This doesn\u2019t happen very often with our new lectionary, but today there\u2019s one theme that can be found in all four of our readings from scripture. It\u2019s the notion of being called.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The readings from Isaiah and from Paul\u2019s First Letter to the Corinthians both begin with words about being called, about being set apart by God. This fits right in with today\u2019s section of John\u2019s gospel, in which we hear his account of what is usually called \u201cThe Call of the First Disciples.\u201d John the Baptist points to Jesus and says of him, \u201cBehold the Lamb of God.\u201d Two of the Baptist\u2019s disciples hear this, decide to check out this Jesus guy, and end up abandoning John and going off with Jesus instead. It\u2019s this call, the call of these first two disciples, that is the one we need to pay special attention to if we want to understand what it\u2019s usually like to be called by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all, this business of being called is a tricky and an important thing. It\u2019s easy to get confused about it, especially the way we use it these days. We tend to equate being called in terms of the language and context in 1 Corinthians and Isaiah. That is, with being told by God to do some specific thing, usually a pretty major thing. We talk of being called to be ordained, or being called to a special \u2013 usually a full-time and professional \u2013 form of service, almost always in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s about all we do with being called, and it\u2019s really handy. You see, by looking at things this way, most of us can listen to the story of the call of these disciples and neatly separate what happened to them from what\u2019s going on with us. \u201cAfter all, they were called \u2013 we\u2019re just ordinary folks.\u201d So we\u2019re safe from all that call business. It\u2019s about someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An interesting perspective on this can be gained by serving on one of the diocesan Commissions on Ministry. One of the things a Commission on Ministry does is interview people who want to be ordained; and those folks really struggle with this idea of call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few of the people interviewed will have had powerful experiences of the presence of God, and they think that this means they have to do something new and different \u2013 for Episcopalians, alas, that usually means to run off and get ordained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the vast majority of people interviewed have come to where they are through pretty ambiguous, complicated and circuitous paths \u2013 paths that have led them to suspect that it might be a good idea to get ordained. At the same time, they aren\u2019t sure if they are \u201ccalled,\u201d whatever that might mean. So they all just dread talking to the commission because they know they\u2019re going to be asked about it, and they all think they ought to have a better answer than they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the fact is, this whole way of looking at, and at looking for a call from God as a call to a specific job or a task really misses the main point. Sure, there may well be such a thing as a special call to a specific ministry or type of service, although that is both rare and very easily misunderstood. But that\u2019s not usually what the Bible is talking about when it talks about being called; it\u2019s not what\u2019s really going on in the gospel we just heard; and it\u2019s not what is usually going on with us as God calls us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being ordained, or being a missionary or a monk or something like that, is quite secondary to the real, the central call we all have from God. Those two followers of John the Baptist who Jesus asked to \u201ccome and see\u201d were called exactly as we are called. They were called to be disciples \u2013 just as we are called to be disciples. They were called to be disciples in their place and in their time, for the sake of their generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things this means is that we don\u2019t have to imitate Andrew\u2019s, or John\u2019s, or Peter\u2019s actions in order to see, with some clarity, how their call is like the call of Christ to each of us, and to all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first thing to notice is that Jesus does not first, or primarily, call them to do a particular task or to fill a particular role. Indeed, he didn\u2019t ask them to do anything. Our call as Christians is not initially for us \u2013 as it was not, initially, for his first disciples \u2013 a call to tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is, instead, an invitation to relationship. Jesus does not say, \u201cDo this\u201d; he says, \u201cCome and see.\u201d Only later does he give specific content and direction to where that might lead. There\u2019s a big difference between a call to a task and an invitation to relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To respond to a call for relationship, for intimacy, is a very different thing from signing up to do a piece of work \u2013 in the same way that falling in love is very different from getting hired. To set out to do a job requires some clarity about what is involved, it\u2019s negotiable, it has its limits, you know what it looks like when the job is over, and so on. To be called into relationship \u2013 to be called in love \u2013 this is an invitation to enter a mystery; it\u2019s to move out, blindly, into uncharted waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Jesus says, \u201cFollow me,\u201d he is calling us first to himself \u2013 to a personal intimacy and a shared life. That\u2019s what matters, that\u2019s what is primary. Everything else is left behind; everything else becomes secondary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, if we look at Jesus\u2019 call from the perspective of what\u2019s left behind, it\u2019s a call to repent. But if we see that same call from the perspective of what comes next, then it\u2019s a call to seek him first, to know him better and to move toward making that relationship the central focus of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we are called, and we are<\/em> called, each and every one of us \u2013 just look again at our Baptismal Covenant \u2013 this is primarily a call to be held by Jesus for a while, and not to go anywhere, not to do anything. It\u2019s a call to find out where Jesus lives, and to spend some time living there. By and by, this will lead us somewhere. But we won\u2019t know where for a while, maybe not for a long while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why a sense of call \u2013 something that wanders through our lives from time to time \u2013 can often be both frightening and frustrating. We might know something, perhaps something very important, is going on; something that has to do with all of our life and much more. Then, grabbing on to the wrong notion of a call from God, we start looking for what we are called to do. After all, we live in a society that insists that for something to be important it has to produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of that, we are, especially at the beginning, simply asked to get to know God and Jesus a little better. It\u2019s a call to listen, and to wait. It\u2019s a time to imitate the psalmist, a time to \u201clisten to what the Lord God is saying.\u201d We need that first. We need that most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what happened to those first disciples \u2013 they stayed close to Jesus for a while. They learned what they could and came to know him a little. Then, admittedly long before they thought they were ready, Jesus gave them things to do. For some, these tasks were dramatic, for others they were quiet and invisible. The call to Jesus will always, in one form or another, find expression in ministry. But the call comes first. There can be no real, abiding and sustaining ministry without relationship with Christ, without obedience to him as he calls us to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are called to be disciples. Each of us. That call comes with our baptism, and that call to relationship and ministry will haunt us, and track us down; it will trouble our sleep and whisper in our ears at the worst possible times. It will grow stronger and weaker and stronger again. It may seem to go away, but it always comes back. Because finally, it\u2019s our Lord calling us to himself. It\u2019s his call to life, to joy and to true peace. It\u2019s a call to all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sermon was written by the Rev. James Liggett<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This doesn\u2019t happen very often with our new lectionary, but today there\u2019s one theme that can be found in all four of our readings from scripture. It\u2019s the notion of being called. 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