Your Call (Matthew 4: 12-23)

I suppose that one’s birthday is a time to reflect on one’s call, one’s purpose in life, and what one has been doing (or not doing) to fulfill that purpose.  Now, I know a guy who celebrated his 50^th birthday yesterday, and in the past several months – in anticipation of hitting that milestone – he grew his hair out and bought a convertible, thinking that those actions would help him feel good about himself.  But this week, he admitted that it didn’t work, that these actions failed to help him understand just what life is all about.

I don’t have all the answers to that, but I know that, for me, the journey to understanding what my life is all about has a lot to do with my call to ministry, a call that has been there my whole life, even if it took me awhile to recognize it.

Last week we heard Isaiah talk about his own call from God.  Isaiah wrote, “The Lord called me before I was born; while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.”  Perhaps that is true in my case.  I’ve always been drawn to the church and its mission.  I grew up at Little White Chapel, a Disciples congregation in Burbank, which I attended with my parents and my grandparents.  As a teenager I sang in the choir, was a worship leader, and a member of the diaconate, having met the primary qualification of a deacon which, in those days, was that you owned a coat and tie.

And my grandma would say, “he’s going to be a great preacher.”

Bur ordained ministry wasn’t really in my plans at the time.  It may have been a part of God’s plans, but I hadn’t consulted with God, and it wasn’t a part of my plans. 

At Chapman College, I joined the campus ministry team, a group of students that planned spiritual events and chapel services under the leadership of the campus chaplain, Dennis Short.  Somehow I even ended up at an informational lunch for students interested in ordained ministry, even though I still insisted that ordained ministry wasn’t for me.  Rod Parrot, from Disciples Seminary Foundation, even insisted on meeting with me one-on-one to talk about seminary.

Maybe later in life, I said, giving in just a little.  Maybe as a second career, if I get tired and am looking for something else to do with my life.  But not now.

Sometimes, we humans can be so stubborn. 

And sometimes, we just really want to do what we want to do, and not what God calls us to do.

But one can only resist God for so long.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote about what it’s like resisting the call of God.  God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, to speak to the people on God’s behalf.  But what if Jeremiah refused? 

Jeremiah wrote that, if he were to refuse to mention God, or to speak in God’s name – if he were to refuse to follow God’s call – there would develop within him something like a burning fire shut up in his bones.  Apparently Jeremiah had tried this.  When he tried to ignore his call and hold that fire in, he found that, after a while, it became too much, and he could hold it in no longer.  He had to let it out.  He had to speak the word God had given him to proclaim.

So in my senior year of college, when I thought I had just a few more months of education left, I gave in, and accepted the call, and made plans for three and a half more years of education in seminary, earning my Masters of Divinity degree.

In Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo is called on a long and dangerous journey, all because of the ring that has come into his possession.  At one point Frodo expresses the wish that the ring had never come to him, so that he wouldn’t have to risk his life and make that perilous journey.  Frodo wishes he could refuse his call.  Gandalf then responds:  “We cannot choose the time we live in.  We can only choose what we do with the time we are given.”

In the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie, not the TV show; I never did see the TV show), there is a scene in which Merrick tries to convince Buffy that her call is to fight vampires because she is the chosen one.  Her response is:  “Don’t you get it?  I don’t want to be chosen!” 

Not surprising.  Who would rather fight vampires on a Friday night instead of going to a movie? 

Well, Merrick then picks up a knife and throws it at her, and somehow she catches it in midair.  Apparently the ability to catch knives flying through the air is a sign of the chosen one.  But she gets upset, and punches Merrick in the nose, and then is astonished at her own behavior.  “I’ve never hit anyone before!”  With his hand holding his nose, Merrick mutters, “Well, you did it very well.”  And Buffy replies, “And I didn’t even break a nail!”

It’s no wonder that we so often resist our calling.  It’s no wonder that we look for distractions that keep us from our true calling.  One’s calling often takes us away from the nice, quiet, tranquil life we were hoping for.  One’s calling is an adventure.  There isn’t much time for sitting back with a cup of tea, watching the clouds float by. 

Accepting one’s call means leaving behind what’s familiar, stepping outside one’s comfort zone, and doing something new.

To be quite honest, I still sometimes think that I haven’t yet fully responded to God’s call on my life.  I still find myself choosing the easy route, searching for comfortable routines, striking a sort of compromise with God in which I say, “OK, God, I’ve become an ordained pastor, but now let me do this on my own terms, OK?  I’ll go on this journey, but only if I can be back home in time for supper, and maybe catch a rerun of The Big Bang Theory before going to bed…”

And I do like my routines. 

And my daily cup of tea.

And in such moments, when I choose comfort over action, I know that I am still a long way from the example set for me by Jesus.

Jesus’s call was big.  He answered that call and began to live it out when he was baptized by his cousin John in the Jordan River, thereby aligning his life and his mission with the message of repentance John proclaimed. 

That’s a big part of what baptism is about!  You see, it’s not just ordained ministers who have a special call from God.  Everyone does, and when you’re baptized, you accept that call.  You commit to following your call, wherever it may lead.  For most people, it doesn’t lead to ordained ministry, but it does always lead to a life of following Jesus.

