July 8, 2007
The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
This passage, about the sending out of the seventy, is a form of “call” story. It is the story of seventy people sent out to proclaim the good news of Jesus. And the instructions they receive are often used to talk of what pastors and rectors, priests, bishops and deacons, should do when called to serve. So, I want to talk about call this morning and to explain my understanding of it in light of this passage.
First of all, I believe that everyone is called to serve God, everyone. It is not limited to seventy who go “out.” It is a reality for all of us, a call for all of us. God calls each of us to proclaim the gospel in word and action each and every day of our lives. And this passage would affirm that ordinariness of proclamation. It is nothing fancy, no limos or glitz, no bag, no purse; it is simple stuff like being among the people of the town, in their homes, eating with them, being among them. Our calling to proclaim Christ is not to be someone other than who we naturally are. Rather it is to be the person we are, reflecting our dependence upon God in the day-to-day reality of life.
And while it is not a call to limos and glitz, it is to be among them, whoever “them” is, and wherever “they” are, as they are, among them, not below or above them, among them. So it can be a call to stay right where you are, and proclaim Christ in the middle of your life as it is.
This calling has always had people who stay and people who go out. The location may differ but the challenge to live into that call does not.
As time has gone on and the church has become an institution, rather than a gathering of seekers in danger, without much connection one to another, the church has taken over the simplicity of call, and it has changed in some ways from the biblical example we see this morning. In the Episcopal Church today what happens when we are discerning a “call,” what an ordained person is to do, or even if a person is to be ordained? Ordained persons are most normally the ones sent out from their communities, as the seventy were, away from the people that have formed them, to serve in the wider world or wider church. For instance, the parish that sponsored me is in
Calls are like that. They require that we surrender our own hopes and expectations for our lives and turn them over to God’s.
And in the church today, that call is not just between a person and God, it includes the whole church. It is a three way call – how Trinitarian is that! – between the person, the church and God, and God needs to be telling all three the same thing.
The call to ordination is usually not completely smooth sailing. Almost everyone has bends in the curves, rough waters and shoals, that they don’t expect, but in retrospect those often turn out to be real gifts of preparation for the ministry that lies ahead.
As you are all aware, I was part of a discernment process for Bishop in El Camino Real, the diocese that ordained me to the diaconate and priesthood, and I did not get elected. So you might be thinking, what was that all about? Was I being ambitious unrealistically? Was I trying to fit a call into my desires rather than letting God’s desires rule my life and heart? Am I going to try again and again to become bishop, and is my heart someplace other than here?
To be honest with you, I have asked myself those same questions. And these are the answers I have come up with. And I am grateful to the synchronicity of the lectionary for these lessons today that allow me to talk about call in a very personal way, and yet to extrapolate to the universal.
The people of El Camino invited me to be part of their search. I was open to it, knew about it – I keep my eye on the “home” diocese. But they invited me by asking me to answer questions that felt really right to me, and often a call is about feelings – about feeling that one does not have to clap the dust off one’s feet and move on, but rather about settling into the hospitality that is offered. And each step along the way felt like a further acceptance of me and my gifts and the hospitality more “homey.” It felt like a fit, frankly, in much the same way talking with and meeting all of you did nine years ago.
But as in all elections there can be only one winner. So in this case four people who had been called to be part of the process did not get elected, and their relationship with the diocese ended. That does not mean we were not to be part of that search and that there will not be gifts for each of the four of us who were not elected, but it does mean a bit of praying and thinking and reflection needs to go on for each of us within our communities to discern what that may be. The same thing happened nine years ago. There were those whom you did not call to be rector. Only it was in a far less public and open way. Chances are their parishes didn’t even know they were “looking.” But each of those people added to your knowledge of whom you did want and whom you might call. Each was to be part of the process.
Will I ever allow my name to be part of a bishop’s search again? Today I say no, absolutely not! I cant imagine it. My “ambition” is not to be a bishop, but to serve God and God’s people where God would have me serve. And it seems very clear to me at this moment that serving among you is where I am called, and I hope that seems clear to you too. I believe we have unfinished work to do here. Indeed, I think we are at a critical point, and I wonder if we would see it so clearly had I not been focused for a while in two directions, here and there? I wonder if the possibility of my leaving has not brought out old challenges and new opportunities? I believe we can tackle those challenges and opportunities together.
But the work we face is not just mine, of course. It is ours. And as I have been saying for about three years, we are at a crossroads. The staff is minimal for the size we are. And as far as laborers go, they work well beyond their stated hours and job descriptions. We all do that because we love this community and each person in it. We all feel called to be here among you, serving this community and with you proclaiming Christ from this little piece of woods in
And like the seventy, these laborers deserve to be paid. Not extravagantly, of course. This is not work that requires limos or glitz; but fairly so that the concern of where the next meal is coming from or how the house-payment will be made is not their primary concern, rather that their primary concern is about the work of Christ, teaching, healing, serving, among the committees and councils of the church, healing spiritually and physically, and being at peace among, yes, among, and with the community.
I have come to know that one of the greatest gifts to me in church ministry, as it is today, is raising up others, calling others to ministry, recognizing gifts and talents and opportunities that others have, and encouraging them to recognize that those gifts are part of their calling to serve the community, some to go out and some to serve within the community, ever enlarging and transforming it. When you do what you do in God’s name I am thrilled, be it someone who sets up the altar or finds a way to train dogs for the blind or oversees our relationship with El Ocotillo or leads prayer at the office.
I have often thought it was not such a good thing that we spend a lot of time discerning ordination calls in the church instead of lay calls, for there are so few clergy and so many lay people! It seems to me to be a mis-focused energy! For the truth is the real ministry, the real evangelism and proclamation, is done by lay people, lay people, who have access to a far greater audience than clergy or staff ever will. We need to do a good job of honoring the calls of all of people and of raising each other up, honoring the ministry that is within each individual.
This reading from Luke this morning ends with the statement that the seventy returned with joy! I believe that JOY is what we are called to be about. For JOY is what serving God brings to the laborers, the kind of JOY that is synonymous with God’s Peace. When we serve with a willingness to let go of what we want and trust instead what God wants and explore that within context of the community for affirmation and even greater possibilities, if we do that together, then the only result there can be is Joy.
May that Joy pervade our work together in the coming months and years, and may each of us have a feeling of call and work to live into that calling with faithfulness and honesty.
Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Gale Davis Morris
Church of the Good Shepherd