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).
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