Sunday reflection – January 30th, 2022
I retired from active ministry in the Parish at the end of December this past year. I served in Parish ministry as an ordained clergy for the past 14 ½ years and though my ministry has ended in that particular sense, we know ministry in itself never ends. It takes on a life itself in the people we are, called to serve God.
Call is perhaps not a term often utilized today, or perhaps it is overly used sometimes, when every other profession is referred to as a calling. Not that there aren’t callings to different professions, there certainly are. Healthcare workers today working tirelessly throughout these Pandemic times under the conditions they are, can only be classed as a calling for sure. And there are many other professions as well one might class as a calling, but sometimes the term is used a bit to loosely.
I think of calling as something that is not perhaps readily recognized in oneself, but rather it is seen in us by others, I know before I went into ordained ministry, people would say, “you have a lot of gifts”, and I would think, “what are they talking about….?” Because I didn’t recognize these gifts in myself. And it was only after answering what I believed was my call to ordained ministry that I began to see and understand some of what they were talking about, I wouldn’t say all, because I believe we are always evolving, growing into or becoming the persons that God intends us to be.
And that brings me to the passage from Jeremiah for this Sunday, (Jeremiah 1:4-10), referred to often as the ‘call of Jeremiah’, with God calling Jeremiah to be a prophet in Israel. Jeremiah however didn’t see himself as being capable of being a prophet, and answered the Lord, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Perhaps Jeremiah was only a boy here, young in age as Samuel was when he received his call. I’m not sure about that, but it was likely more out of humility, not seeing it possible that he could be capable of doing what the Lord was calling him to do. That had to be for someone more, perhaps learned, educated, or having other qualities then he thought himself to have. We often do that ourselves don’t we, when asked to do something in ministry or in service to the church, or in life for that matter, think of someone else who we think more qualified than ourselves. I know I certainly did, questioning greatly what I believed was my call to ministry, and tried to convince myself otherwise on it. When it wouldn’t leave me however, I had to explore it, and found myself, perhaps in the most fitting place I had ever felt in my life.
And so what we hear of Jeremiah’s call here is much like I would say most feel ourselves when being called to serve God. It was certainly that way in the scriptures, remember Moses, when God called him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses said, “who am I, to go to Pharoah and bring the people out of Egypt. “Who am I?” (Exodus 3:1-17); and Isaiah also when called, humbling himself before God says, “woe is me for I am lost, I am a man of unclean lips, …”(Isaiah 6:1-13). And there are others as well, but the theme carries through for those who are called, that it is something they see themselves incapable of or something beyond them as such.
The Lord however sees it differently, saying to Jeremiah, “do not say, I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, (1:7).
Jeremiah’s call was not about Jeremiah, but about God and what God was capable of doing in his life. And that too is the way call operates in our own lives, that it is not so much about who we are as it is about God, how he sees us, and what he is capable of doing in and through us. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; (1:5). That doesn’t mean however, that we should look at every whim that comes along, and say, ‘O I think this is God calling me, so I can do it, because God will equip me.’ He surely will if it is a true calling, but No, give it some time, and if it is God calling you to do something, then you will know for certain when it is right.
For call itself is not ours to give or own, it comes from God, and when we recognize it as such, we will truly handle it as the gift that it is, humbly accepting it, and trusting God’s grace in it.
Jeremiah’s call was a difficult one no doubt, he was appointed by God, “over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant, (1:10).”
I can imagine after hearing the Lord speak these words to him, Jeremiah was trembling in his boots. For Jeremiah would have to proclaim God’s word in some very difficult times, and in ways it was not wanting to be heard. For Jeremiah is often referred to as the ‘doom and gloom prophet’, one with not a lot of good to say but rather issued a lot of judgement on the people. But sometimes that is how the Lord works, the difficult things have to be done, before the good can come through.
We have heard that said off late about the church as well, that much needs to be undone, torn down so to speak, gotten rid of, if we are truly to be about doing Christ’s mission in the world, feeding the hungry, tending to the sick, bringing release to the captives.
Jesus in the gospel for this Sunday, (Luke 4:21-30), when he spoke in his hometown of Nazareth, telling the people that God’s mission was to extend further afield then to his own people, got himself in a bit of hot water over it, or I should say on the edge of the cliff. We don’t always want to listen to the truth that his word speaks to us, especially if it says something we don’t want to hear. And Jesus’ hometown folks though they had praised his teaching only a few moments earlier, suddenly turned on him, because they wanted him to perform his miracles and deeds of healing for them as he had done elsewhere, or perhaps even more so for them, he was ‘Joseph’s boy afterall’ so he should take care of his own first.
Jesus’ mission however, was to the poor, the outcast, the oppressed where ever, or whomever they might be and that didn’t set right with them. “and so they drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the cliff, so that they might hurl him over the cliff.”
Following through with God’s call on ones’ life can be downright tough sometimes, as we heard through Jeremiah, and Jesus’ rejection. But we know too, though they were threatening to throw him over a cliff, Jesus passed right through the midst of them and went on his way. God’s word or his mission, is not held back by the resistance, indifference or rejection there is to it, or how we might feel about it, but will continue on in the world, with or without our being a part of it, as Jesus did here.
So, I guess what it comes down to is this, we can get on board with what God is doing in our world right now, or in our lives for that matter, regardless if we are ready for it or not, he will be getting about his business. So hopefully should the call be placed on your heart, you will make the choice to join him in it. And know too, when you do, the Lord is always by thy side.
I hope you enjoy this reflection, let me know if you stop by, or drop me a line below if you do to let me know what you think, about call, the reflection… or you can pass it on to others if you like.
Have a great week, God Bless.
“Do not be afraid …., for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord, (Jer. 1:8).”
Ministry Musings 