The theme from the lessons today is about call. We heard from Isaiah, “Heads up. Listen up. God called me when I was in the womb, and He named me.” From the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” The Gospel is St. John’s account of the call of the first close followers of Jesus. Two of St. John the Baptist’s close followers peel off and go and follow Jesus. One of them is St. Andrew, who then goes and recruits his brother, Cephus—Peter. The stories are about different calls and different ways to be called.
One of the things I grew to enjoy in my years as a bishop was to take advantage of those between times moments at church and ask people, perhaps someone just confirmed or ready to be confirmed, “How did you get here?” I remember one such incident. We were standing in line for the covered dish supper at Christ’s Church, Big Stone Gap, which is in the far left-hand corner of Virginia. The man was about 30, and I had just confirmed him and his wife. He said his wife works for a company and was transferred here. He grew up in this town, and attended that big church right across the street, but his sister is not welcome there. Even though his sister and her partner go to a church in Charlotte, he could not go to any church where his sister is not welcome. He said he told this story to a fellow teacher, and she said, “Come to Christ Church, you and your sister and her partner. You’re all welcome here.” And that’s how this man and his wife got to Christ Church.
I have another story, and this actually happened in Oregon. I was getting ready to confirm another 30-year old, and I asked how she ended up here. She said she had been at loose ends lately and feeling a little uncertain about where to go. She happened to walk by a church and there was a labyrinth outside the entrance. She walked the labyrinth, and when she finished it was so moving that she decided to try the church. She had been here ever since.
It spreads out from that. One of my small churches, just a roadside church outside of Stanton, Virginia, was built by the parishioners 150 years ago with native stone, and seated about 100 people. The church was going through a bit of a renaissance, led by young retirees, which was a wonderful thing to watch. They had found a retired priest who was drawing his pension, and he would come to church on Sunday and do the service, and was then on call the rest of the time. He liked doing that. As I talked with him, he said he loved being a parish priest all those years, and liked what he was doing now in retirement. But he said he always wanted to drive a school bus, and that’s what he was doing five days a week. Called to be a school bus driver.
I remember one time I asked a pediatrician why he decided to be a pediatrician. He said he went off to medical school to become a doctor, but had no idea what kind of doctor he wanted to be. He realized as his training went on that he was the most comfortable and most at home in the community of pediatricians. That’s how he ended up in that specialty.
God calls us in different ways to do different things, and it can develop and change throughout our lives. Sometimes it is direct like the voice of God; sometimes it is indirect; sometimes it has always been there; sometimes it’s a matter of going there and doing it.
What I want you to do is take some time and reflect on “How did I get here?” What are the ways in my whole life or even now that I have been called and led to do something? Think about it, and if you can, share it with somebody. Or, ask your neighbor how they came to be where they are. One last thing to remember and never forget: God loves you exactly as you are, without reservation, more than you can ask or begin to imagine.
AMEN
