Sermon: February 4, 2007: St.
Andrew’s Picton
Ephipany 5, Call of Isaiah/Disciples
-I’d like to start with a
bit of a recap
-we are now into our 5th
Sunday of Epiphany; the word epiphany means revelation and I suggested 4 weeks ago that this is the season when we look for
signs that remind us that we belong to God
-they are also signs that clarify
our mission
-the season of Epiphany always begins
with Jesus baptism—it serves as a turning point in his life; it marks his calling
-the next Sunday we read about his
first miracle as recorded by John—it spoke of a wedding party where the wine ran out and Jesus miracle resulted in the
equivalent of 600 bottles of wine showing up so that the festivities could continue
-it is a miracle that points to
the abundance of God’s gifts
-the next Sunday we heard Jesus
tell his hometown who he was, a prophet, a preacher, a healer called to share the good news of God’s love with the poor,
those who were without hope, those who needed liberation
-then last week we heard two sermons
on Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth
-first we heard about the abundance
of spiritual gifts with which God blesses his church
-and in the afternoon Glynis
preached on I Corinthians 13—after Paul speaks about all of the spiritual gifts he reminds the church that all of the
gifts are given to the church so that it can accomplish one thing: and that one thing is…..(love)
-so
Epiphany reminds us that God created us for a purpose, created St. Andrew’s for a purpose
-and while our purpose may not always
be clear, there are 2 words that will rise again and again
-those two words are abundance
and love
-God will always provide us with
more than we need to accomplish that purpose
-that’s number 1
-and whatever the specifics of our
calling may be, we are called to serve a gospel of love
-in today’s passages we zoom
in on 2 people who are being called by God
-they are people who played significant
roles in the life of God’s people—first Isaiah, the major Israelite prophet who accompanied the people of Israel
into exile and then Peter, who accompanied Jesus in his ministry.
-there are 2 things in these call
stories that interest me this morning
-the first is what they have in
common
-both Isaiah and Peter respond in
the same way
-they are both overcome with fear
when they are confronted by the power of God
-now it seems to me that we have
2 classic responses when God tries to get our attention:
-the first is busy-ness—we
keep ourselves busy so that we can avoid the voice of God
-as people we do it….as churches
we do it
-Oh, we are so busy but sometimes
keeping busy helps us avoid a confrontation with God
-the other response is not avoidance
but paralysis
-God has confronted us
-we do hear what God is asking us
to do but we are afraid and our fear paralyzes us
-so the stories we read today of
the call of Isaiah and the call of Peter are probably similar to our own experiences of being confronted with God’s
call
-I wonder why they were afraid
-I wonder why we are afraid when
confronted by God to fulfill a particular task or to take on a particular ministry
-is its because we think we can’t
do it, we’ll fall on our face, we’ll fail
-Isaiah sounded like he didn’t
think he was up to it
-I can understand that—he
was called to preach during a really difficult time in the life of Israel and you know how that goes—when you don’t
like the message, it’s the messenger who gets in trouble
-I think with Peter there is a sense
of awe that paralyzes him
-but it is the same awe that leads
him to walk away from everything he knows
-and so maybe our fear has to do
with a recognition that God is going to demand something of us that we aren’t sure we want to give
-I know lots of people who never
quite get around to saying “Yes” to God because they are afraid
-I know as many churches are never
quite get around to saying “Yes” to God because they afraid
-so that is the one thing that is
clear in these 2 stories—they are like our stories, stories of men and women who are confronted by God, invited by God
to accomplish a task, to pursue a ministry and well, they’re afraid
-that’s how they begin
-but somehow by God’s grace
both Peter and Isaiah get beyond their fear and they get on with their ministry
-and so here is the second thing
that interests me
-it is more clear in the story of
Peter but I suspect the same was true of Isaiah
-the story of the call of the first
disciples ends with these words, “They left everything and followed him”
-now that’s radical and Presbyterians
are not known for being radical—in fact, most people who call themselves Christians are not known for being radical
-but we need to think about what
this passage means for us and for this congregation
-so now I have to tell you a story
-remember when I shared with you
last week how different the induction into this church felt compared to the induction into my previous church 17 years ago
-well, we went back to the farm
on Thursday night—the boys had a day off school and we had a few things to bring back
-I can tell you I wasn’t looking
forward to it—going back to an empty house and loading furniture and well, it felt a bit weird
-so we passed Thursday night on
our mattresses on the floor and had arranged for the bus to pick Cole up for school and he almost missed it just like always
-and Luke’s best friend is
in the French system and had a day off so I dropped Luke off up the road and then I had to go see a neighbour behind us and
it was the most sunny day up on the hill and every road is familiar and every view was glorious and it suddenly occurred to
me what I’d done—I’d left it all
-now when I arrived at that church
17 years ago I gained it all—I got a job, a house, a car, a paycheque—I had nothing and then I had everything
-no wonder I was so excited
-this time I had everything—a
house, a wonderful house in a really special part of the world, good friends, good neighbours, a remarkable school for my
children, a part-time job with a church
-I had everything
-and then came the call again
-but this time it was a call to
walk away from everything
-I think there are times when God’s
call comes to us like a familiar friend reminding us who we are, inviting us to get our feet wet, deepening our joy
-like when we are invited to do
something that well, we know we are made to do, and when we do it it’s like we’ve been preparing our whole lives
for the invitation
-I know the first time I read the
profile for the church in Chateauguay that my name was on it—I had no doubts whatsoever I knew they weren’t ready
and they had to go through a process but 6 months later they called me
-and it was like putting on the
most comfortable pair of shoes
-there are other times when the
call of God does not feel so comfortable
-it didn’t feel comfortable
to Isaiah that day—it was not an exciting day for him
-it was, in fact downright scary
-but when he heard the voice of
God, he responded, “Here I am, send me!”
-I wonder what God’s voice
is sounding like to you these days…
-does it sound like that of a trusted
friend encouraging you to take a decision you have been avoiding, encouraging you to take a leap of faith, spread your wings
-or is it a voice that sounds a
bit threatening because what it is calling you to do is, in fact, threatening the way you think about yourself, threatening
your comfort, threatening your way of seeing the world
-I wonder what the call of God sounds
like to this congregation
-remember Glynis’s words last
week, the challenge she gave us to be a harbour of hope
-isn’t that a wonderful image
especially for a church situated on an island
-in the sea of life, what would
it mean for us to be a harbour of hope for weary pilgrims, frightened pilgrims, hurting pilgrims
-I get excited thinking about that
call, don’t you?
-if we were to take that call seriously
is there anything we would have to walk away from??
-any attitudes that we would have
to abandon? Any ways of thinking or doing that would get in the way of our being a harbour of hope
-What if we said: We, the congregation
of St. Andrew’s Picton, commit ourselves to being a harbour of hope. In this place you will find the healing and the
hospitality of Christ.—does anything in that statement feel not right to you?? Scary?? Impossible??
-or do you think it has your name
on it, our name on it???
-I wonder what we would give to
be a harbour of hope in a hurting world
-I wonder what we would give up
to be a harbour of hope in a hurting world
-as we pursue our life together
in the year ahead, it is defining this call that is our major task and then once we define it, we need to decide if we to
will respond as the faithful before us: “Here we are! Send us.
-Thanks be to God.
