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In 1953, when I was in third grade, I went to the Baptist church with my friend, Janet Smith, every Tuesday after school for Sunbeams. Now, my family was of the Methodist persuasion, but it didn’t take my mother long to figure out that not only would a little extra religion do me good—it would also get me out of the house an additional day every week. In Friona, Texas, during the 50’s the elementary children didn’t have all that many choices of extra-curricular activities. There was Girl Scouts and there were church activities. I also attended every Vacation Bible School in town. That got me out from under Mama’s feet several weeks every summer. The Baptists had the best crafts—they didn’t have anything to do with the lessons, but they were great crafts. They also gave the best prizes for memorizing scripture. "Rise and shine for thy light has come. Isaiah 60:1" That was good for a Snickers Bar!! The Congregational Church had the oldest building in town so that was an adventure to explore the nooks and crannies. The Church of Christ was interesting—we sang hymns, but they didn’t believe in instrumental music so we had to know the tune pretty well. But back to Sunbeams. I liked Sunbeams. Lots of my friends were Baptists, they had good refreshments, the teachers were nice, and they had a snappy Sunbeam song: "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, to shine for him each day. In every way try to please him, at home, at school, at play. A Sunbeam, A Sunbeam, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam. A Sunbeam, A Sunbeam, I’ll be a Sunbeam for Him." After a couple months, Mama began to notice that every Tuesday morning, I complained of a stomachache. I’ve already clued you in that Mama was no dummie. She figured out that there was something going on at Sunbeams that was making me upset. After careful questioning she ascertained that I was bothered by the programs that were presented at Sunbeams. There was always a segment where they talked about missionaries. And the conversation often included about how missionaries were tortured or suffered in some way as they were being faithful to their call to the mission field. I was scared that God was calling me into the mission field and I didn’t want to go! I knew how Jeremiah felt in the scripture today. But it was worse for Jeremiah. I was just hearing stories told by nice Baptist ladies. Jeremiah is hearing God! Verse 5: "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." For Jeremiah it is a done deal. He not only has no choice, he never did. It was a fait accompli before he was ever conceived! But that fact didn’t deter him from trying to get out of this opportunity to serve. Listen to Jeremiah’s response, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." The first three words are a typical whine made familiar to God by many who have tried to avoid God’s call: Moses, Gideon, Jonah, Isaiah, Elijah, Ezekial, to name a few. It’s like when we ask someone to do something and the first response is "UH, OH MAN!" Ah, Lord God! And then the excuses start: "You can’t be serious about wanting me to be a prophet—I don’t even know how to speak, I wouldn’t know what to say. Besides all that—I’m too young—no one will take me seriously, I’m only a boy." You can almost hear Jeremiah trying to tell God what to do. "Why don’t you find someone who has more status in the community, someone with more experience, someone who WANTS to be a prophet—just not me!!" But God is not swayed, "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." God has no use for excuses and doesn’t tolerate them. When you think about it, it is rather arrogant of Jeremiah and rather insulting to God to infer that perhaps God doesn’t know God’s business. But no matter. God simply doesn’t negotiate. "Enough! This is what you’ll be doing! And besides all that, there is no reason for you to be fearful, I’m not sending you in alone—I, God, will be with you." When that is settled, Jeremiah experiences God touching his mouth and hears God say, "Now I have put my words in your mouth". In other words, you won’t have to think up what to say—God will provide. And finally God adds: some of what you say will be experienced by the community as negative and some will be experienced as positive; "to pluck up and to pulldown, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." So that’s it. That’s Jeremiah’s call. If you remember what was going on with Israel in Jeremiah’s time, you can understand why he wasn’t thrilled with God’s plan for him. The nation was about to be defeated by Babylon and the people carried off into exile. They had been and continued to be unfaithful and it was Jeremiah’s task to call them back into righteousness. Actually, there wasn’t much chance of that, and his real task was to remind them of why they were going to hell in a hand-basket. It was a task most of us would like to avoid. But enough about Jeremiah. Let’s talk about us. Did you hear about the movie star who went to her class reunion and after going on and on about her successful career said, "but enough about me, let’s talk about you, what did YOU think of my last movie?" As always when we study scripture it is interesting to understand what the context of a particular passage is and what the message was for the people at the time. But unless we ask the question, "So what?" in other words, "If I take this scripture seriously, what