February 7 -- Listening for a Call

This week's lectionary texts: Isaiah 6:1-13, Psalm 138, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, and Luke 5:1-11.

Few pieces of technology have become as ubiquitous in modern society as the telephone. It would be close to impossible to find a person in the United States who has never made a phone call. As of June 2009, moreover, 89% of Americans had cell phones -- 89%!

Certainly, phones can be enormously useful tools, connecting families, friends, and organizations all around the world. At the same time, they can also seem like a mixed blessing. It seems that practically everyone has received an unwanted phone call at one time or another -- whether hearing bad news or simply being irritated by a telemarketer. We can't know what sort of call we're receiving unless we pick up the phone and answer.

This week's lectionary texts elaborate on the notion of "call," showing that every call is different, and can invoke different responses from those who hear it. We are led to consider the ways in which God may be calling us, and to evaluate how we are interpreting and responding to God's call in our lives.

In the passage from Isaiah, the author relates a powerful vision of God: the Lord is seen "sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him" (Isaiah 6:1-2). The prophet, bearing witness to the awesome sight, exclaims, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5).

Yet the seraphs purify Isaiah by applying a live coal to his mouth, and God asks, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). To which Isaiah replies, "Here I am; send me!" (Isaiah 6:8). He has transformed from a man nervous about answering God's call to someone seemingly eager to do God's will. (Though, granted, God's will in this case appears to be that the people's minds become "dull" and that God pronounces judgment on them [Isaiah 10, 11-13].)

Like Isaiah, Moses was initially reluctant to answer God's call to lead his people -- indeed, God's calls can sometimes seem unexpected and even inexplicable. In this week's reading from Luke, for example, Jesus calls his first disciples: Simon Peter, James, and John. The men had "worked all night long but [had] caught nothing" when Jesus told them to let down their nets again (Luke 5:5). Simon Peter was confused by the request, but decided to oblige, and the fishermen "caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break" (Luke 5:6).

Seeming to understand that he was in the presence of a remarkable person, Simon Peter exclaimed, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8). But Jesus simply replied, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people" (Luke 5:10). And the men, writes Luke, took a risk and "left everything and followed him" (Luke 5:11).

God's call can be exhilarating, exciting, or thrilling; it can also be frightening, confusing, or even off-putting. It may come in the form of a nagging sense that there is something God is prodding us to do with our lives, or in the form of a trusted mentor, friend, or pastor talking with us about where our talents and gifts lie. It may come in a dream, a book we read, a song we hear, or a voice in our mind. It may come suddenly; it may take months or years to be recognized.

However and whenever God's call to serve God's people comes, it's likely that we won't feel prepared. "I'm not perfect," we might think, or, "I don't know what I'm doing." We might wonder why God has chosen us to do God's work, whether it's as something as drastic as selling all our possessions and giving the money to the poor, or as simple as volunteering at a nursing home or bringing an extra item to the food shelf each week.

But God doesn't make mistakes, as Paul understands. As he writes in First Corinthians, "I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:10). God can use anyone to do good in the world -- anyone! The Bible is filled with men and women who initially doubted their ability to answer God's call, but -- with God's grace -- went on to do incredible, transformative things.

It seems likely that God will only call us to work at which we can succeed, with God's help. So is there something you feel like God is calling you to do, or a place God is calling you to go? God's voice can be quiet and hard to hear in the clamor of our busy lives, so let us keep our ears open, remembering, as the psalmist writes, "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever" (Psalm 138:8).

Photo credit here.

January 31 -- Where is God?

This week's lectionary texts: Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and Luke 4:21-30.

News came this week that the Haitian government estimates that at least 150,000 people have died in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that struck that tiny, desperately poor nation on January 12. The number is mind-boggling -- imagine, for example, a quarter of Boston's population almost instantly wiped out by destruction and disease.

Watching the news or reading about the enormous tragedy, it can be hard to understand how a loving God could ever allow such a horrific event to take place. The question becomes particularly difficult this week, as we read in two of our lectionary texts about the great care that God is said to have for every single woman, man, and child.

In Psalm 71, the psalmist beseeches God for God's protection and strength:

"In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress." (Psalm 71:1-3)

God is portrayed as a powerful source of salvation -- a deity whose care for us has never wavered since we came into existence: "For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb" (Psalm 71:5-6). Even in the midst of worry, the psalmist writes, "My praise is continually of you" (Psalm 71:6).

