In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Here’s a question to start us off today. What in the world do pomegranates have to do with today’s lessons? Those great, healthy, juicy fruits that we have pictured on the cover of the bulletin--what do they have to do with today’s lessons? Listen and see.
Our gospel reading picks up from last week’s reading where we heard Jesus read his “mission statement” in the synagogue to his friends and family from Nazareth. Today we hear what happened next. First they received his words well. Then they realized, “Hey, isn’t this Joseph’s son?” And finally at Jesus’ prompting they became enraged at his cheekiness to dare to claim God’s sacred prophetic call for himself--and they go so far as to try to kill him--or at least to rough him up a little bit.
Through it all Jesus carries on, true to his mission as God’s Son and Mary’s son, carrying out the purpose of his life.
Now we turn to the reading from Jeremiah, one of our major Old Testament prophets, whose calling was to speak the words and the feelings of God to the people. What a difficult calling that must have been for him--to give not a message of complacency and pardon, but instead a message of warning and punishment. Yikes! No wonder Jeremiah railed against God and against his people so often.
Our passage today is from the beginning of the book. It’s God’s first encounter with Jeremiah, when he still was a child. It’s a classic text that gives us a glimpse of what a call from God often looks like.
First we hear the words of the call-- “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” The content of these words is so important. Not only is God calling Jeremiah, but he’s also saying that he had a plan for Jeremiah, even from before he was conceived. Now, I struggle with the idea that God has a firm plan for each of us--it seems to me that we have a whole lot of choice in where we go with our lives. But that’s not what it says here.
Second, we hear Jeremiah’s objections-- “I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” That’s the same kind of thing Moses said, too--I can’t speak, so don’t lay these expectations on me--please, God.”
Third, God answers the objection of Jeremiah-- “You shall go to all to whom I send you. You shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”
And finally God fleshes out what the call entails. Jeremiah is given the extremely difficult task of confronting people--of plucking up and pulling down, of destroying and overthrowing, and, finally, thank God, of building and planting.
And Jeremiah went on from there to have a full, frustrating, exhilarating ministry with lots of ups and downs. He lived to see the Babylonians come in to Jerusalem and level the Temple and take away the best and the brightest. And he himself died in exile in Egypt-- anonymous--unrecognized--unappreciated.
These stories of Jesus and of Jeremiah working out their calls in life are dramatic. They are splendid and unmistakable stories of God getting in touch and telling people what to do, or how to live so that they’re lined up with God’s wishes.
But what of us? How many of us here can honestly say we’ve been visited by God or by God’s angels, giving us specific instructions on what God wants of us? Not very many, I’d bet.
What is a call? How can we tell if we’re called to something? Do we only get one call in life? Or are we called over and over, until the day we die . . . and maybe even beyond death?
In my reading and experience, a call is a pretty clear sense of pull toward a certain behavior or occupation or lifestyle. It’s really hard to run away from a true call, because it dogs us, it won’t let us go. It holds us captive, keeps us enthralled. We can’t shake it. And we hear it in our gut--not necessarily in our heads. We sense it, we feel it, we sometimes can’t even put it into words, but it holds us. And if we can answer that call, we feel a lightness and a sense of release.
The relationship between sacred calling and our own dreams. complex. Need for discernment with others.
Each of us has many callings. When we were younger we had many callings as well. Sometimes our calls change over time and sometimes they only intensify.
With regard to our work in the world, what we may be called to do, let me quote what I heard once from a wonderful spiritual director. God doesn’t necessarily wish for us to be a teacher or a financial advisor or an executive or an attorney or a healthcare worker or a priest. No. God equips us with certain gifts, as we know, and then calls us to use them in a way WE decide with our own free choice.
It’s as if God plants the seeds and grows the veggies; and we decide how to cook them up for dinner.
Now -- look at the pomegranates on the bulletin cover. All those seeds in each one--they are great symbols of our gifts and our various callings in life. Each seed is what we could develop or cultivate; they are all the possibilities we each carry with us as we continue on our paths. And these callings sometimes are wrapped in the dark juice of suffering. It’s not always easy to take our gifts, to answer our callings. Sometimes it’s really, really difficult, and we go through hell to get to the other side. We suffer. Even more, however, do we feel that sense of peace and release when the calling is acted upon and realized.
So think of our various callings--the various seeds each of us carries within us, like the pomegranate does.
There are the callings that center on The Big Questions--sometimes expressed in our various occupations in this life. How do we use the gifts we’re given to pay heed to God’s intent?
There are the callings that center on our families. How are we called to develop our gifts so that we become better parents, better children? How are we called to honor family members?
There are the callings that center on the Christian life and psychological maturity. How are we called--each of us-- “to grow up--to put an end to childish ways” in the words of Saint Paul in today’s love passage from 1 Corinthians? What might that look like for me? For each one of us here and those not here? How are we called to love--to be patient, kind, not envious, or not arrogant? How are we called to bear all things, to believe all things, to hope all things, to endure all things? The answer is different for each one of us.
Are we called to make up with Uncle Larry who made a fool of himself last Thanksgiving?
Are we called to go back to school and change directions?
Are we called to bring comfort to people at work who feel stuck and hopeless?
Are we called to keep on giving to help people in Haiti?
Are we called to let go of fear and take a risk of some kind?
Are we called to see a doctor for something we’ve been aware of and afraid of?
Are we called to seek spiritual guidance?
These are just some of the callings we may receive from God. And they do change as we change. God is very busy with us!
So--
Think, pray, cry over your calls from God and your own dreams--the seeds within yourself. Is it time to let some of them sprout?
