If I were to ask you how did you get to church today-what would you say? Most of you would
say that you came by car, or perhaps some of you walked. Maybe some are saying to themselves,
‘I was dragged here.’
However, if I were to change the question to ‘what brought you to COOS on this dreary January
morning would you still be inclined to respond in terms of transportation or would you begin to
think in different ways? Would you think, for instance, that you are here because you are
responding to a call?
Now I know what you are thinking, a call is something for clergy, holy people? So, before you
protest that my suggestion is far-fetched and doesn’t apply to you, let’s recall some of our
Biblical narrative.
Abraham and Sarah were long past retirement age, settling down, and God said, “Not so fast I’ve
got some plans for you; I’ve picked out some land over to the west of here; it’s going to be the
home of my people; you’re going to be the father and mother of my people; guess where you’re
going?”
Moses killed a man back in Egypt and found himself in the witness protection program out in the
boondocks helping his father- in-law with the farm. Suddenly a bush bursts into flame. A voice
says, “I am the Lord your God; I have heard the cry of my people. I have seen their suffering. I
have come down to deliver them. You are going to lead them. Now Moses, guess where you’re
going?”
David and Mary were teenagers; Ruth a widow; Zacchaeus and Matthew were tax collectors
Luke was a physician; Paul had an anger management problem. To all of them God said, “Guess
where you are going? I’ve got plans for you; follow me.” One of the compelling elements of our
Biblical narrative is that over and over again God’s chosen were ordinary folks, just like you and
me.
In terms of our Gospel reading for today, we know that Jesus took those four fishermen, Andrew,
Peter, James and John to places they would have never gone by themselves. Has that ever
happened to you? Have life’s events taken you places you would have never expected, but those
events shaped you, formed you, into the person you are today? Do you know anything about
that? I think most of you do.
I certainly do. When I run into some of my fraternity brothers, they are amazed that I wound up
in the ministry. You see, they knew me as a happy-go-lucky party boy, not particularly religious,
a history major and headed for law school which had always been my dream. But then there was
Vietnam. One night North Vietnamese troops broke through our perimeter. There was a terrible
fire fight; the next morning when it was over I was still alive but some in our camp weren’t. The
precariousness and fragility of life slapped me in the face that night and my carefree attitude of
existence was shattered forever. I never made it to law school. After two and half years of trying
this and that – many of my choices not healthy – on a cold snowy night in Massachusetts I
answered Christ’s call to follow him in a way that I never expected.
Sometimes in popular American Christianity, we get this wrong. We say, “I decided to follow
Jesus.” But that’s not how it works! You can’t “give your life to Christ.” He takes it! It’s not all
that important that you “decided to follow Jesus.” The Bible makes it clear that in Jesus Christ
God has decided for you! In John chapter 15, as Jesus is speaking to his disciples after the
Last Supper, he says to them, “You did not choose me, I chose you.”
Look, everyone is here because God put you here. For a reason. For a purpose. For some of you,
the call was dramatic and life-changing, for others it has been a lifetime of quiet leading and
coaxing. For some, you are still kicking and screaming against that voice; for most, there has
been lots of questioning and wondering. But wherever we are spectrum, know this: Jesus has
plans for us, for this wonderful parish. Right now, Jesus is roaming the highways and by-ways
right now – looking for disciples because (you know why?) Christianity is not a spectator sport.
Today we meet Jesus the recruiting officer: I want you.
Question for us today is: how in the midst of our lives right now in our various vocations and
occupations, our stages of life, we are going to respond to his invitation to follow Christ? Think
about it; pray about it. How can I serve, how can I be a beacon of light and hope for Christ at this
time and in this place? How can I be a fisher of people?
So we are called, not that we are willing travelers on this thing called discipleship. Thank God
we’re not called to be successful, or nice, or even friendly. Just faithful, and obedient. Willing to
grow and to be changed. The good news is that Jesus is going places and we are the ones who get
to go with him. Jesus is once again on the move. It will be interesting to see where he is going to
take us in the coming year Amen.
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