difference will it make in my life?" we may just as well be reading the phone book. So what does this scripture have to say to us today? Let’s talk about us. Do you recognize God’s call in your life? I was relieved in third grade from believing that God was calling me to be a missionary. But when I was seventeen, I received God’s call to full time service in the church. It came about one evening while I was reading scripture, Matthew 9 to be exact. I followed up with a conversation with my high school counselor, went to McMurry College and Duke Divinity School, and as they say, the rest is history. Has God called you? Is God calling you now? Jeremiah and I were young people when God called, but I observe that God calls people of all ages throughout our lives for a variety of services. God may be calling some of you into full time ministry in the church. I know of two persons from St. John who were called into the ordained ministry for a second career. You may remember Les Ludlam or Marcia Hanson. And of course, Jenny Beckett is a candidate for ministry. If you think God is calling you in this way, speak to Dave or myself and we will help you through the discernment process. But God certainly calls persons to a variety of opportunities beyond the ordained ministry. Some people are called to speak out for peace and justice. This week I went to see the play currently running at Cyrano’s, "Nickel and Dimed" based on a bestselling book by Barbara Ehrenreich. The premise is that today there is a segment of society that even by working two jobs, cannot get by in America. The author felt called to speak the truth as she experienced it that not only the gap between the haves and have nots is growing, but that what we in middle and upper class America have is at the expense of those in the lower class. Is God calling you to speak out for peace and justice? Yesterday when I came to work I found an envelope on my desk from one of our kindergarten children. She had a lemonade stand this summer and had raised $12 for the children of Iraq. Is God calling you to nurture your children in the spirit of generosity? Earlier this week a young woman came in to pick up another "school bus" form—she had heard about this project from a friend who attends St. John and wanted to help a child in this way. Is God calling you to witness to your friends and neighbors of ways to help the poor? We had a call this week from a member at East Anchorage United Methodist Church. There is a member of their church, an older woman, who recently had surgery and will be released from the hospital this week. She needs someone to be with her around the clock—not to provide any care—just be there so she won’t be alone—sort of a safety net--for the next two weeks. East is such a small church that they were hoping to draw from our bigger pool —no age requirement or skills necessary. Is God calling you to help your neighbor in this way? Let me know and I will pass your name on to the person who is doing the coordination. Last month at Jurisdictional Conference I heard a speaker talk about the Volunteer in Mission opportunities. We are familiar with the VIM teams who came to help us build and of our youth who have gone on mission trips, but did you know that there are all sorts of VIM opportunities? Opportunities for individuals and for families as well as groups; opportunities that last anywhere from a few days to weeks, months or even two years. Opportunities in state as well as around the world. There is talk among some of us to develop a team to go to Africa in a couple years and maybe work with the PET project or some other project there. Is God calling you to be a Volunteer in Mission? This Tuesday evening the ministry teams are hosting a sort of ministry team fair to invite more people to become active in the program ministries of St. John. Y’all come, refreshments served, 7:00 p.m. Is God calling you to become more active at St. John in this way? United Methodist Women provides a huge amount of financial support to our denomination’s missions and are a source of spiritual growth and personal support of women around the world. And yet here at St. John we have difficulty finding women who will make a commitment to this organization. Is God calling you to United Methodist Women? We’re about 80% staffed for the children’s Sunday School this fall. But I am still trying to find whom God is calling to teach the third and fourth grades and two and three year old classes at 11:00. Let me know if it’s you! Or maybe God is calling you to coordinate the greeters, be an acolyte, sing in the choir, serve as liturgist, take Disciple Bible Study, attend adult Sunday School, work on the auction, or maybe God is calling you to increase your financial giving to the church. Just as I’m pretty sure God is calling each of us to be in partnership in the ministry, I’m pretty sure that each of us, like Jeremiah have excuses. We’re either too young, too old, too busy, or too apathetic. But God knows all that and calls us anyway. We can decide not to follow God’s call, but we can’t declare that God is mistaken. God knows all about our shortcomings and is prepared to prepare us and more than that, promises to be with us. God is willing to take a risk with us—are you willing to trust God? There’s a call for you on line one—it’s God—will you take the call? |
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08.22.04 - Call for You on Line 1 (Jeremiah 1:4-10)
