Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40: 1-12
1 Corinthians 1: 1-9
John 1: 29-42
Nature of a Call
For the last several weeks, via e-notes and conversations like these, we have been called to think about who we are and what we are about, personally and in communion with others. We have been thinking about new beginnings at the outset of our liturgical year, during Advent and, even though we are Christians, we are human and we are as caught up in the culture of the end of one calendar year and the beginning of a new one as much as any of our friends. Happy New Year on January 1st, is a universal invitation to start over, to try to improve in some way, to change a habit or add a new one and the rest. But those of us who observe the life of Christ through liturgical tradition, have been wrestling with more than these possibilities. Since the beginning of Advent, we have been considering the meaning of purpose, singular and communal and what is important to God. Here we are now, almost two months later, and we are still being called to question what it is we are supposed to be about.
It isn’t easy to isolate what you might think you want to change and what you think God might be asking of you. We wonder if we are manipulating our thoughts into what we rationalize might be God’s desire. Be honest. Is God really calling you to get 10,000 steps in every day? Or are you wanting to do that for yourself? It is a noble goal and one which I wish I could reach far more often, but by saying if I walk 10,000 steps a day, I’ll be caring for my body, which is God’s creation, I might be in danger of using this truism as a rationalization about the need for exercise and my argument would have little to do with call.
The problem about call is that, in order to identify our call, we have to know who we are, and part of knowing who we are is based on personal experience in the world and what we have or haven’t learned from it. How much we know about the breadth and depth of life and our experience of it, our way of handling it has a great deal to do with our ability to recognize the difference between something we want to do for our self, and a call from God to move in a particular way or direction.
What we know about the world and how it works and what we know about ourselves within the framework of the world, depends on what we have learned from someone else or through some other means available, like books, movies, travel to places other than four-star hotels, the internet, all of which were designed and prepared to teach you, by somebody else.
Everything that you can identify in the world, good, bad or indifferent, exciting or dull, exhilarating or challenging, is known to you because someone else taught you how to identify it as such: that is a tree….that is a house….that is theology…that is music….that is skiing or hang gliding. You would not be able to identify any of those, or each other or me unless someone else taught you our names. So, learning about ourselves, the world we live in and how we live in it, has all been handing down to us by someone else imparting information to us. One person imparting information to another moves that information along. What we do with the information that is given freely to us, is the question at hand.
You might think about your life and all your teachers. Not just the teachers you remember from school, but all that which exists in the universe that teaches you about who you are and the world in which you move and have your being: Your parents perhaps, or your grandparents, a sibling or a spouse, or your dog, or some other wise creature….you name it. Think about the person, or the creature, or the circumstance who, by the information they imparted to you directly or indirectly, caused you to realize new possibilities though new information. From there, view other sources of your information about the world…..social media, the internet, conversation and by simple observation.
Our Gospel reading today illustrates how the passing of new information began a movement. Jesus has already been baptized in the River Jordan by John, and the crowds there all witnessed the baptism and heard John’s words. Today, Jesus happens to walk past John, perhaps later in the same day, perhaps the next day, we are not told. John seems to be standing with some of his own disciples, when Jesus approaches him and John declares, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
I can almost hear people immediately asking John questions like, “What do you mean by Lamb of God? What do you mean by take away the sin of the world? How will he do that!?” We, who know the rest of the story, are immediately alerted to Jesus’ call and destiny…his ministry, his death and his resurrection. But for those present on that day, they simply needed information about who Jesus was and how he was to be identified.
We are unsure of how well Jesus might have been known by people in the region before he came to John, but clearly there must have been some speculation about who he was and there must have been a feeling of relief to have the mystery solved…..to hear John say, “Here is the Son of God.”
John is clear about who he thinks and knows Jesus is and he unashamedly proclaims his knowledge to the priests, the Levites and the Pharisees and all else present with ears to listen. As John is proclaiming, he is imparting knowledge and information. Sometimes we hear this described as John “testifying,” saying, “I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” but we don’t need to be made uncomfortable by that word “testifying” or allow it to mislead us or deter us from our understanding of the word. To testify simply means to impart knowledge and information. All those gathered around John now have the information they need to know about Jesus.
The next day, John is still there with two of his disciples and Jesus is still milling around and happens to walk by. It all sounds very informal and casual, conjuring up thoughts of a prior evening celebration with lots of fish cooking and conversation. Now it’s a new day, and John exclaims again, “Look, here is the Lamb of God.” The disciples heard John’s words and they immediately followed Jesus. One of these disciples we learn, is Andrew, whom we know will become one of Jesus’ disciples. After being with Jesus a while, Andrew goes to his brother, Simon Peter and tells him about Jesus. He imparted information and knowledge and Simon Peter now has that same information and knowledge. Andrew learned from John, and then is able to teach Peter all he knows about Jesus and that process of imparting knowledge and information each to another has continued on and on an on until this very moment. Every piece of scripture we hear, every word of prayer we utter, or silently offer, all our understanding of God, the history of humankind and the theology that guides us through that history, is information and knowledge that began with Jesus, Andrew and Peter. It has been handed down by word and mouth, in countless ways, forms and genres throughout the ages until it has come to you in this moment.
