

In all the stories of call in our tradition, the call is accompanied by a strong response in the one being called that they are not qualified, not capable of fulfilling the work to which they are being called.  That response is the first step in answering the call.  We are called, not to accomplish what we are capable of, but to accompany God into situations where God can make things happen.  Call is always about stepping out in faith, expecting, or at least hoping in some small part of our being that we will be given words, that we will be shown a way,  or that we will meet someone whose call involves helping us in the work we have been given.   When it comes to call, claiming our own inadequacy for the task may be a great starting point.

Another sign of call may have to do with what you care about?  What moves you?  Tugs at your heart?  Gives you joy?   Call always begins with an encounter with God, with a brush with a deep reality that hints of even deeper things.  “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” says God to Jeremiah.  The beginning of your call has been in you all along.   Call is grounded in gifts, loves, interests, leanings, maybe--some probably never really examined.   The beginning of call involves trusting that we are all formed for some purpose in the great cosmic work of creating, reconciling, transforming the world.   Call begins with an encounter with God who most often speaks within us.  For many of us, discerning a call involves silence and conversation, it involves spending some time alone with ourselves and it involves sharing those inner conversations with a few other people.  Discerning a call takes a bit of introspection, and it takes a community; a community to help by asking questions about what is important.  To help us listen to ourselves, to what we say and to what we don’t say.  Sometimes it is hard to know what really calls out within us until we hear ourselves speaking about it.  In a spiritual community, the members help each other recognize the kind of encounters with God that can change our course and set us on a new ad purposeful path.  

Another sign of call suggested in scripture has to do with risky places.   Isaiah receives his call in the throne room of God.  Filled with awe and fear he is approached and given his call.  Moses had to approach a miraculously burning bush.  Ananias had to go preach to Paul who was a real danger to Christians.  There is an old adage, if the cost is clear and the pay off is still murky, it is God calling.  If the pay-off is clear and the cost is unclear it is not God.  If you are feeling a nudge to explore some scary place, it might be worth a look.

Or maybe a call involves the recognition that you are the only person who can answer right now.  Simply hearing of the need brings a responsibility to follow through in some way.  

Of course, there is another possibility as we seek to discern our call that may be right in front of us in a way that we can’t always see.  Your call, your purpose in life may be exactly what you are already doing.   I think of Moses who led all those people for all those years.  Sometimes he seemed to wonder how in the world he had ended up in such a God-forsaken landscape with such a bunch of ornery folks.  In times like those he sometimes ended up on a mountain complaining to God who reminded him of his original call.    Like Moses, sometimes we have to look back when purpose gets clouded and our resolve is waning, remember the passion, the first sense of call and wonder and duty and gratitude immersion in a good work. 

As important as recognizing our call is trusting that we will be supported in that work.  That others with their own calls and God who is always with us will help us as we try to live faithfully into whatever vocation is ours.  “Do not be afraid,” says God, “I am with you.”  Wherever you may be sent, you can be sure it will be a place where that last line is true.  “Do not be afraid.  I am with you.”   Amen