Someday I should ask why the community gathered at Webster
City is called “The Good Shepherd.” It is,
however, an appropriate name for a group of people whose confirmands told me
that a good part of their story involved the warm reception they had received
at The Good Shepherd during their search for a spiritual home. During my
January 19 visit, I confirmed six people and received two. The congregation has
had a special relationship with St Mark’s, Fort Dodge, since 1998 when a
covenant of partnering as congregations was established. Two of the adult
confirmands were from St Mark’s. We did not have as long as I would have liked
to hear the back stories of the confirmands, but each of the three young people
were clear that this was their time for owning the faith of their baptism. With
the adults, there was real evidences of the Spirit’s guidance to a spiritual
home even after quite a few years away from any Church.
All of this translated into a time of joy and excitement as
we worshipped and fellowshipped together. A number of people from St Mark’s
were in attendance to support their members. The Good Shepherd had the feel of
a strong family-sized Church where people knew each other well and cared for
one another. I encouraged them to consider moving into forming leadership
through a Ministry Development Team which could assist the Rector who travels
between both Churches. I stressed that this is a second manifestation of a
Ministry Team concept, and that St Andrew’s in Des Moines was undergoing the
creation of such a team to work alongside their future Rector, whom they will
hope to call in 2015. We are now entertaining MDTs that can work with a Rector
in place as a way of strengthening congregational leadership. All of this was
addressed in the context of both congregations needing to look into the future
with the approaching retirement of their current Rector, Richard Graves.
The people at The Good Shepherd have carried out some
significant changes to their worship space, including the installation of two
striking new windows at either end of the sanctuary. The window above the altar
actually harnesses rays of light at the time of communion, lighting up the
faces of the parishioners as they come forward! No doubt the clergy are seen
with halos around our heads! Clearly God is at work in this place, and I did
come home wondering “What will God do with these ones?”
Sermon at The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Webster City
(2 Epiphany: Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9; John 1: 29-42)
(2 Epiphany: Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9; John 1: 29-42)
I know that I have told this story in various places, but
perhaps not here. As young person I was honored to be under the pastoral care
in my Methodist Church of Pastor Evans. He was always known to us as Pastor no
matter how long we knew him—never on first name basis out of our profound
respect for him. He was a holy man, and someone who had time for younger people
coming up through the Church. The one question and prayer he would offer was
always this: “What will God do with this one?” He asked it of all of us because
he was convinced that God placed us on this earth as redeemed people to serve,
and had a purpose for each of us.
Scripture in general is full of God calling people. Think of
it for a moment—God’s call to Abraham or to Jospeh or to Moses, or to the
Judges Joshua, Gideon; and then we have the prophets whose call stories are
given to us—especially the big three of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. None of
them started out one morning and decided:
“I think I’ll start me a new nation” or
“I think I’ll start me a new nation” or
“I
think I will bring Israel out of Egypt today” or
“I
am in the mood for annoying the comfortable with a few searing prophecies.”
God took them each by surprise with a call. They were to
come to acknowledge with Isaiah that even before they were born, God called
them and named them. God had a purpose for them. That same understanding grew
to include the whole community of Israel as a nation with a prupose. They were
to be God’s servant among other nations. And so belonging to a particular
people placed a burden of responsibility to serve upon you. You were called of
God.
As we move in to the New Testament, and today’s Gospel, we
find John the Baptist and Jesus coming onto the scene. We notice the same DNA
of God’s dealings. For, each one of them had significant mothers: Elizabeth and
Mary had known from the time of their pregnancies with John and Jesus that they
were carrying destiny in their wombs. They wouldn’t know the details, but they
knew the significance of their children-to-be.
And even John linked up with Jesus calling Him out as the
Beloved of God in whom God was well pleased, and today acclaiming Him as “the
Lamb of God,” referencing Jesus’s life of servanthood and sacrifice. The parade
of calls continues as Jesus is pursued by two of John’s disciples who, in turn,
call their siblings, and we see Jesus renaming Simon into Peter—a symbol of the
purpose for whch his life would unfold—to be the Rock on which Christ would
build His Church.
Soon, that very same Church composed of all the saints among
whom we find the Corinthians (so named by Paul, himself called to be an
apostle). This same Church assumes the communal purpose once given to Israel as
God’s vehicle of light and revelation to all nations. Anyone brought into that
new community through baptism is asked to bear the responsibility of the people’s
call and purpose under God.
And so here we are today. What will God do with this one? I
am told that a sermon has three parts that flow into one—like tributaries into
a river. The first is that of the Scriptures and tradition of the faith—which
today as I have said are full of call upon call upon call. The second is the
preacher’s own experience as relevant, and I have mentioned growing up in that
understanding of call; third and final part belongs to you—it is the experience
of the community receiving the Word. Here a visiting preacher, even if it is as
bishop, is at a disadvantage. For you know your experience better than I. Let
me say this though – you are not exempt from the call of God—neither as an individual
nor as the collective people of God.
In a moment I will ask the questions about service in the
baptismal covenant—about upholding truth and justice, and every person’s
dignity. These are parts of the Call, and we fulfil them as baptized people who
reaffirm our following of Christ. We will say: “Yes” and add “with God’s help”
to the call recognizing that the One who calls is faithful to guide and
provide.
Biblical scholar FF Bruce commentating
on this passage of John writes: “No one can foresee when you bring a person to
Christ what Jesus will make of that person” (He is referring here especially to
Andrew bringing Simon to Jesus). Indeed, I would add that we can only ask what
will God do with this one? And yet we can be sure that the important thing, as
Bruce further points out, is that “Jesus knew what he could make of a man like
Simon whom He renamed Peter, or Rock.”
This is the assurance for everyone—whether we bring others
to Jesus or bring ourselves or are brought by others. We opened up today’s
worship singing, “Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord. I can hear you calling in the
night. I will go, Lord, where you lead me. I will hold you in my heart.” As we
offer ourselves in singing worship, we can be sure that though we do not know
what God will do with us, Jesus knows what He can make of us. This is not about
the call to ordination, though it does not exclude that, but about that unique
way God can use each of us as servants.
For our part, we are invited to give God a chance by
pursuing God as did the two disciples of John the Baptist. They were so
flummoxed by His stopping and asking what they wanted, that all they could
stumble out was to ask Him where He was staying! We want to be where you are,
Lord Christ; to share in the building of the Kingdom of God.
To all of us Jesus invites us to come and see, and in that
seeing we are invited to find our true selves, our true purpose, and our true
capacity to make a difference in this life we have been given. We are invited
to find out and experience, “What God will do with this one, with me.”
Will you take the chance to find out, and take today very
seriously? In the end it will feel like for this purpose you were born, known
and named, even in the womb.
Amen.
