A Sermon preached in Christ
Church,
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
by The Reverend Vicki Hesse, Associate
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
by The Reverend Vicki Hesse, Associate
The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10
All
week, I found myself
reflecting on Jeremiah
and what it means to be called by
God.
Maybe it was the debates on TV,
the
candidates expressing how they are “called”.
Maybe
it was a former youth member
asking
for a reference letter to a college
“certificate” program on public service,
to
which he said he felt called.
I
mean, calls from God are scary.
Do
we say yes? Do we wiggle around it?
In
some cases, the call is so clear,
like
the proverbial lightening bolt.
In
other cases, not so much.
Maybe
God’s call is a thought
that
you can’t shake, or
an
idea that seems crazy or
appears
as if it is impossible.
“The
owls that bring Harry Potter
invitations
to attend
Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
were
like a call from God.
Harry’s
less-than-kind foster parents try,
as
best they can,
to
destroy the invitations.
They
even try escaping to
a
remote cabin on an island.
Finally,
the umpteenth letter arrives
personally
delivered
by
an angry giant of a man named Hagrid.
God’s
call was like this for Jeremiah –
relentless
and inevitable.”[1]
What
does it mean to be called by God?
Jeremiah
received the call from God
and
immediately responded
that
he was not able to accept.
“Thanks,
God, but I cannot.
I’m
too young, too unskilled,
too
unfamiliar with that kind of work.
I’m
just a kid.”
Jeremiah
resisted God’s call –
he
believed he was not up to the task.
This
sense of inadequacy
is
actually typical of “call” stories.
When
God called Moses
to
bring the Israelites out of Egypt[2],
Moses
had all kinds of questions,
including, “What do I call you?
What
if they do not believe me?
I
have never been eloquent,
neither
in the past nor even now …
I
am slow to speech and slow of tongue.”
When
God called Gideon[3]
to
deliver Israel from Mideanites,
Gideon
asked,
“How
can I deliver Israel?
My
clan is the weakest…
and
I am the least in my family?”
Gideon,
Moses’ and Jeremiah’s fear,
sense
of inadequacy, and
maybe
even resentment of being called
are
all understandable.
Sometimes
we, too, think that we are not able
to accept a call from God.
Maybe
God is calling us to forgive someone.
Maybe
God is calling us to work
with
someone we don’t like,
or
to love someone who we think is disgusting.
Maybe
God is calling us to serve somehow
that
is way out of our comfort zone.
(story)
My
biggest fear
when
working as a hospital chaplain
South
Carolina was being exposed
for not knowing the bible well enough.
I
was anxious that care receivers
would
ask me to quote scripture,
and
honestly, my biblical knowledge
was
just not that strong.
I
didn’t grow up with the bible.
My
fear sometimes paralyzed me with care receivers
and affected my own self esteem
as
I feared judgment of my colleagues.
Maybe
you can relate to a sense of inadequacy,
“Oh,
I couldn’t possibly do that, I am …
(fill
in the blank)
Too “young” in my faith journey or
Too
“old” and set in my ways.
Too
unskilled to know how to pray for my enemies or
Too
sure that God won’t listen anyway.
Too
busy to serve as kitchen helper
or too fatigued from caring for a loved one.
Maybe
we realize we are too anxious
to
answer that call,
as
it might reveal some vulnerability
or
might invoke criticism or judgment
from
our friends or our intimate loved ones.
There
are myriad ways that we feel
inadequate or unprepared to answer God’s call.
Jeremiah’s
(and our) fear, anxiety,
sense
of inadequacy are all understandable –
and here’s the good news;
these
feelings did not disqualify Jeremiah
(and
do not disqualify us)
from
serving God’s intentions.
God
chose Jeremiah.
The
word of the Lord happened to him.
God
insisted on the call that came
“before
I formed you in the womb,
I
knew you, I consecrated you …”
This
call had nothing to do
with
Jeremiah’s capabilities,
because
the role for which God chose Jeremiah
was
made before Jeremiah was able
to
merit his selection.
God
promised to guide Jeremiah
to whom God will send and
God
promised to give Jeremiah
the words to speak.
God
responded to Jeremiah’s objection
by
granting him the capabilities
and
promising faithful companionship.
Jeremiah’s
call story
reminds
us that we do not choose God;
God,
mysteriously,
and even sometimes against our will,
chooses us.
God
prepares us
to live out the vocation
for which we were created –
the vocation God
prepared for us
before we were able to merit selection.
Reasons
for not doing something
related
to God’s work
are
often reasonable and justifiable.
And
the good news is that
God grants us both the
capacity
and the companionship.
Perhaps
you have seen
the
posters around campus and website,
“you
have been called to serve”?
If
these notices have peaked your interest,
God
might be calling you
to serve at Crossroads in two Sundays,
February 14th.
You
can respond to this call by following
the
link on the website
or
contact Rev. Areeta for more info.
Perhaps
your heart is broken
by
the water issues in Flint.
Is
God calling you to respond?
Our
feelings of inadequacy
do not disqualify us,
nor does our achievement
or our self-confidence qualify us
to
answer the call from God.
Basically,
it’s not about us.
It’s
about God’s intentions.
God
prepares a call.
God
promises companionship.
God
grants us the capacity through
the
interests and abilities
cultivated
in our hearts.
This
story from Jeremiah shows that
the
calling to serve and
the
capacity to fulfill it flow together
in
a kind of dance.
There
is a synergy between
divine
and human activity
to
build up and to plant green shoots
for
God’s dream to come to fruition.
We
co-create, in effect, God’s kingdom
through
God’s call to us
and
our responsive, “yes.”
And
what happens when we say “yes” to God?
God says yes to us.
This
poem from Kaylin Haught[4]
captures this dance quite well:
~~~~
“I
asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and
she said yes
I
asked her if it was okay to be short
and
she said it sure is
I
asked her if I could wear nail polish
or
not wear nail polish
and
she said honey
she
calls me that sometimes
she
said you can do just exactly
what
you want to
Thanks
God I said
And
is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my
letters
Sweetcakes
God said
who
knows where she picked that up
what
I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes”
~~~~
See,
if God’s call was about
skills
or experience,
God
would have said to Jeremiah,
“don’t
worry, I have a trade school for prophets.
You will learn it all there.”
No,
instead, God just said, “Don’t be afraid.”[5]
God says to us, “Do not be afraid.”
God
calls every Christian
to
live the radical gospel of Jesus Christ –
loving
our neighbors and serving the poor.
Today’s
good news is that
God
grants us the capabilities
to
answer God’s call and
God
promises companionship along the way.
Answer
God’s call.
Say
yes to God
and
you will know that God says yes to you.
Amen.
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