Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
“The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me…to be my servant…to bring Jacob back to me…to be a light to the nations.”
“I, Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ…”
“You are my son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus, chosen as God’s Messiah.
“I have a dream…” Martin Luther King, the dreamer, the prophet, the leader.
When did they know, that they were chosen by God? How did they know, that they were chosen for God’s holy purpose? Did they believe it, trust it, doubt it, embrace it, feel burdened by it, find joy in it? When did we know, that we are chosen by God? How did we know, what we are chosen for God’s holy purpose?
==
The bible is full of call stories; stories of individuals being chosen for God’s holy purposes.
Some are crystal clear. When did Paul know that he was chosen? As he traveled the road to Damascus. How did he know? He was struck blind; and then heard the voice of Jesus. (Can’t really argue with that.)
- God telling Abram and Sari to go to a new land and become a new people;
- Moses on the mountaintop;
- Samuel in a dream;
- Mary visited by an angel.
- The disciples approached by Jesus as they fish on the shoreline.
Others are murkier, hazier, and because the bible does not narrate each character’s inner thoughts, we do not know whether they had a sense of chosen-ness or not. But through the lens of time and perspective, we can see it clearly.
- Miriam waiting in the weeds along the river and offering her mother as a wet nurse for the baby the queen finds.
- Ruth and Naomi alone and starving with only each other to cling to.
- The lepers begging for mercy and the woman who bled for 12 years;
- Zacchaeus and Joseph of Arimathea;
- the Ethiopian eunuch and Lydia.
Each one chosen for God’s purposes. Each of us, chosen for God’s purposes.
These are beautiful stories; inspiring stories. They can also be a set-up; if we do not experience such a crystal clear call, what does that mean for our vocations? Or if time and perspective do not bring illumination, what does that mean for us? They can also oversimplify how vocation actually works in our lives. They can perpetuate this mechanical view of God and the world that permeates American Christianity. As if the world is one big factory and our calls happen when God, behind the office glass, pushes some buttons and sends the control arm to pick us up and plunk us on a specific conveyor belt, off to a predetermined life….
…God, whose Spirit danced across the waters of chaos and who painted the earth with color and life in every form and variety and complexity is more artist than mechanic, more wave than particle, more imagination than determination. And our vocations in this life are too.
—
“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” begins Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, to the church in Framingham.
“Sanctified;” “called to be saints.” Us? Me?
Sanctified isn’t a word we use much in our protestant, mainline tradition, perhaps because it has been so misunderstood. What comes to mind when you hear that word? For me, it’s: holy… holier than thou; set apart—above—others, more favored by God.
To be sanctified is to be made holy. But in the Greek, holy is not so much set apart or other worldly as it is to be “dedicated by God to a specific purpose in the world for the benefit of the whole creation.”
“Sanctified;” “called to be saints.” Us? Me? Yes. We are chosen for God’s holy purposes.
And more over, we are equipped for this work, even prepared for it, whether we know it or not, because of the charisma granted to us by God in Christ Jesus.
Again, here is another word that is so misunderstood. In everyday language, we use it to mean charm, force of personality, compelling attractiveness; it is both lauded and derided as a quality in leaders, because it is so powerful.
In the bible, as we heard this morning, it’s most often translated as spiritual gifts, and that translation combined with our success driven, outcome driven culture has led us to think of these are spiritual skills, another tool in our toolbox, something we possess and use. But a more accurate translation of charisma is “grace-thing.” As New Testament scholar Jane Lancaster Patterson writes, “it is not a gift that becomes a person’s personal property; it is the gracious power of God for fullness of life: on the move, seeking out every part of the creation where God’s grace-bestowing life is needed.”
We do not possess spiritual gifts; they possess us: not own us, but inhabit us, guide us flow through us.
