2 Epiphany 2015

2 Epiphany 2015

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

This may actually be one of my favorite statements in Scripture. After all, Nathaniel is doing what any of us might do, considering the situation.

Nathaniel was probably comfortable at home when Phillip showed up to drag him off to see the Messiah—and guess what? He comes from the backwoods of Kentucky! Well, Nazareth, anyway… And so, Nathaniel responded pretty honestly in his skepticism…“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

It’s kind of refreshing to find this sort of frankness, I think—especially in a “call” narrative, where Jesus is calling his disciples to follow him. I suppose I would just assume a little more romanticism to the moment, y’know? Maybe some doves, or butterflies, or fire—even fiery doves and butterflies…but, then, I suppose it’s not so much the moment of the calling that has the profound meaning—it’s what one does in responding to the call…

My own call to the priesthood was pretty lack-luster, actually. I remember I was driving my parents’ minivan with a couch hanging out the back. Our plans to go to Taiwan to teach English had fallen through, and Charity and I were moving our stuff into my parents’ garage, because we had given up our apartment…

Well, in situations like that (when you’re in your early 20’s), it’s hard to believe that your life isn’t over. So, while I was driving the 20 minutes to my parents’ house, I was freaking out, and trying to pray and listen for some idea or direction for what could be next. Without going to Taiwan, we couldn’t afford to pay for our Masters’ Degrees, and without a graduate degree, there isn’t a lot one can do with a Bachelors’ Degree in English…

So, as I drove, I started to think about a calling to ordained ministry that I thought I had years ago, which led me to college in the first place. But it was hard to take seriously because I had also rethought that calling, and switched to an English major when I realized that the Assemblies of God wasn’t for me…it’s also when I became Episcopalian.

However, for all that I tried to reason my way out of it—I couldn’t ignore it. Can anything good come from Lakemore, Ohio? (That’s the town I’m from originally.) We literally didn’t even have “one traffic light” until they annexed a few streets that had them some years back.

Anyway, as to anything good—I suppose that’s yet to be seen; but, I will say that after some discernment with Charity, and some other trusted people…I began the process and was ordained; and, as you might guess, it’s been easy peasey ever since. (I know, but when is it ever really “easy peasey,” especially when God calls us?)

I mean, even if we look at the call story of the Prophet Samuel—even though it has this charm to it, we know that things got really rough for him in his ministry.

After all, Samuel was the last of the Judges of Israel in the time before they had a king, and he was responsible for anointing Saul as king over Israel (even though he thought it was a terrible idea). He was also responsible for finding and anointing David as king—but these all happen much later.

In our reading, however, we find young Samuel, who had been given to the priesthood as a child, being awakened in the night by a voice calling his name. Of course, we know from the text that it’s the voice of God—but to this little boy, Samuel, he thinks it is Eli, the elderly priest who cares for him.

So, after a few times of having Samuel wake him up, Eli finally realizes what’s happening—and he tells Samuel that the next time he hears the voice, he should respond, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening…” And we know he’s called to serve God as a Prophet—and, we know from the very beginning that it won’t be an easy career choice. But, like the disciples generations later, Samuel responded to God’s call.

Now in talking about all of this, I hope you don’t have the impression that God’s call to ministry is only stuff for ordained people…in fact, as Bp. Lee often reminds us, “God calls us all to minister, and the Church calls some of us to vocation.” He also points out that there is only one Priest in the New Testament, and that’s Jesus. In other words, the calling of God is not about selecting a few to do the work of the Church, but is a call to all of God’s people to Kingdom work.

This is what we affirm at our Baptism, and is what we affirm in our Catechism (the Outline of the Faith). So, we claim this identity as workers for God’s Kingdom, even as we claim Christ’s name as our own, and ourselves Children of God. These things are inseparable—and for thick or thin, richer and poorer, we’re challenged to commit ourselves again and again to this call to make Christ known, and for the work of building-up God’s Kingdom.

But that’s to say, that responding to this call, seriously, is not necessarily easy. This isn’t because God is cruel, or ruthless—but because it’s difficult to hold on to faith in this life, and the world presents us any number of challenges…and depending on where we live in the world, our faith may literally be a matter of our life or our death. And it’s when we understand this, on an essential level in ourselves, that we begin to see that our worship and our prayer is more than simply time to relax. This is our time to prepare for the true work of the Church, the Kingdom, which actually begins outside of these doors.

I really do understand that it’s a lot to ask of people, though. I know that if we really had a firm grasp on what our faith actually asks of us, we may start to see tumbleweeds rolling down the center aisle for lack of people on Sundays. But, that doesn’t change the truth of it.

Who knows, maybe if we could go back in time, we could ask ourselves, or our parents or Godparents if they were really sure they wanted to go through with this Baptism thing with all that it demands and entails. Maybe someone would have had the good sense to say “no, that’s too much to ask…”

But then, I don’t know that anyone would do things differently, if they’d met Jesus somewhere in their lives, too.

If the disciples had any idea of what following Jesus would mean for their lives, would they have decided not to follow?

If Samuel could have guessed that, even after Eli’s family was punished by God, that he would find himself in any number of other difficult situations with kings of Israel and foreign kings besides… If he could have foreseen all of that, would he still have responded to God’s call?

Honestly, something tells me all of them probably would have done it all again—because there is something so profound and life altering about meeting Jesus, about hearing God.

Yet, again, there is nothing simple, and certainly nothing safe about God’s calling. Yet, because we’re called in love, by Jesus, to share love; I suppose we find ourselves compelled to respond all the same, no matter what comes our way. However, because we have responded to this call to be followers of Christ Jesus, we are very much ministers—all of us, fellow workers for the Kingdom of God. But what will each of us do with this ministry?