“Considering Your Call”

by Bruce J. Johnson

February 3, 2002

It was interesting to read the bold headlines provided by the Hartford Courant on Wednesday morning, the day after the President’s State of the Union address to the nation.

“Bush’s Call to Battle”

was how it read and of course, the central focus of the address was our nation’s fight with terrorism, with additional and serious attention given to the nation’s economy. Toward the end of the speech, however, he issued another type of call--- again issued to all Americans, namely the call to service.

“My call tonight is for every American to commit at least 2 years--- 4000 hours over the rest of your lifetime--- to the service of your neighbors and your nation.”

(President George W. Bush, 1/29/2002)

The tone, of course, was that this was a critical point in history, a time of change and commitment. The sense was something like: “From this point on--- let’s live differently.” Interestingly, an idea whose time had not come just a few short months ago is now supported by almost everyone in both parties.

Of course, the concept of ‘call’ is nothing new to Christians. During these early weeks of Epiphany almost all of the lessons have to do with ‘call.’ In one way or another--- whether it is generalized as in the case of Isaiah--- to be the ‘light’ in a dark world or as in recent weeks, the specific ‘call’ that Jesus issues to real people with real names and real families and real jobs---to leave all and follow him, call is the essence of the lessons.

Last week, we read that Jesus called simple fishermen away from their nets to become fishers of men.

The great theologian Martin Buber once said:

“LIVING MEANS BEING ADDRESSED.”

And the meaningful life depends on what we do with whose doing the talking and what’s being asked of us.

In today’s lesson from Paul first letter to the church in Corinth, he writes the following words after acknowledging the way of faith and discipleship as a life style choice that some Jews couldn’t make because they just couldn’t quite believe that the Messiah would suffer and die on a cross and the Greeks—in all their wisdom and learning-- thought of the thing as foolishness.

“For consider your call, brethren, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are…”

(1 Corinthians 1: 26-28)

He says, “Consider your call.” Consider who you were and who you are and what God has promised to do for you and through you. Rejoice and live out that calling!

Of course, these ideas of “call and calling” is big business today. Oprah makes millions upon millions and Dr. Phil has struck it rich too by educating and inspiring the public to search for and claim and live out your best self.

I’ve always loved that quote from Bertolt Brecht:

“Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life.”

Indeed, that is such a basic human need, isn’t it, to matter and to live a life that matters to yourself and someone else. We are all on that journey, that search to find ourselves and to claim who we are and are meant to be and to do so--- so that we can live not just the adequate life but what the scripture calls --- the abundant life.

And certainly there has never been and maybe never will be anything easy about believing what we are being asked to believe. You know, I’ve read a number of articles about spiritual discoveries made in people lives and often they are described as “AHA” moments. Well, I have my moments that I call my “You gotta be kidding me!”

God couldn’t possibly choose us-

With our worries and anxieties about the future

With our sketchy educational records and our inability to speak ‘good’

With our bad backs and trick knees and sore feet

With our private thoughts and secret pasts, our sometime desperate needs and irrational fears

But then again, God did choose Peter with bull headed stubborn bravado

And Matthew with his unsavory background as a tax collector,

And Simon with his suspected ties to the radical Zealots

And James and John, two fishermen with a strange ambition to somehow be first in the Kingdom they thought Jesus was going to establish somewhere in the middle of the Roman Empire.

The Lord made some strange choices to be the first to know his teaching, the first to witness his miracles and the first to spread the good news--- the good news concerning the message of the cross—a message about the transforming power of love and the need to spread it and share it and let it loose in the world. ---- SO WHY NOT ME?

WHY NOT YOU?

In his wonderful book, Let Me Tell You a Story, Tony Campolo tells the story of Billy. He writes:

“Many years ago, when I was a young pastor, I was asked to be a counselor at a junior high church camp for boys. Everyone should be a counselor at a junior high church camp for boys---- ONCE. For any Roman Catholics who may be reading this, I have to say that I now believe in purgatory. I have been there. It’s a church camp for junior high boys!

Junior high boys have a strange and often cruel sense of humor. There’s a strong tendency for them to pick on some unfortunate, off beat kid and ridicule him, making him the brunt of their jokes. This was certainly the case during this particular week of summer camp. They picked on a 13 tear old kid named Billy, who could walk right or talk right. He dragged his body across the campground in spastic fashion and when he spoke his words were markedly slurred.

The boys at the camp would often mimic his gestures, and they thought that was funny. One day I heard him asking for direction. I can even now hear his almost indiscernible, painfully spoken words:

“Which.. way … is….. the craft shop?”

The boy he asked, mocking his slurred speech and using convoluted hand language said. “Its over….. there … Billy boy.”

But the cruelest thing they did was on Thursday morning. Billy’s cabin had been assigned to lead morning devotions and his cabin-mates voted for him to be the speaker. They wanted him to get up there in front of everyone so they could be entertained by his struggling attempts to say anything at all.

When I found out about it, I was furious but there was nothing I could do. It did not seem to bother Billy. Somehow he dragged himself up to the rostrum as waves of snickers flowed over the audience. And then it took Billy almost half a minute to say,
JE….SUS…..LOVES….. ME.

AND… I…LOVE .JE…SUS.

When he finished there was stunned silence. When I looked over my shoulder I saw some junior high boys with tears in their eyes, others with their heads bowed…. A REVIVAL BROKE OUT!

We had done many things that week to reach the boys with the gospel message but nothing had worked. We had even brought in a major league baseball player whose battling average had gone up since he started praying but it had no effect… It wasn’t until a spastic kid named Billy spoke… that everything change…

God doesn’t need superstars to declare His Word. He loves to take “the stones that the builders reject” to use as the foundation rocks for building of the Kingdom.”

(Campolo, pp. 111-112)

That’s exactly what our call is--- to declare His Word and show His love and live lives that build up the Kingdom of justice and peace,

of kindness and compassion, of neighbors and neighborliness.

AMEN