What Is Your Calling?

Ordinary Time XXI; August 26, 2007

Jeremiah 1:4-10

I’m going to use Jeremiah’s story as a springboard to get you thinking about your own sense of calling. I’ll tell stories of calling from the Bible and tell you a bit of my own story; these are to get you thinking. Then I’ll make some general comments in hopes of getting the sense of calling into the context of your lives.

The Bible has quite a few stories about calling and they generally have some things in common. God says to someone, “I have a job for you.” That someone replies with an excuse: “I’m not a good choice because a) I’m too young b) I’m not a very good speaker c) I’ve not exactly been a role model in the past d) that’s not a job I want to be saddled with.” Actually, I think Jonah is the only one who uses that last excuse; I suspect that it’s the real reason for others but he’s the only one honest enough to say it.

I remember learning about God’s call to Jeremiah from my Sunday School book as a child. And the picture in my Sunday School book was of a boy about my own age; I’m suspicious of that now, because I suspect that Jeremiah’s excuse about being too young was simply that he was not yet fully an adult, but he certainly was more than eight years old. Despite Jeremiah’s objection, please note these two things: God told him that he had chosen him specifically, although never tells him why, and that Jeremiah went ahead and did it, despite his objections.

Now compare that to the call of Moses. Moses was in the hills, keeping the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro. He saw something that caught his attention: a bush aflame, but not being burned up. So he went to take a look and heard the voice of God from the bush. Moses took off his sandals, out of respect for the presence of God, and God told him that he had been chosen for a special mission. Moses had four objections to God’s call: he was a nobody, he did not know God very well (he didn’t even know God’s name), people would not take him seriously, and he wasn’t much of a public speaker. God replied to all those objections, including telling him that the divine name is “Eheyeh asher eheyeh,” which means something along the lines of “I am who I have always been and always will be and you shouldn’t ask so many questions.” As you know, Moses gave in and did what God wanted him to do.

How about one more, from the New Testament. Jesus is traveling along the shore of the lake of Gennesaret, teaching and healing people. He makes a stop at the home of a certain Simon and spends some time there, including healing Simon’s mother-in-law. This becomes the beginning of a relationship between Simon and Jesus, so when Jesus goes to the lake to teach, he gets into Simon’s boat (Simon is a fisherman) and sits in the boat to teach the people who are gathered on the shore. Afterward, he amazes Simon by helping him get an enormous catch of fish, so the fisherman says, “Lord, go away from me, because I’m a sinful man!” That’s excuse (c), if you recall. Jesus says not to be afraid; from now on he will be catching people. So Simon – later known as Peter – along with his brother Andrew leave their fishing business and follow Jesus.

Now, as I said, these biblical “call” stories all have in common that the one called has objections to the call. They have this in common as well: God is pretty clear with them on what they are to do. That’s a problem you and I naturally have with stories in the Bible: people hear the voice of God, or sit in a boat with Jesus, or have an angel appear to them and they get explicit instructions. You and I, however, are left to muddle along as best we can, hoping to do the right thing.

People sometimes wonder how their pastor sensed a divine calling to preach the Gospel and accompany the faithful on the pilgrimage of God. In my case, it was not a voice or a tap on the shoulder or a burning bush. It started when I was a young teenager; I was very active in our church’s youth group and in a Bible group led by a member of the church and in Youth for Christ. I had a strong personal commitment to Jesus Christ and I knew I wanted to serve him, but I wasn’t sure that being a pastor was the best way for me to serve. The two professions I was most interested in were math teacher and band director.

So I went to college committed to Jesus Christ and his church but not committed to the ministry. Over my college years, however, I thought about the things I was good at and loved to do and the professions that allowed a person to do those things. I was a speaker, an actor, a scholar, a teacher, a community activist, and I had deep feelings for people. Minister seemed logical.

Those of you who are working or who have retired from work: perhaps that sounds familiar. Perhaps you made the same sort of evaluation and perhaps you reevaluated it at some point in your life. Frederick Buechner has said that your calling is the place where your deep joy meets the world’s deep need. God is probably not going to speak to you from a burning bush or out of a fishing boat, but in your heart and mind you can look at what gives you joy and what the world needs and find where they meet. Obviously, I am talking not only about your work, but about something bigger. More on that in a moment.