So we are led to examine the meaning of that 2,000 year-old thread of information and knowledge and we are led to ask who it is, that will be called to continue that thread.
We worry about the ultimate demise of the church. Churches are closing their doors, we say, and what can we do about it? Nobody comes to church any more, we are dwindling, aging and the church is dying away with us. Perhaps we are being shortsighted, when we wring our hands as we ask what we can do about it. Perhaps we are asking the wrong question in the wrong way.
Or, perhaps we should be asking a different question. Instead of asking who it is who will come to save the church, perhaps we should be asking ourselves to whom it is we should be imparting information and knowledge about Jesus. Let us think, for a moment, what the possible outcome for the church might be if we don’t. If none of us imparts information and knowledge about Jesus, then who will be entering the doors of this church when we are all gone? The Gospel would still be a reality, but who would be around to hear it.
God gave us free will and would never exert the kind of violent power to enforce God’s people to listen and inwardly digest the Gospel, but God does expect us to pass along the Good News of God’s powerful love made manifest in and through Jesus Christ. The call to spread the Good News of Christ was already set in motion by God through John’s words, “Here is the Son of God,” and the baton has passed from hand to hand until it landed in ours.
And now, here we are, with the knowledge and the information, and we are supposed to do something with it. We are required by God to impart what information and knowledge we have so that society and culture know about it, too. If we simply stay mum on the subject, society and culture will simply mow right over the top of us and our churches, without even noticing that we are here.
The world will continue on its path of effectively using and misusing its own information about over-consumption, political maneuvering for power, empowering spending and more spending in the pursuit of happiness, unless we proclaim the message of God which is all about love of God, love of neighbors and yes, love of self in gratitude for the good work God has created in every human being.
So we come to the key question of the day. In what way are you imparting information and knowledge about Jesus to those around you; to your family, your neighbors, the person you see at the grocery store? We are not talking about standing next to the tomatoes to make a speech, but we are called to ask ourselves who exactly was the last person we imparted information and knowledge to about Jesus. Who was the last person we invited to join us at church so that they might meet new people and learn more about finding the kind of love that comes from God.
It isn’t necessary to be able to give a speech like Jesus, or John or Andrew or any other teacher, and you don’t have to experience asudden theophany like Paul on the road to Damascus to proclaim who Jesus is to the world, but you must have some sort of information to give, some knowledge to share, some sense of how you are growing in your own faith, the nature of your own faith journey, a story of the impact God has and is making in your life, and why Jesus matters in this chaotic world.
No one, especially not God, is asking you to intrude, or to shove your ideas and ideals at anyone and God knows we live in a hyper-sensitive world. But we cannot allow ourselves to hide behind our fear of offending, and we can take strength in the knowing that we can never offend when we speak the truth about what sustains us.
That is the meaning of the word “testify.” To testify doesn’t mean pontificating about how much better off you are and how much better off someone else would be if only they would believe in Jesus. To testify means simply to express the meaning of faith in your life and its importance to sustaining hope in a world that seems to offer little hope. To testify is to talk about what your priorities are and what influences how you live your life. To explain that you made a vow to God, called a Baptismal Covenant and talk about what that means. When we see a good movie or read a good book, we are eager to talk about it to anyone who will listen. We want to know if they have seen or read it too. We are excited to share. We are testifying to our joy in discovery.
That is all God is asking of us. To be excited enough about how God is working in your lie to want to share the Good News of that reality. This is the nature of our call as disciples of Jesus Christ. If you cannot do this, if you find nothing you can share about your experience of Jesus, then I would invite you to move into a time of prayer, praying to God to reveal the power of God’s work begun in you through Jesus Christ. When you pray to God to hear you, God will do more than that. God will listen and come into your life in a deeply profound way.
If you want to understand God’s call to you, think of Jesus walking past John, and Andrew hearing John’s words, “Here is the Son of God.” My friends, as followers of Christ, hear God’s call to take your part in the stream of words and conversations from the hearts and minds of the millions of saints gone before you, and provide the information and knowledge to ensure those who come will hear the call, too.
In honor of Martin Luther King whom we honor tomorrow, I’ll quote the words he spoke in a speech he gave in Raleigh, North Carolina. While speaking of the struggle with which he was engaged, he said, “Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community.”
To create a beloved community is to tell your story with the same excitement you exude as you share the good news of a child’s birth.
To impart your true information and knowledge about the power of God the Creator, God the Redeemer and God the Holy Spirit, that is the nature of your call. To heed it, will ensure that the Good News of Jesus will continue on.
Amen.
End
Written to the Glory of God
E. J. R. Culver+
January 19, 2020