From the Pastor |
Have you ever thought about how God calls us? Have you heard the voice of God calling to you… calling out boldly or even in the silence? Or maybe God has spoken to you through the voice of another or through strange ideas that just seem to “pop” into your head? Have you heard God’s call for YOU? There are a great many stories in scripture about how people were called into service for God, but none are quite as astonishing to me as the way Jesus calls his first disciples. Jesus is walking along the shoreline when he saw Simon and Andrew fishing… he says ‘“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.’ A short ways on… he sees James and John and calls out to them as well… “and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.” What a story of faith. Although, the Gospel of John tells us that Andrew and Simon had both met Jesus before this incident… they were still ready and willing to drop EVERYTHING and follow him. These men did not know where Jesus would lead them… they did not have a detailed itinerary or a concrete mission plan… they had 2 words… “Follow me!” And that is exactly what they did. They followed Jesus all over the countryside… from place to place… never really knowing what to expect… what Jesus would do or say next. It had to be scary and unnerving and exhilarating and ultimately… very rewarding. That, my friends, IS faith. That’s what faith MUST be! “To hear with my heart… To see with my soul… To be guided by a hand I cannot hold… To trust in a way that I cannot see… That's what faith must be” [Michael Card lyrics] That is the faith we want… the faith that would have us dropping everything to follow Jesus when he calls us to. It is what we, as Christians, long for, isn’t it? To follow Christ… to live as God wants us to until that day when we will one day see God face to face in God’s own Kingdom? That is what it means to be a disciple of Christ… yet… most of the time… that is not the type of disciples we are. More often than not we are like Jonah. You remember the story of Jonah… Jonah and the Whale or the Big Fish or whatever you want to call it? Today we heard how God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and declare God’s coming judgement. Jonah does as he is called to do and the country of Nineveh repents and is saved from destruction. Another wonderful call story… except that that is far from the WHOLE story. You might remember that God had called Jonah before to do this same task… but the first time… Jonah decided he did NOT want to answer this call to serve. Instead he tried to run away, but that did not work out very well for him. You cannot run from God. God had a job for Jonah to do… so God had to find a way to “persuade” Jonah to answer God’s call. I’m sure you know the story, but if not or if you need a refresher… check out the book of Jonah chapters 1 & 2… they are fairly short but definitely interesting. The point is, as we can see by today’s reading… Jonah was persuaded and answered the call of God. As a result… the people of Nineveh repented, they changed their ways and were given another chance. As I said… most of the time… WE are like Jonah. God has a job for us and calls out to us and we do not answer the call. We ignore God’s voice… we decide we cannot do what is asked and make excuses… we run and hide… but we rarely drop our nets and go. Often, like Jonah, when we avoid God’s call… when we fail to follow where Christ is trying to lead us… things do not go so well. Think about a time in your life when things REALLY were not working out as you planned. When you cried out to God, “Why won’t you help me?” A time when you wondered if God was even listening to you. Maybe, just maybe… God didn’t “help” because your plans… your desires… where you were… was NOT what God wanted for you… not where GOD wanted you to be! My father often said “If you want to make God laugh… tell him YOUR plans.” Our plans are often not the same as God’s plans. God’s plans for us include whatever God is calling us to do. Before going into the ministry I spent 5 years as a stay home mom after Jeremy was born. When the time came to go back to work… I could not seem to find a job. I bounced around a few part-time jobs but could not find full-time employment. I was turned down from a decent paying job that would have allowed me to work from home because I was “over qualified”. It did not seem to matter that it was one of the only jobs available. I finally ended up at a similar company… doing the same type of job for less money and no opportunity for advancement or working from home. It was monotonous work and I hated it. But every day beginning at 6AM, I was at my desk working for my paycheck. I did this for 3.5 years and Ii have to tell you…after the 1st year… I pleaded with God “Why am I here? Why can’t you help me get a better job?” It seems… looking back that God had me right where I needed to be. You see… not long after that 1st year is when I finally listened to God; I heard Jesus call out “Follow Me!” and began the process of becoming a LLP. The frustration eventually opened me enough to hear God’s voice calling to me… the Spirit prodding me in the direction God wanted me to go. The hours made it possible for me to begin and then complete the candidacy program for ministry. I can now look back and see that… even though I HATED that job… it enabled me to find and follow the path that has brought me here. God called… I was very reluctant to hear and listen… Like with Jonah, God found a way to get through to me and “persuade” me to follow him. What about you? Are you where God wants you to be? Doing what God wants you to do? Or is God still trying to get your attention? If you tell me that God HAS NOT called you… then I know you have not been listening. Every follower of Jesus has been called. You received the call that brought you here… you received the call when you first believed… and I guarantee you that since that day Jesus has called out to each and every one of you saying at the very least… “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” When we answer the call to follow Christ we become “fishers of people” and our lives become about allowing the light of God’s glory – God’s presence and purpose – to shine out for others to see so that they can be led into an inclusive, simple and trusting life that welcomes all and shares with all and loves all. Sadly, many Christians go for years without heeding this call to “fish for people”. And, again as we see from Jonah… we are not the first to have had reluctance to share our faith outside the walls of a church… outside of our comfort zone. I hope our problem is not a lack of compassion or a lack of desire. Maybe we truly want to be “fishers” for Jesus but need some specific direction for the task. We have to remember that we cannot catch fish in a baptismal font. I can say WITH CERTAINTY that there are no fish in there. In order to serve God… in order to answer the call of Jesus to “Follow me” we need to do truly follow Jesus… Jesus didn’t hide out in the synagogue or the Temple. Jesus went into the streets and marketplaces, into the villages and homes of the common people. If we are to follow him… we too must reach out to people wherever they are. We cannot simply wait for them to come to us. WE need to take our faith to others… to live it… to share it… Authentic faith is what the world is hungry for, and this is what we need to offer others. This is what we are ALL called to do. If you know God as a real and genuine power in your life, share that with others. Sharing the good news of God’s love means offering a word of hope, a word of forgiveness, a word of love, a gospel of grace to others. Jesus never said following him would be easy… he did not give any of us a detailed itinerary or mission plan… he never said “If the going gets difficult… don’t’ worry about it… someone else will take care of it.” All he said were those two word… “Follow ME!” Do you have the faith to drop your nets and follow Jesus Christ our Lord? “To hear with our hearts and see with our souls… To be guided by a hand we cannot hold… To trust in a way that we cannot see… because That's what faith must be” [Michael Card lyrics adapted]
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Yeon Shin
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