First, to finish my story. I went from college to seminary and then was ordained as a minister; I spent a short period of time as an ecclesiastical bureaucrat and then served pastorates. Even so, I was still not convinced that that was truly my calling. In 1993-1994 I was seriously questioning it. I was associate pastor of a church and the pastor had left to take another position; two problems that affected me personally resulted. One was that it took us a long time to get an interim pastor and so I was the sole pastor for 1000 people and was working much too hard. The other was that he was deeply loved and the people were hurt and, as often happens, many were acting out their hurt with the one left behind: me. So I thought I should leave the pastoral ministry.

Then one day – it was in November of 1994 – I had a funeral for a lady who had died at the age of 93 after a lifetime of faithful service to Jesus Christ. She loved her Savior and she loved her church and three generations of her family were following her in faithful service in that same church. It was a beautiful funeral for a beautiful person. Right after the funeral, I drove to Children’s Hospital, where we had a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I went up to the unit and stood by the incubator; the baby’s grandfather came in and we talked and then prayed together.

I left the unit, thinking about those two events: Ethel’s funeral and the visit with this baby. And there in the parking garage of Children’s Hospital Medical Center I stopped and said, “Damn! This is what I’m supposed to do.” Forgive the expletive, but it is necessary. At the time that reflected my attitude about realizing my calling. Now, I assure you that both as a result of a change in my attitude and the fact that we did get an interim pastor, my feelings about my work with that congregation were much improved. Now, looking back on my time with them, my memories are full of joy and thankfulness. Of course, my work has not always been any happier than your work always has been, although in general I love it and it continues to be where my deep joy meets the world’s deep need. It is what I am supposed to do.

And so to you. There may be one or a few who hear this story who will find that your deep joy and the world’s deep need meet in the ministry of Word and Sacrament or in service as a Commissioned Lay Pastor. If so, I want to encourage you in that and talk with you about the challenges and its rewards of that work, its joys and its pains. Pastoral work is emotionally and intellectually demanding and it is emotionally and intellectually rewarding.

There may be others who are wondering what sort of work to follow; these stories from the Bible and my story may encourage you to go ahead and try, even if you are not sure you are trying the right thing. What you are already doing may indeed be your calling, but you may need to struggle with it for a while, as I did, before you are sure.

I am convinced that God does not lay out a single path such that you can be faithful only by following that path. God does not play “detective story” games with us: “Let’s see if Jacob can figure out the road he is supposed to follow.” Rather, we each have options for work and other activities in which we can serve, in which we can find those places where our deep joy meets the world’s deep need. We help to shape our individual callings.

Whether it shows directly in our work or it shows in other ways, we all have a calling in common. Everyone who has been baptized has received the calling to follow Jesus. It takes different forms: some preach the Gospel and share the Sacraments; others act ethically in business. I think of S. Truett Cathy, the founder and President of Chik-fil-a. As a Christian, he requires all of his restaurants to be closed on Sundays. Also, he sees his business not as a means of making himself rich but as a means of betterment for everyone involved, his customers and his employees. So, for example, the company has a scholarship program for its employees. Some do other work and lead the Church as elders and deacons. Some outside of their work offer their talents to the glory of God through the Church: I particularly like the story of Franklin Sheppard, who arranged the tune for our first hymn today (TERRA BEATA; “This Is My Father’s World”). He was a supervisor in a foundry who also wrote church music.

I am convinced that you and I cannot be certain that something is a calling until we try it. Perhaps you think that God is nudging you, for example, to get some people together, perhaps to talk about the important issues of the day, or perhaps to engage in a new mission project – or perhaps both – but you are not sure that it will work. Or perhaps you sense God nudging you in some other way. How will you know that it is your calling? Are you going to wait until the Pastor phones you and says, “This is something you are supposed to do”? God does not speak clearly to me, giving me directions for what you are to do. Are you waiting for a sign blazing in the sky? Try it and see what happens. It is better to try something and fail than never to try because of fear of failing.

Know for certain that you have this calling: to follow Jesus in your daily life. God baptized you into that calling. The voice you heard was not the voice of God, but of the minister or priest; the call came in the form of water and maybe oil, not a burning bush; you were in Jesus’ church rather than in a fishing boat with Jesus. And I hope nobody was swearing about it, even if from time to time you feel like swearing about it. At least it’s a calling we all get to deal with together.

We thank you, Lord, for calling us to follow Jesus. We thank you for the encouragement in the words Jesus heard at his baptism: “You are my son, my beloved, in whom I am pleased.” Give us faith to hear and remember those words and to follow your call. Amen.

Robert A. Keefer

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Clarinda, Iowa