God's Call

“Moses vor dem brennenden Dornbusch,” Gebhard Fugel, Diözesanmuseum Freising, click image to link to gallery.

Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 11, Exodus 3:1-15

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” —Exodus 3:4

Today’s text records the moment that Moses discovered his life’s work.

If you ever wonder about what kind of work you should be doing, or career you should be pursuing, then you’ll find that there are plenty of books and services you can buy to help you decide. There are questionnaires that identify your skills, talents, values, and passions, then match you to careers that correspond with them. There are career coaches and counselors, head hunters and resumé-writing services, and internet sites like “Linked-In” that allow you to network virtually anywhere. 

Much of this accumulated wisdom applies to all of us, whether we are looking for career redirection or simply trying to select service activities that maximize our impact. Some of the simplest bits of advice seem most helpful, and here’s one I like. Ask yourself three questions: What do I like to do? What am I good at? What needs to be done in the world? Where those questions overlap, says ethicist Andy Fleming, there is your “sweet spot,” the place where you are able to live out your destiny at its fullest.[1]  It’s a slightly different way of expressing the same sort of thing that Frederick Buechner was getting at in his book “Wishful Thinking” when he wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

The problem with this method for determining direction is that it doesn’t always work that way, at least according to the Bible. The Acts of the Apostles records the call of Saul, which began with God’s rejection of some of the things Saul was really good at, like being righteous according to the law, and telling others why they were wrong. Saul’s call starts out with a fair amount of personal suffering and anxiety before he finally is set by God on the right path toward a faithful and fruitful vocation. Then there’s the story from the Hebrew Testament about Moses, who has gotten himself out of Egypt, away from public attention and away from the stresses that got him into trouble. He’s out there on the Midian hills, where he feels God at work in nature. Finally, he’s using his talents to work the land. His gifts aren’t in public speaking or diplomacy or any of that stuff that was part of his younger days in the royal court. Then God appears along his path in a way that Moses cannot ignore. God calls Moses to a new purpose and a new destiny. Moses does not feel that he is being called to a “sweet spot.” He doesn’t feel like the direction God is leading will bring him any “deep gladness.” According to our scripture passages for today, if you’re listening to God’s call, then you may not always like what you hear. When you’re following God’s call, your head may know it’s right, but your heart may be deeply conflicted.

John Calvin, the father of our Reformed tradition, wrote about the topic of a Christian’s vocation. Like Martin Luther, he liked to emphasize that all Christians are called by God to their life’s work, not just ministers. He thought that if you read the Bible correctly, then you would understand that any job benefiting the community is valuable, even when it doesn’t give you an emotional high. He wrote, “No task will be so sordid or base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight.”[2]

Some of us reminisce about ministry thirty years ago, and reflect on the  changes that have taken place in society: the way people are more likely to change jobs, less likely to be rooted in one community, families in which two parents are working for income outside the home. The Church faces different challenges in the wake of these changes, with more work is done by fewer volunteers, and some tasks going unaddressed at all.

When I think about these changes, it makes it all the more impressive when church members do hear God’s call, and do make a commitment of their time and energy, even when other activities are competing for their attention. When I think about the important tasks of this congregation, and volunteer work that so many of you do in providing member care, hospitality, funeral luncheons, worship leadership, sacrament support, faith formation, youth ministry, mission outreach, fiscal management, building maintenance, and more, I hesitate to begin mentioning names for fear of leaving someone out among the dozens and dozens of you who are at work. 

If you feel like you’re more of an observer than an active participant in ministry, and you wonder how you might ever be like some of these saints who have surround us with the benefit of their service, there are a couple of questions you might ask. They are questions that are a little bit different than the ones most career counselors or books will give you because these questions assume you can talk to God about your vocation and purpose. They assume that vocation and purpose need not always give you an emotional high to be right.  Ask, “God, what do YOU want me to do?” and “God, how do I need to change in order to do it?”

If the answer you hear is a true, right, and good, but uncomfortable, then remember that is often the nature of a true call. Moses wanted to run away from Egypt. Paul was stymied, confused, when God met him on the Damascus road. really into carrying a cross. But God said that someone needed to do certain things, and they were the right “someone” for the job.

As we prepare for next week’s meeting of the congregation to elect new officers, it seems to me that the nominating committee never has had a greater challenge in assembling a slate of candidates.  I think the pandemic has something to do with this, the changes in work and living patterns that have taken place, the energy it has drawn out of so many.  If you’re still mulling over whether God is calling you to service, and when might be the right time, perhaps these old words by the writer Annie Dillard are worth hearing or hearing again:

“There is no one to send, nor a clean hand nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead as if innocence had ever been and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted …. But there is no one but us. There never has been.”[3]

No one but us to be Christ’s voice, and hands, and feet. No one but us to be Christ for the world today.  And it will happen only if we each listen intently for God’s call.

NOTES

[1] Andy Fleming, “The Ethics of Shaping a Life,” Ethics News & Views, 1 Feb. 2000, http://ethics.emory.edu/news/archives/000199.html

[2] John Calvin, Institutes, III, 10, 6

[3] Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., New York, 1997.

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