Calling or Calling it Off
Preacher: Revd Andrea Price, Minister, St Michael’s Church of Scotland, Edinburgh
Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10; Luke 4:21-30
Good morning to you all. It is so nice to be back in St Andrew’s where I spent a very happy year as an overseas student in 1981/82 and met my husband Neil, singing in the Rennaissance Group. You could say that it is his fault that I have now lived in Scotland since 1986 and been a minister of the Church of Scotland for 25 years today.
Thank you Donald for inviting me to preach this morning – very flattering for a parish minister and equally terrifying, considering who has been in this pulpit before.
Let us begin with a prayer:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, God our Lord and Redeemer.
Amen
When I looked at the lectionary readings in preparation of today I had to laugh out loud: today’s passage from Jeremiah is the very passage I tried to write my first sermon on, here in St Andrew’s in 1982.
It was never preached and is long lost – thankfully, I expect. But the text resonated with me for many years: I was brought up in a time when children were mainly to be seen and not heard. And girls all the more so.
As a child I must have been quite a chatterbox as my father once promised me a whole bar of chocolate if I would not say anything for a whole dinner. Sadly he never learnt to enjoy listening to his children – to the detriment of all.
Many young people, girls and boys still struggle for all sorts of reasons to speak and find their voice and place in this world. And this is one of this world’s tragedies. For God has gifted everyone, young and old and all ages in between, with so many talents we could discover together and use to address the world’s problems in creative and constructive ways.
When Jeremiah was being claimed and called by God he was naturally terrified. “I am too young”, he says, “I cannot speak”, never mind be a prophet of God. But God is not to be put off and sent Jeremiah to go and speak.
Many of you here will be wondering about your future at the moment. What is lying ahead? Where will you go and what will you do? Some of you may have a clear idea, a calling even. Others may not be sure at all. How can you contribute to life in this world, best use your talents and gifts?
Others here may be looking back at times in life when you had to choose your path, your calling. You are able to remember the subsequent journey, a mixed bag of events with successes and failures, joys and sorrows. But you too may be wondering: is God still calling today? And if so what is it God is calling you to do?
God called young Jeremiah and is still calling everyone of us here. God calls humanity to himself in order to inspire love for his creation and creatures.
The question now as ever is:
Will we hear and follow God’s calling voice
to take part in building his kingdom, or kin-dom, of love?
Are we listening as individuals and as a species
or are we calling God’s great creation project off
as nice but impossibly idealistic?
Age has never been an obstacle for God.
He called the boy Samuel to hear his voice and tell the adults some home truths.
He called old Abraham to start again and explore new lands.
He called a young prince fallen on hard times, Moses, to lead his people out of slavery.
He blessed old Sarah with motherhood in advanced years.
And he came himself in a vulnerable baby, who grew to become Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter, before himself answering God’s call to become God’s foremost teacher – the Christ.
In our gospel reading today we find Jesus in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth. He had just read a passage from the prophet Isaiah about God’s Spirit sending his servant to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed.
Then Jesus sat down and all eyes were on him. He began to teach and people were pleased with his words – a local boy made good.
But soon Jesus began to challenge them and call them out:
good news of freedom, insight and liberation has come!
But this news has consequences: you probably need to change your ways
and those whom you think are outsiders or even outcasts are as much welcome as you!
Jesus’ and Jeremiah’s teaching got them both into very hot water.
Jeremiah made bitter enemies of priests and king and ended up in prison and derided.
Jesus was nearly thrown off a cliff by the angry listeners that day. And this was only the first incident of his message infuriating people and especially people of power.
Some people think that religion is an irrelevance in life.
Yet today we are reminded that when God calls people he does not pluck them out for an easy life, offering a magic wand or protective invisibility cloak to sail through life as if on a magic carpet.
When God calls his prophets and all people, God calls us to listen for his voice and live and embody his compassion and justice.
Jeremiah was called to do some serious ground clearance before positive, creative action was possible: pluck up and pull down, destroy and overthrow and… build and plant.
Jesus was called to teach and heal and live the will of God, and you know how he had to suffer and die before being given new life.
What is God calling us to do at this time, when this world is still facing so many and age old problems: racism, oppression, hatred and war, famine and diseases, people and leaders lacking the moral strength to respect truth and justice. What are we to do in the face of the new earth changing problem of climate change? Can we do anything confronted with near overwhelming realities?
A young poet and environmentalist called Gideon Heugh wrote this poem:
Prophet, by Gideon Heugh
I wonder why you brought me
to these splintering days,
this age of earth-death
and default extinction
and the smothering of constellations,
nostalgia claws at me
screaming send me back,
then I sense a fire that doesn’t consume,
a cloud of breath-taking holiness
passing across the face of a mountain
and it says
I put you here to see,
to see and hear and feel
the agony.
I needed someone whose heart would break,
who would fall to their knees
screaming
send me.
Thank God for calling Jane Goodall to learn and teach about chimpanzees, their family and behavioral patterns, opening our eyes to the intelligence of apes and the need to protect their habitats.
Thank God for calling David Attenborough to explore nature and making with many others even in his advanced age the most astonishing series of films about the beauty of creation. They surely set hearts praising God and also raise our determination that we need to change the way we live on this earth to stem the wanton destruction we let happen while our age is pretending to enjoy itself.
Thank God for calling Greta Thunberg who raises her voice for the voice of young people and the future of this planet.
Thank God for calling Desmond Tutu from being a teacher to become a priest and prophet in his time to teach us to listen and learn God’s word about truth and forgiveness again and practice it among all races.
I am sure you will be able to extend this list of prophets in our time.
God is always before us and calling people still to live compassion and justice.
Some he calls to use their special gifts of music or craftsmanship.
Some he calls to study, learn and train to become scientists,
others to be teachers or community leaders or activists for human rights or stopping climate change and earth’s abuse.
Whatever God is calling you to do God will not force you,
neither let you go alone.
God promises to go with us, fear not.
God knows each one of us from your mother’s womb,
loves us and wants us to use the gifts we have been given for the good of all.
So follow where God is calling and don’t call it off.
God will send his Spirit time and again to strengthen and guide on your way, neither too young nor too old to answer: send me!
Amen