Sermon: January 27, 2008

Prayer: Dear gracious and loving Lord, as you called those first disciples; Peter, Andrew, James and John you now call us into a new and faithful life lived for you and with you. We ask for clarity this day, that you might make your call clear to those who wonder whether they are good enough and worthy to serve you and who question their faith and relationship with you. And for others, help us with our indifference and apathy to your Word and create in us a vibrant and lively faith that is responsive to your mission in this place and at this time for the good of your kingdom, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

 So there we were, members of the church’s Education committee, sitting in the apartment of Charlotte Torreson on that cold Tuesday night in late March discussing, dreaming and planning what we wanted the education program of our church to look like, for both adults and the youth of our congregation, and to come up with a time line for the programs implementation and what goals we wanted to achieve. Our Sunday school and youth program had been in decline for years and our adult education program that once had been very active and engaging had pretty much ended when our former pastor had moved on to become Bishop’s assistant in the New York synod. And as is the case in these transitional situations and depending on the person that is called to fill in as interim pastor at such times the programming at many churches can sometimes get pretty skimpy, and that was the case at Trinity.

 And so that night towards the end of our meeting during a momentary break for refreshments our new Pastor, Pastor Bob said to me that he had a question for me and asked that I not leave right away when we were done. I agreed and remained for awhile afterwards. A few minutes passed and he came over to me and prefaced his question as such, “You know Rob that for years, even going back to the time when I served as intern here at Trinity and even before that, Trinity has always prided itself in it’s involvement with youth, has always taken ministry and evangelism to our youth and families very seriously. In the short time I’ve been here I have witnessed and feel that we’re falling short of our commitment to this program. We need a full time youth person who has a strong commitment to Jesus and who knows the neighborhood and its people to come in and build a strong youth program once again. We have a study that tells us that there are over five thousand youth and children right in our immediate neighborhood who need to hear the Gospel and be involved in church. And then came the Martin Luther King moment… I had a dream that I should ask you, that I should call you to be that person to become our youth minister. So what do you think? Are you interested? Can I count on you for this opportunity? I have to admit it was a rather startling question to be asked and as I stood there I initially didn’t have anything to say.

 Finally after some time had passed I looked at the pastor and said, So Pastor Bob you had a dream huh…you sure that it wasn’t a nightmare? Why me? I haven’t been really active in our youth program in 13 years. I know that I’ve driven the church van the last 10 years or so for Sunday school, and I’ve occasionally chaperoned on a confirmation retreat, but I have a good job that I like, my life is rather comfortable and besides I give my time as I can to other church requests. Why would I leave what I’m doing to become your youth minister?

After a few uneasy moments of silence a smile came across the Pastor’s face and he replied to me, “Rob, you ask the wrong question. The question you should ask yourself is why shouldn’t you become our youth minister? The need is clear and in my dream God told me to call you. But Pastor like I’ve said I have a good job, I’m doing well…Rob consider this a call…you think about it for a while but don’t take too much time, there’s a lot of work to do. I have a lot of ideas and the summer will be here before you know it. We have to be prepared.

After several more weeks of further conversation and discernment, that is to say arm twisting and guilt…I finally relented and agreed to accept the call, not really sure of what I was getting myself into. Pastor, I said, ok I’ll give it a shot but I’m still not sure that this is what I ‘m called to do. Rob what will it take a 2by 4 upside your head…I’m calling you….God told me to call you….the congregation’s council told me to call you. Stop thinking about your call and start feeling it, you’ve been called. Let’s get to work. When can you start?

 As I reflect upon this whole circumstance and sequence of events it took about another 9 years of feeling the call to decide to attend seminary…and it took a 2 by 4 by the name of Terri to give the final whack, but what can you say? God does call persons in many a strange ways, and for that matter calls many a strange people as well to not only follow Jesus but proclaim The Good News of Jesus and the promise of new life and blessings that Jesus brings.

 So as I read this passage from Matthew over and over during this past week I wondered why exactly did these fishermen give up everything they had to follow Jesus on seemingly the spur of the moment? Why give up their families and livelihoods for a life of uncertainty? While their lives as fishermen certainly was not one of luxury and high living, being a fisherman did at least put food on the table and allow them some sense of security that they could make ends meet. It doesn’t make much sense to me. Does it make sense to any of you? And these and other similar questions can be asked even in today’s world.

  Why in this day and age do people from all walks of life, people with very prestigious careers like Dr. Carl, a next door neighbor of mine at the seminary, who was a helicopter medic and served on some very dangerous assignments during Viet Nam and later on became an eye surgeon give up his lucrative career in medicine to respond to a call to attend seminary and become a pastor in a small church in Oklahoma? Why does Jesus call a person from the opposite end of the spectrum, at least from our societal way of thinking, a person who served as a custodian for our church in Brooklyn receive a call to take some classes and be ordained as a Mission Developer in a neighborhood church in the same area? Why do people with young families go through advanced training and financial hardship to become missionaries in some far away and sometimes dangerous places to follow and proclaim the Gospel to people whose language they initially can’t speak and whose culture is totally different?

And we can ask these same questions about Christian callings and vocations that are not so obvious to us; why does someone agree to volunteer and serve as a Sunday school teacher year after year, or a person agree to serve on church council and freely give of their time and talents, or engage in another type of serving, as in serving those on the very edges of society at a homeless shelter a couple of nights a month?

I believe that in all these questions the answer can only be found in the person of Jesus himself. The answer is in the amazing persona and promise of Jesus and in his life that we hear, read about and study. We do what we do and respond to such calls because this life of Jesus does make sense to us and gives us hope and we want to be apart of Jesus life and promise because these stories and acts of Jesus are greatly influential and are capable of drawing us into a deep and powerful relationship with Jesus even though we on many occasions don’t even realize it. This same Word of God, this same Gospel has influenced literally billions of people from all nations, cultures and languages over the last 2000 years to follow and claim Jesus as Lord and Savior. That’s the fulfillment of Jesus ministry in Matthew 28: 16-20, “go to all nations baptizing and teaching in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I will be with you always to the close of the age.”

And so we are called to experience life with Jesus, a life that is sometimes joyful and peace filled and at other times a life that is challenging, difficult and even life threatening. This was the initial call to these first disciples, a call that they reacted to rather quickly and without hesitation as we were told in Matthew, a call to follow Jesus with complete obedience and trust, despite the consequences that would follow. Where they were going and how they would go about their work wasn’t initially clear, other than to say life for them would never be easy, to the Cross and beyond.

 As we have heard this day the call of Jesus is certain for each and every one of us as well. Sometimes Jesus call comes slowly like a faint whisper, but that whisper eventually grows louder and louder until we need ear plugs to deaden to sound, and at other times as with our first disciples it can be immediate and in your face. But whatever the case when Jesus calls you will ultimately know what you are to do and you will be provided with all that is necessary to respond. And like the disciples that Jesus called before, your call will be twofold; first to follow and then to proclaim. And you can be sure that like the disciples before us our lives will not be one dimensional filled with joy and prosperity but our lives will be abundant filled with joy and great satisfaction but also challenge, pain and sorrow. But for those of us who claim Jesus as Lord, the final word for us will always be one of love, hope, reconciliation, and eternal life. And to this we can say thanks be to God. Amen.