Meanwhile, in Jeremiah, the theme of God's ever-present protection and care is highly evident. Speaking to the prophet Jeremiah, God explains, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you" (Jeremiah 1:5). He urges Jeremiah to take up the mantle of prophecy, promising to speak through Jeremiah and protect him from his detractors: "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" (Jeremiah 1:8).

It can be difficult to hear these promises of protection in scripture and try to square them with the devastation currently making the front page -- and indeed, with the natural disasters and evil deeds that happen every day.

The rest of the lectionary passages for this week, however, offer some help as we try to sort out the mystery of how a good God can exist in a world like ours. Luke's depiction of Jesus's near death at the hands of an angry crowd shows that humans don't always understand God's ways; as Jesus says to the confused and upset group, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown" (Luke 4:24). (And, incidentally, even Jeremiah faced imprisonment and personal attacks once he obeyed God's command to prophesy.)

Furthermore, in a beautiful passage in First Corinthians, Paul expresses the idea that as human beings, we simply cannot know everything that God knows, though someday we may hope to: "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

And, as Paul concludes, "Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love, he believes, "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends" (1 Corinthians 13:7-8).

As Christians, we are called to be the body of Christ: to be God's hands and feet in this world. Perhaps the earthquake in Haiti happened for a reason that we simply can't understand. Perhaps there was no reason at all, and the earthquake was just an earthquake -- a natural event not controlled or directed by God, albeit one made worse by our past neglect of Haiti and its people. Whatever the case, it is up to us to step in and help, and to keep helping long after the first wave of attention has come and gone.

It can be incredibly difficult to understand how a loving and protective God exists in the midst of a tragedy like the one in Haiti -- indeed, many argue that events like the one of January 12th prove that God can't be real. Let us not stop wrestling with painful and challenging questions like this one. But at the same time, let us remember that we are called to love in word and deed, following the example of Christ and doing whatever we can to heal Haiti and the rest of our world.

There are numerous groups currently working to aid the Haitian people. Consider making a monetary donation (as aid workers are calling for funds, not supplies) to an organization such as the Red Cross.

Photo credit here.

January 24 -- The Body of Christ

This week's lectionary texts: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, and 8-10, Psalm 19, First Corinthians 12:12-31a, and Luke 4:14-21.

I recently returned from a week-long trip to Ecuador with a group of divinity, theology, and business students. During our time in South America, we learned about issues as diverse as globalization and debt, food sovereignty and ecology, indigenous spirituality and refugees. We also had incredible opportunities to meet a variety of Ecuadorian women, men, and children, and were often overwhelmed by the hospitality we encountered.

On one of our last nights in Ecuador, we were invited to a church service held in a tiny chapel in a tiny mountaintop village near Guamote. The service was attended by many local families, our entire group, and a few people from Guamote (as well as a kitten who kept darting in and out).

Since I speak neither Spanish nor Quechua (the indigenous language spoken by most of the village's residents), I rarely understood exactly what the celebrants were saying. But as we all got up to take communion, I marveled at what a beautiful moment we were sharing: men and women from all over the world, coming together in one of the oldest rituals of Christianity.

This week's texts also emphasize the importance of coming together as the body of Christ. As Paul writes in First Corinthians,

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

Paul wants to make clear that every single person is important for the body of Christ to work together; nobody is any less critical than anyone else. We are inextricably linked, he radically writes: "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26).

Both the readings from Nehemiah and Luke, for their part, offer examples of the faithful coming together to listen to God's word. In Luke, Jesus stands up in the synagogue to read the words of Isaiah, saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19).

It seems important that Luke records, "The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him...All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came out of his mouth" (Luke 4:20, 22). Jesus's declaration, which comes near the beginning of his ministry, was not made alone, or to a select few, but to his whole synagogue -- he was inviting his community to share in his announcement of hope and salvation.

In Nehemiah, we hear the story of Ezra bringing God's law to the people: "The priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly...in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law....And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people...Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' lifting up their hands" (Nehemiah 8:2-3, 5-6).

But Ezra does not simply read the book of the law to the people. Rather, his peers then "read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading" (Nehemiah 8:8). It was important to Ezra that everyone, not just the elite, could have the chance to fully understand God's word -- the community was stronger for it.

Indeed, coming together in community is essential for our walk with God. It is in community that we learn and grow, question and have our questions echoed or answered, build relationships with people like and unlike us. The psalmist writes, "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). This is a beautiful, incredible world that God has given us to share. How important, then, that we seize opportunities to explore it, improve it, and seek to strengthen the body of Christ, a body whose members are scattered throughout the globe.