Consider your own call

A Sermon for the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany (RCL A) 1-30-2011

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
Title: Consider your own call

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ: I spoke with you last week about the dangerous place in which we find ourselves today as a Christian community. Our continuation as a distinct community is at risk. We will be discussing this fact, and its implications, later on today at our Annual Meeting.

Make no mistake about it: we are standing at a crossroads. To think of our situation in biblical terms, we could say that we are standing now on the shore of the red sea. The forces which seek to end our existence as a distinct community, like the armies of Pharaoh, are fast on our heels. Before us lies the sea, and here we find ourselves between the forces of destruction on one side and the seemingly impossible decision to walk out into the sea, supported only by our trust in the promise of God.

My friends, this will be our singular focus in worship over the next few months, and perhaps longer. I feel clearly that the Holy Spirit is preparing us to walk out into the waves, through the red sea, over to a new and different place. There is a major transition ahead of us, and it will do no good to simply ignore it or to be surprised when it comes.

We know what the trouble is. We need more people engaged and involved in our church, particularly more youth and young adults. Can I get an “amen”?

There are many different factors that have caused this shortcoming and brought about our situation. But I am convinced that one of the reasons that our witness to the gospel is ineffectual and so often ignored by our younger people is due to the lack of personal testimony to the grace of God among us.

Think about the world we live in. In our everyday lives, we swim in a sea of advertising, and many young people are skeptical about what others are selling to them. How can we convince them that this gospel message is real and true and life-changing if we ourselves are unwilling or unable to speak clearly about what Christ has done in our own lives? If we have walked this Christian journey for years now and we have not yet experienced God working and moving in our lives, then why will our young people be inspired to make this journey for themselves? But if God has moved powerfully in your life, and changed you in crucial ways, how will they know unless you share your story with us?

Look back at what the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, the passage which we heard read today. “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters.” Consider, he says, when God touched you. Remember what God has done in your life. Hark back to the time when Jesus entered into your life in a conscious and conspicuous way.

Our own experience of the grace of God in our real lives must always a touchstone, a signpost, a marker on the journey. It is one of the primary sources of authority for each of us, one key way to discern our way into the future.

While meditating on this last week, I realized that most of you do not know my own testimony. That’s unfortunate and it must be remedied. So, here is the “cliff notes” version.

I was nominally raised in the Episcopal Church, here in the Diocese of NJ, but we rarely attended. We were typical Christmas and Easter folks. I probably attended Sunday School only 4 or 5 times in my life. I was baptized, of course, and I remember my confirmation when I was thirteen, but these sacramental events did not seem to change the place that I or my family gave to God in our lives. In high school, I became a seeker. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that I tried to find joy and happiness in a lot of different ways, many of which are not good for one’s health.

I explored different spiritual ideas as well. I spoke with Hare Krishna devotees over on South Street. I listened to a lot of Bob Marley and read about Rastafarianism. I attended Shabat prayers with Jewish friends. I was on a journey, seeking after truth on which I could build my life. During my senior year in high school, I remember going to the midnight mass on Christmas Eve at our little Episcopal church over in Vincentown. All of the 75 or so people who were there were hugging each other and singing, and I remember thinking, “wow – if I really am searching for peace and love, then there seems to be a whole lot of it in this place!”

All my family became more involved in church that year. My dad and I joined the choir (that shows how inclusive they were!), we participated in a wonderful Faith Alive weekend, I delivered the youth sermon on Mother’s Day that year. But I was still searching, unable to find clarity in my mind and heart. That is, until my cousin invited me to join him at a Young Life camp in New York state just two weeks before I was to leave for college.

What an amazing week! There at camp, for the first time in my life, I heard a clear and direct and personal invitation for me to make a decision to follow Jesus. I made that decision one night at camp, and it was like someone turned on the light switch inside of me. I had never really understood the Bible before. I had read it, but it never had made sense to me. But there at Young Life camp, I picked up a New Testament in modern English, found a boulder in a stream where I could sit and be alone, and I sat and read through the whole thing. The whole New Testament! And it made sense! I didn’t understand all the details of course, but I could see what was happening – the story, the message. All of a sudden, they made sense to me, and I could identify with that story. It was my story. And since that week, my life has never been the same.

Praise God that this happened before I went off to college at one of the best party schools in America! Thankfully, I entered college in an intentional, daily relationship with Jesus Christ and he has since guided me continually ever since. I have no idea where my searching would have taken me, and where I would be today, if I had not made that decision to follow Jesus.

“Consider your own call, my brothers and sisters.” Everyone’s story is different. Each person is unique, and God’s interactions with each person is unique. But it is vital for you that you know your story. Consider how God called you, and how the grace of God has impacted your life. And then tell that story to someone else. It doesn’t have to be like mine. It is your story of God’s work in your particular life.

Now, I know that many of you may feel inadequate for this task or that you have nothing really to say. But make no mistake about it: God has been at work in your life. You would not be in this place of worship here today if God were not actively at work in your life. Learn to recognize it, to name it, to piece it all together until you can see the coherent whole story of God’s work within you.

It is good for your soul to know your testimony, to be able to see what God has done in your story and to speak about it. But it is even better for the future of our church! If we are to reach a larger section of our younger people, we need to become a safe community where people tell their God-stories. If we are to inspire our youth to live their lives in relationship with Jesus Christ, then we must become a community where we share openly and honestly with each other about what Jesus has done in our lives.

Young people can smell a fake, and they will not invest themselves in something that is not real and important and authentic and true. I believe that your faith is all of these things, but how will others know unless we learn to share our stories?

May God give us all the grace to see what Christ has done within us, and the boldness to tell our stories for all to hear. Amen.