In the waters of baptism, you cast off your old self.  All of your wants and desires take a backseat to God’s wants and desires for your life.  If God wants you to go on a journey carrying a precious ring, you go.  If God calls you to fight vampires, you fight vampires.

If God calls you to find ways to express love and compassion to the neighbor you know as well as the neighbor you don’t know, then you find ways to express love and compassion. 

If God calls you to fight for justice, to speak out for those who are oppressed, to feed the poor, clothe the naked, then you commit your life to doing these things.

Even if it means missing your favorite TV show.

At Jesus’s baptism, he committed himself to following God’s call for his life, to preach the good news to the poor.  It was news the authorities didn’t want him to preach, because along with preaching good news to the poor, he preached to those who used their power to keep the poor, poor, those who lived only for themselves, and told them to change and repent, and to make God’s kingdom of shalom real on earth, for everyone.  It was a message that all of God’s children deserved to live in the wholeness that comes from God, not just those at the top of the socio-economic pyramid.

It is pretty much the message John preached, and in his baptism, Jesus aligned his life’s mission with that of John.

But then John was arrested, and thrown in prison.

Further proof that answering one’s call, and finding one’s purpose in life, often takes us away from the nice, quiet, tranquil life we were hoping for.

It almost seems that Jesus was startled by John’s imprisonment.  Scripture says Jesus “withdrew” to Galilee.  Was Jesus afraid?  Was this a sign of hesitation? 

Biblical scholars suggest that this “withdrawal” of Jesus took place so that Jesus could remain focused on his alternate vision of kingdom and kingship.  The kingdom of shalom is nonviolent.  It is based on love.  Jesus “withdraws” a number of times in Matthew’s gospel, and each time it is in response to a threat.  Apparently Jesus took those times of withdrawal not to back away from his mission, but to re-center himself and re-commit himself to his calling to proclaim a kingdom that works very differently from the kingdoms of this world.

Last Monday, as I drove to Loch Leven to pick Tristan up from Junior High JANboree, I listened to an hour and a half of programming on NPR about Martin Luther King, Jr.  One of the things talked about on those programs was a march in Memphis King led, which turned violent, with rioting in the streets. 

King immediately withdrew.  First, his aides got him out of there as quickly as possible, because they felt that King could not in any way be associated with those who would abandon his principles of non-violence.

Then King went to his hotel room and crawled into bed.  With all his clothes on.  You can’t withdraw much more than that.

In his time of withdrawal, I’m sure there was disappointment and frustration.  But that gradually gave way to a renewed commitment to the cause, and a renewed commitment to demonstrating that a non-violent demonstration could work and be effective.  Even in Memphis.

And King emerged from his time of withdrawal determined to return to Memphis and lead another demonstration, another march, to show that nonviolence can work even there.

The time of withdrawal is, therefore, temporary.  And it results in a renewed commitment, a renewed strength, and a clearer vision of one’s call.

Jesus withdrew following John’s arrest and imprisonment, but Jesus never stopped proclaiming his message of repentance, his message of changed hearts.

He never stopped proclaiming his message of a love that is for everyone, a love that shows no partiality, even among those who insist on racial, cultural, or social “purity.”  He never stopped proclaiming his message of forgiveness, even to those who would imprison and seek to kill him.  He never stopped proclaiming his message of truth, God’s truth, which is very different from the truth of Caesar or Rome or a culture in which people seek to exalt themselves over their neighbors, rather than lifting their neighbors and their communities up.

The Spirit is making it clear what our call is.  Have you noticed that?  Have you been paying attention? 

God’s Spirit is making it clear that Bixby Knolls Christian Church is called to proclaim the gospel of love to our community and to our world, to let our neighbors know that love is indeed for everyone, that healing, wholeness and salvation are for all people. 

Not just the rich.  Not just those of a certain race or class.  But everyone.

And I think about this calling of ours, and I think: what bold, audacious ways can we express this love to our community?

I told you about my billboard idea a few weeks ago.  Several times I’ve thought, “that’s crazy.  It won’t work.”  And yet I still hear the call to carry on with this crazy idea.

If you weren’t here when I mentioned it, there is a billboard right at the heart of Bixby Knolls, towering over Atlantic Avenue, easily seen by the hundreds of people who attend First Fridays each month, not to mention folks driving by on the street.  And the idea came to me to put a positive message on that billboard, the message that love is for everyone.

The cost to do this is about $4,000.

There’s no way to do this.  Is there?

I’ve been re-reading a wonderful book called “Love Does” by Bob Goff.  And every chapter shows how love finds a way.  Bob Goff writes:  “That’s one of the things about love.  It always assumes it can find a way to express itself.” 

So.  I’ve already got the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association’s support for this project.  I will have a table at the next First Friday event, collecting donations.  The theme for the next First Friday event is “One Love,” which seems fitting, I think.

But I’d really like to get some support from Bixby Knolls Christian Church.  In fact, I’d like for us to take the lead.  I want this billboard to not only say “Love is for everyone,” but, at the bottom, to say, “a message from Bixby Knolls Christian Church.” 

Do you feel God calling you to take part in this crazy project?  Is this a message you feel called to share with the community? 

Maybe you need a little time to withdraw, to think it over.  That’s okay.

Just ask yourself: How is God calling you?  There is a message of love just waiting to be shared. 

On a billboard.  And, more importantly, in your life.

How will you share it?

What is your call?