Reformation Sunday
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 51:10-14
John 7:24
Today
we hear the story of David’s call to be king.
And the thing that always impresses me the most in this story is how
unlikely a candidate for king he was. He
was small, we are told, and the youngest, we are told. His own father, when told that a king was to
be chosen from his sons, discounted David as even a possibility. Scripture tells us that God said to Samuel, “Have
no regard for his appearance or stature… God doesn’t look at things like humans
do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the
heart.” God called David, Samuel
interpreted that call, offered David kingship of Israel, and David said “yes”.
When
a person is given a call, to whatever it is, it is rare that we understand it
or truly expect it. Calls come, despite
ourselves. And we rarely know why, or
when, or how. The only question that we
have to answer in those moments is will we accept that call or not? Will we say “yes” when that call comes?
I
think about the movie, “A Dolphin’s Tale” which was based on the true story of
Winter, the Dolphin, who was caught in a lobster trap and eventually lost her
tail because of it. In the movie,
Sawyer, who is a boy who is basically lost and withdrawn from life, has to take
summer school because he did not do well in school during the school year. On his way home one day, he sees the dolphin
caught in a lobster trap and he saves her, frees her from the trap, gets help
from a local aquarium and in so doing, saves her life. He then sneaks into the aquarium to check on
her and is able to really help her overcome her own sadness and depression,
especially after her infected tail must be removed to save her life yet
again. It is because of him that Winter
starts eating again. It is because of
their connection that Winter finds her life again. In saving Winter the dolphin, Sawyer finds
himself coming out of his own shell and his own depression. They save each other. And this lost boy finds his direction: finds
what he cares about, what his “calling” really is. Before this encounter he had had no interest
at all in marine biology or helping animals, but through this encounter,
through a situation that was placed in front of him and which he responded to
with a “yes, I will help” he found his life’s work.
I
think about Carl Sagan who wrote the book, “Contact”. At least at one point in his career, Carl
Sagan was a declared atheist. And yet he
wrote a book that not only supports faith, but makes it very clear that there
are things we just know, things we believe because they happen to us, because
we experience them, live them, that cannot be explained to others, that cannot
be “proven.” Carl Sagan was an amazing
scientist. He also, in the end, became
an amazing advocate for faith, despite himself, despite his intentions, or his
plans, or even his own beliefs. He was
given a story to tell, he wrote the story, and the story with all of its wisdom
continues to be a beacon for faith, for trust.
He was given an unexpected call, and he said “yes.”
When
the kids and I lived in Ohio, one day as we were walking the half mile to
church, they started picking up garbage that was littering the tree lawns next
to the sidewalk. They couldn’t stand to
see the beauty of the landscape dirtied, marred, interrupted by garbage, and so
they began a crusade to make the walk more beautiful. After that first day when I saw them doing
this, we walked armed: carrying with us plastic bags in which to put the
garbage, wearing plastic gloves to pick up the garbage. It was a call that was written on their
hearts: not one their appearance or their training or their experiences, even,
would have told anyone else would lead to being “garbage picker-uppers” or land
beautifiers (as I thought of them). It
was a call that happened, and one that they answered very simply with a “yes”.
Mitch Album and his wife took
over operations of an orphanage in Haiti in 2010 after the huge Haitian
earthquake that killed so many. They
first went after hearing of the suffering there, and little by little he built
up the place until one day, in his own words, “in a rush of something I cannot
to this day explain, I ….blurted out, “If you want, I could take over running
the orphanage. I can find the money. And the people. I think.”
He and his wife traveled back and forth between the United States and
Haiti where they ran the orphanage for three years when they learned that one
of the kids there, Chika, had a brain tumor.
They found that the medical system in Haiti is not sufficient to provide
care for little Chika, so they took her back to the United States with them in
order to get her the best medical care they can. Chika ended up living with them for the rest
of her short life. They took her in,
took her to doctors, fought for her life for months before the tumor overcame
her and she died. That was a call to
parent this little 5-7 year old girl that they had not expected, never
expected. It was put in front of them,
and they said, “yes”.
On this day when we are
remembering and celebrating the reformation of the church, 500 years ago, we
honor Martin Luther. Martin Luther by
posting his 95 theses did not expect to start a new denomination. He had no plans for splitting the church. He was enraged at the injustices he saw being
committed by the heads of the church. He
was enraged, impassioned, moved to act.
He felt the call to DO something, and he, too, said “yes” without even
the smallest inkling of where that path would take him or the consequences of
stepping into action. He had no idea
that his stance would lead to his excommunication from the Catholic
church. He had no idea that his
confrontation of unjust practices would lead to the rupture of the Catholic
church. He had no idea that his
translating the bible into German so that ordinary people could read it would
be the first step in translating the Bible into all sorts of different
languages so that anyone who could read could eventually read scripture in
their own language. He had no idea that
his “yes” to the urgent callings he felt in his heart would do so much. But he said “yes” and history was made.
(Bureau story: Calvin, Zwingly,
John Knox).
The thing is, those who make
history, the heroes of our past and present, rarely if ever set out to BE
heroes. A hero is someone who, when life
threw terrible things their way, said “yes” to the calling to do something
about it, to stand up against it, to take on whatever was in front of them that
had to be done. A hero is someone who,
when things got too hard, did not turn away, but continued the battle for
good. A hero is not BORN a hero. A hero becomes a hero by saying “yes” to whatever
is in front of them to do at the very hardest of moments.
In the Presbyterian Church, we
acknowledge every week, by a simple little phrase in the back of the bulletin,
that the “ministers” of the church are “all the people”. Pastors are “teaching elders” because the
only difference between a pastor and other members of a church congregation is
that we have a specific job as teachers of theology, history, interpretation of
the Word and sacraments. This is not to
say that a sense of “call” or God’s presence in discerning who was to be a
pastor for a church was absent or missing.
Call is a very important part of deciding who is to pastor a
congregation. But it is to say that our
call, our vocation, our job as determined by God, self and the community, are
not more important and above all not more holy
than the call, the vocation, the jobs of other people in the family of faith.
Still, this recognition that we
are all equal children of God, one not more important, more called or more holy
than another, has been and continues to be a challenge for many. I had someone approach me a few weeks ago
asking for prayers because they said, “you are closer to heaven than we
are.” But I am not. I think it is hard, in our modesty, for most
people to feel, accept and rejoice in the fact that God calls YOU to a specific
job or task, that God has chosen you, each of you, for particular
callings. This can be hard to see, hard
to accept. But all you have to do is say
“yes”.
The
good news in this is that God has called all of us. Each of us has a call from God. We are not alone in receiving a call, we are
not unique in it. It does not need to be
scary for us because each of us has received this gift, this call, this purpose
from God. We walk together. We learn together. We strive together to be God’s people and to
fulfill God’s call for our lives. And
like with Jeremiah, none of us can say, “but I am only a child.” None of us can say, like Moses, “but I have a
physical, or mental, or emotional disorder that will not allow me to serve
you.” None of us can say, “but I am not
worthy,” because it isn’t about being worthy or being whole, or even being
mature. God calls all of us. And all we have to do in response is to say
“yes, I will go”, “yes, I will answer this call”, “yes, I will listen and I
will respond.” It’s all that easy and all
that hard. Amen.
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