2 Epiphany January 18, 2009

You and I are here this morning because God called us to be here!

Does that surprise you? Does that sound kind of far out and funky to you? Well, it shouldn’t. Listen to these words of Jesus from John’s Gospel: "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me." (Jn 6:44) "You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures." (Jn 15:16)

St Paul says it even more forcefully in the opening verses of his letter to the Ephesians: "Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children - this was his pleasure and purpose." (Eph 1:4-5)

It’s not always easy to answer God’s call. Think of the ridicule Noah must have endured from his neighbors as he was building that ark out in the middle of the desert. Or think of Moses’ protestations when God told him out of the burning bush that he was the one God had chosen to confront Pharoah and lead the people out of Egypt. And think of the courage and faith it took for Mary to respond to the angel Gabriel with these beautiful words: "I am the Lord’s servant; may it happen to me as you have said." (Lk 1:38)

Sometimes it’s not easy to identify God’s call to us as being just that. This was the boy Samuel’s situation in our first lesson this morning. The writer tells us, "Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him." (1 Sam 3:7) Samuel was a "rookie" when it came to God. He was probably about the same age as our average Sunday School youngster here at St Bart’s, and this was centuries before the development of the custom of Bar-Mitzvah to train youth to read Torah and pray the prayers of the Jewish daily ritual.

Strangely enough, it wasn’t easy for Eli, the veteran priest of Israel, to recognize God’s call to Samuel either. It took Samuel coming to him three times before Eli finally figured it out. Once Eli perceived what was happening, his words to Samuel were simple and direct: "Go, lie down, and if he calls you (again), you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’" (1 Sam 3:9) Point number one: We’re not likely to hear God if we aren’t listening.

Point two: Hearing isn’t going to make much of a difference if we aren’t willing to be obedient and do what we understand God to be asking us to do. Samuel needed some help and encouragement from Eli here. If we are wise, we too will seek help and encouragement in discerning and responding to God’s call to us.

Where is that help to come from? From Scripture, from prayer, and from the counsel of Christian friends, family, and Church family - both lay and clergy. The first two phases of our Diocesan process for those seeking to discern a call to either lay or ordained ministry are a series of six monthly meetings with the parish priest, followed by a similar six month period with a parish discernment group made up of a representative cross-section of folks from the congregation.

In Ephesians 4 St Paul tells us: "It was (Christ) who ‘gave gifts to humankind’; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare ALL God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ." (Eph 4:11-12) If you think God might be calling you to some special ministry, come see me and let’s talk about it. The only commitment you are making up front is to explore the possibilities.

God’s call to each of us is suited to and supported by the gifts and talents God has given us. Like Samuel, we may not know just what those gifts are until we begin to use them. Samuel was called to be a prophet and judge - a "truth teller" to Israel. Jesus recognized some of those same gifts in Nathanael: "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him." (Jn 1: 47)

Through Jesus, God has chosen and called you as a member of Christ’s Body, the Church. What are the special gifts he has given you? How does he want you to use them? The path of true joy and satisfaction in this life lies in discovering the answers to these two questions, and responding in obedience to the answers we find. This is the journey to which God calls each of us. The pathway of that journey is unknown to us, but the end is certain - eternal life with God in Christ.

Are you willing to follow him, wherever that journey may lead? Are you ready to risk it?