====
Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the great prophets and leaders of our lifetime. From where we sit in history, looking back over his life and work, it seems like Isaiah’s words were also written about him. In his mother’s womb, God named him, and sharpened his mouth as a sword—to speak truth to power and encouragement to the oppressed, to be a light to the nations so that God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
In December, 1955, when Rosa Parks chose to not give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man, King was 26 and only a year into his ministry at the Dexter St. Baptist Church, focused on his young family and ministry. He was one of many city pastors and leaders to gather in a church basement to begin to plan the boycott. An hour before the public meeting, and much to his own surprise, the group elected him to be their president, and to speak that night. Perhaps some saw and felt charisma in him. More practically, no one else really wanted the role and the pressure it would bring. Here was a young, unknown pastor; let’s choose him. In his autobiography, King describes how he ran home to write his sermon, and spent 5 of the 20 minutes panicking. That night, he stepped into the pulpit with only a few notes and preached a sermon that affirmed and nourished a movement whose gifts we are still receiving (and whose work is not yet done). In his autobiography, King recognized that night as a moment of call.
Maybe you’ve had one-or more- of those moments in life too. Where it is crystal clear that you are in that place and that moment for a purpose.
I had one of those last summer when I found myself in a dark, garden terrace apartment, comforting a stranger who sat sobbing on the couch, the detritus of surgical recovery splayed across the coffee table and a large painting of Mary, the mother of God, looking down on us from the wall.
An hour before, I was at home alone with my daughter, making dinner when I received a call that one of the injured workers we supported at Casa, a nonprofit that advocates for and supports immigrant workers, was in crisis, and expressing suicidal thoughts. I quickly called a neighbor to watch Ruth, and then I met my colleague at the worker’s house. My Spanish was rudimentary and I didn’t know this man’s case at all. And yet, God’s charisma was present, and moved among all three of us ~ a grace-thing that freed him from the pain enough to live another day, and set him on a course to recovery, which he has found. We spent 2 hours with him, calming him down, reassuring him, organizing his meds, making a contract for safety with him, reminding him of his belovedness, praying with him. In that moment, my 5 years spent working in mental health, my 10 as a pastor, my colleagues 30 years of working with Latino workers and this man’s own desire for life came together for God’s purpose.
This Christmas, my brother, who has taught high school English for 10 years, received a letter and a gift from a former student. In it, he thanked Michael for being there for his best friend the previous year. The friend was about to drop out of school, but Michael stepped in and helped him figure some things out.
This fall, my mom met a woman who works for the library system in her county. When my mom sheepishly mentioned that her own mom is always submitting new book recommendations for the library to purchase in large print, the librarian exclaimed, “Is your mom Kathryn Allwein?! She has helped us expand our collection so much!” My 95 year old voracious reader of a grandmother, with waning eye sight and a spunky spirit, has expanded access to ideas and imagination for thousands more across the county with her requests.
- It’s like you, Joe, meeting that man on the Common a few months ago, who was in need of a home, and perhaps more than anything, another human to acknowledge and cherish his own humanity.
- It’s like you, Pat, answering confidently, “yes” during the children’s time on Epiphany when Pastor Greg asked if you have a superpower.
- It’s like you, Jeff, running in the Boston Marathon in support of a Framingham nonprofit.
- It’s like each of you who attended the Interfaith Thanksgiving service and added your witness of communal commitment to justice and love in this tapestry we wove.
- It’s like each of you who shared and witnessed the sharing at Brunch Church service we had a few weeks ago, weaving the web of God’s love and purpose in our community.
God chooses us, each and every one of us, each and every moment of our lives, for God’s purpose. And God blesses us with charisma—that “grace-thing” that flows through us, to offer kindness and compassion, healing and wholeness, love and justice, beauty and peace, joy and mercy. Every once in a while, we get to see the moment with clarity, like Isaiah, or Paul, like Martin Luther King in Montgomery or me in June. Sometimes, we only know later what we did—like my brother or grandmother. Most times, we don’t even get a glimpse of how charisma is at work in us. But it is. And oh, in beautiful and good ways more abundant than we can imagine.
“Today, as in first century Corinth, it is important for people to grasp the wide frame of God’s faithfulness,” Professor Patterson finishes her commentary. “Especially as we contend with issues that exceed our ability to solve in a generation: climate change, a culture of violence, division, competition for natural resources. Now, as then, our hope rests upon the concreteness of our daily partnership with Christ, our lively response to God’s call to practical holiness in our particular context, and our empowerment by grace to embody God’s love all the way to the end.”
“Sanctified;” “called to be saints.” Us? Me?
Yes.
May it be so. Amen.