{"id":1343,"date":"2024-01-17T23:08:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T23:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaygospeltalk.com\/wp\/?p=1343"},"modified":"2024-01-24T21:54:30","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T21:54:30","slug":"epiphany-3-year-a-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaygospeltalk.com\/wp\/epiphany-3-year-a-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Epiphany 3 Year B"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jesus wants to teach us to fish for people. . . <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mark 1:14-20<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time there was an inquirer desiring to be a disciple, who approached a rabbi. He said to the rabbi:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Rabbi, I can endure the heat of the day and the cold of the night. I can carry the burden of a day\u2019s toil for miles without fainting, while eating and drinking only what the land provides. I have brought my body into subjection and am ready to be your disciple.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rabbi replied: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are certainly qualified to be a jackass, but not a disciple.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story speaks a bit of truth, doesn\u2019t it?   We sometimes do tend to think that to be called by God is going to mean that we must start acting in ways that are extraordinarily not us, and that to be called is only for people with uncommon and special gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without really intending to, the church, throughout the centuries, has managed to give the impression that the ministry that really counts is the ordained ministry. I know that there are a few churches where that notion has pretty much been debunked, but I\u2019d like to try to put it to rest for good as of now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s appointed Gospel is once again about the notion of call<\/em><\/strong> that is so central to what we are about in the church: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea\u2014for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, \u2018Follow me. . .\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever witnessed a service of the ordination of a deacon, priest, or bishop, even in the smallest of churches, then you know just how majestic a service it is.  Usually, churches are packed, and there is a hush of anticipation as the service begins. It hardly resembles a simple call issued to peasant fishermen by an equally peasant itinerant preacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have devoted my whole life to the ordained ministry, but it\u2019s a fact that only about one percent of Christians hear that call.  What a pathetic state the Kingdom of God would be in if this was the only call that really mattered. I\u2019m afraid we\u2019d be a church with far more jackasses than disciples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is one thing I have learned from my auto accident, which occured a few years ago, it is that in my most fateful hour, it would not necessarily be a bishop I would want to minister and pray with me. It would be my parish family. It is important that you see yourself on that seashore dropping your net to follow Jesus when he calls. There are a few things we can say about being called that I hope will be helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, everyone is called by God. In fact, I believe that call is God\u2019s way of embracing humanity moment by moment, usually in a still, quiet voice. This is what my favorite philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, called God\u2019s Initial Aim<\/em> for creation; the church has chosen to name this God\u2019s Call <\/em>to us.  It\u2019s that persistent, gentle, and suasive nudge that can be felt in the heart, moment by moment, as we move through life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Frederick Buechner\u2019s definition of call <\/em>is probably the most useful.  To paraphrase Buechner\u2019s definition, one is called to where one\u2019s deepest joys meet the world\u2019s deepest needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try that litmus test next time you think God is calling you.  Ask yourself: Does the call excite me and fulfill my deepest yearnings?  Does the idea of it bring me joy? If the answer is, yes,<\/em> then ask yourself, will this call bring me to help fulfill the needs of God\u2019s people?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I told people that my undergraduate major was in Philosophy, the most common reaction was, What are you going to do with that? <\/em>Or they would ask, How are you going to cash in on that? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that served to do was to make me wonder how many people out there are performing tasks every day that don\u2019t touch the deepest joys of their hearts. Someone once said, quite profoundly I think, that God\u2019s call is to that which you could NOT NOT do.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that those fishermen dropped their nets and followed Jesus right then and there, shows the tremendous appetite we have to follow that often small, quiet voice in our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect that if someone came into our churches and truly called any one of you to a place where your deepest joys would meet the world\u2019s deepest needs, you just might drop your bulletins right where you\u2019re seated and follow. Further, whatever you would end up doing, it would be a true and validated ministry.  You would be a priest of God, and your ordination would have taken place at your baptism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seminaries are necessary for that small portion of God\u2019s people who are called to specialized ministry, but God does not look for the best educated or most learned when God decides to call you.  Jesus did not come to establish a school of religion or even a body of belief. Jesus calls you to where your greatest joys meet the world\u2019s greatest needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Luther King once said that there are too many Christians who have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Episcopal Priest who is one of my heroes is Ed Bacon, a past rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California.  He put it this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Christianity is not about what you believe but about whose values and call you follow. Isn\u2019t it the case that all of us have known people who were regular church attendees, or who were eloquent teachers or preachers of the Gospel, and yet they made the people around them miserable? They were so unloving, or so unforgiving, or so shaming, or so anxious, or so perfectionistic, or so wounded, or so victimized that everyone around them walked in fear or on eggshells. On the other hand, there were those who didn\u2019t know hesed from Hezekiah, but who loved everything in their path and left peace, joy, and strength in their wake. (*)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It always comes back to love, doesn\u2019t it?  That is real love where we couldn\u2019t possibly hurt another person with our words or actions– which we know is so easy to do.  To do so never brings lasting joy, and it never meets people\u2019s greatest needs. Being called to be a disciple is to be called to a life of loving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus called ordinary fisherman to a greater joy that meets the world\u2019s greatest needs.  In a small, quiet voice, they heard what each of us can hear if we listen well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* From a sermon the Rev. Ed Bacon preached on 1\/26\/03 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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