Sermon Epiphany 3a 2016: Preparing Our Hearts to Answer God’s Call
Introduction: Essential Personnel
In some parts of the country it doesn’t matter;
But in many areas of our great land the snow that falls this time of year
Can bring everything to a screeching halt.
Schools close. Events are canceled; Restaurants don’t bother to open their doors;
Travel becomes tricky and even dangerous at times;
And if the conditions become severe enough,
The decision may be made that not everyone should try to get to work.
Only those who are absolutely necessary should report;
And for those occasions, we’ve coined an interesting phrase to describe the people
Who absolutely must report to work, whatever the conditions;
People who are listening for a special call
That sends them out to dig out their cars and scrape off the ice,
Or back to the warmth of their beds.
These people listening for the call are road crews, ambulance drivers;
Fire fighters and policemen, electric and gas company workers, service people;
People we take for granted when things are running smoothly;
But in times like this, we call them “essential personnel”.
Think about what it means to be essential personnel:
That the world calls for your skills, your abilities, your gifts;
Then, if you want a little taste of humility about many of our lives,
A reminder of the small part we sometimes play in life;
Think about what it means to be non-essential personnel;
That the world can go on without some of us and do quite well.
Well, the good news is that we are all essential personnel in God’s eyes,
Or at least all can be essential personnel;
We’re called as God’s essential personnel, not because of record snowfall;
But because there’s still darkness in the world
And God has called us as individuals and as a group to bring light.
We’ve all been called by God to be a people of light;
To do some significant things for the life and the good of the world;
Because Jesus calls ordinary people like you and me,
As His essential personnel.
And He calls us just as we are, you and me, with whatever gifts we’ve been given
With our quirks and questions, with our excitements and enthusiasms
He calls us and promises to focus our lives to meet the needs of a world
Crying out for the love and presence and light of God in their lives,
And so that others may hear the call that we have heard or will hear;
The call to be Christ’s essential personnel.
And if we will prepare our hearts to listen for His voice and be ready to respond,
We will hear the call inviting us to the life that’s really life
And become His instruments for pushing back the darkness and bringing light.
The Gospel: God’s Choices are often unexpected
When power lines go down, or roads need to be plowed, or a medical emergency arises,
Only certain people, people with specific training and abilities
Are called out to do what needs to be done;
And this applies to almost area of life, snowstorm or not.
When we are in need of a doctor, we seek out someone who is well trained to help us;
When we intend to take a trip in a plane, we seek a pilot with training and experience;
When we are seeking any kind of help, we want someone who is trained and competent.
So, it’s fascinating to me at the choices God consistently makes
To reveal His love and grace and will for our lives and to bring light to the darkness;
God chooses people we might overlook at first;
People who don’t appear to have the gifts that are needed.
You see, God often chooses the most unlikely people to do His work;
Because God’s choices are always given God’s power to bring the light;
And we see some of these kinds of unlikely choices in this Sunday’s readings.
Who would choose some nobody to call God’s people back to God,
Over several decades and world changing events;
But that’s who God chose when he called Isaiah to be His prophet,
And the light God shared through him speaks to us centuries later.
And who would choose a person who is persecuting your followers;
Who is on a journey to arrest them and put them in prison
So they can’t continue to spread the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection;
But that’s exactly who God chooses in St. Paul.
And Jesus’ disciples are no panel of experts either.
Who would choose a group of men, who spend their mornings and nights
Out on the water trying to catch fish and telling fish stories.
Are these the kind of people you want telling the truth about God?
Well, Jesus took people who in many ways had been labeled non-essential personnel;
To bring light to the darkness in the world;
Fishermen today; tax collectors, notorious sinners on other days;
Women, a group of people who at the time had never been considered essential,
And called them and directed them because they were listening for His voice;
Because they were listening and were willing to follow to be the force for good.
People who had never felt wanted before, found a place;
People who doubted the world even knew they existed;
Were suddenly essential personnel because they were listening for God’s voice
And were willing to respond.
And because they listened and followed, the world has been changed;
Oh, as we know, there’s still plenty of darkness in our lives and in the world;
But the light of God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s peace, God’s power;
Was spread through them and to those who came after them;
So that the darkness gives way to more and more light.
And He calls us, too;
He calls us to follow in His way and empowers us to bring light
To those who are living in darkness.
Many of us have heard that voice and those words, Follow me, somewhere along the way
We heard it when a Sunday school teacher encouraged us in our spiritual life;
When someone said we’d be good working with the youth;
When someone from outreach invited us to serve the IHN families;
When some scripture or hymn or sermon or class pointed to an area of our life
Where we could grow in our relationship with God and in service to others.
It happens in hundreds of ways over the course of our lives,
Including this morning when you chose to get up and to be here to worship God;
But whenever and however it happens, God is calling;
Because you and I are just the kind of persons He can empower to bring light.
Hearing the Voice of the Master
God is calling each of us every day to come, follow me, come, live like me;
Calling us to be His followers and bring God’s saving, gracious light to others;
But unlike Isaiah and Paul, these four fishermen, and many others,
We’re not always listening for His voice,
And by not listening in some active way, we often don’t hear Him.
When Jed Harris, the producer of Our Town and other famous plays
Was at the height of his career, he became concerned
Because he thought he was losing his hearing.
He finally agreed to go see a specialist who gave him a thorough check-up;
And at the end of the exam, the doctor took of his wristwatch
Held it up to Mr. Harris’ ear and asked if he could hear the ticking.
Mr. Harris responded that yes, of course, I can hear your watch ticking;
So the doctor moved a few feet away and asked if he could hear it now;
Yes, he responded, I can hear it clearly.
Good, the doctor responded as he stepped out the door of the examining room,
Now can you hear it?
Harris concentrated and said, “Yes, I can still hear it.”
The doctor came back into the room, sat down, and said,
“Mr. Harris, there’s nothing wrong with your hearing.
You’re just not listening.”
How easy it is for us to fill our lives with things other than God;
To become so involved in the busyness of living;
That we stop listening for God’s voice in our lives;
How easy it is for us to assume that God is calling someone else
As God’s essential personnel.
But we can listen for God’s voice when we take time each day for prayer;
We can listen for God’s voice by studying the scriptures;
We can listen for God’s voice in worship on Sundays and other days
As the liturgy and the scripture and the preaching and the Holy Eucharist
Take us out of our own lives and into the life of God.
We can listen for God’s voice in the words and actions of others around us,
As they act and speak on God’s behalf.
We can listen for God’s voice in many, many ways,
But it begins with the expectation that He is calling you and me,
It begins and continues through our lives with the anticipation
That God is choosing us to be His essential personnel
And if we listen for God’s call, we will hear Him clearly
And can follow where He leads us to bring God’s light in our worlds.
And so on this lovely Sunday morning and in a world touched with darkness and light;
I invite you to listen for the voice of God;
I invite you to live in the expectation and the anticipation that He is calling you
I invite you to set aside some part of your life so you can listen actively,
Because when you do, you will hear His voice,
And will be drawn into the life that’s truly life;
As God’s essential personnel for the kingdom of God,
Bringing light for the life of the world.
(Pause)
Can you hear Him now?
Amen.
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