From John: "What are you looking for?". Indeed, what are we looking for? Why are we here today, why are we here most Sundays, and for many of you, why are you here so often on days that are not Sunday? I have a guess that it has to do with the mysterious and frequently misunderstood ideas we have about the word "call". Today's gospel continues the story of the baptism of Jesus that we heard last week. Today we hear what is was like for John, and John's perspective of what it was like for Andrew and Peter. John's gospel fits right in with the reading from Isaiah and First Corinthians with its language about and sense of "call".
John the Baptist points to Jesus and says "Behold the Lamb of God". Two of John's disciples hear this, go and check out Jesus for themselves and then end up abandoning John and taking off with Jesus. This odd little scene gives us a huge clue about what it is like to be called by God.
It is easy for us to be confused and befuddled about this business of being called. First Corinthians and Isaiah add to that confusion. In those readings God is calling for a major and describable thing to be done. In Isaiah the servant is being called to be a light to the nations and in Corinthians we are called to be partners with Jesus. When most of us think of or use the word call, we are usually thinking of ordained clergy. And, that's pretty clever of us, it lets us off the hook a little. We can say to ourselves " well, they were called, we're just regular people. All this call talk, it's not about us".
This whole concept of call was something that terrified me when I was in the process to become a deacon. I knew that the diocesan Commission on Ministry was likely to ask about my call, and unlike others who I was studying with, I had no mountain top experience of a voice speaking to me from the mists, I had no meditation that included the voice of God clearly telling me what my ministry was to be, I had no parting of the clouds with a bright, shiny arrow pointing to a group of people I was to serve.
My path was complicated and ambiguous, I only knew that I had been saying "not now" to God for years and that it had become harder to keep saying "no" than it was to say, "ok, I'll try, I will trust you and see where this leads." As you can see, I have nothing that compares to a voice from the clouds.
What I learned was that expecting a voice from the clouds that points to a specific job or task misses the point. It's not what happens for many of us and it's not what this gospel is talking about. The two disciples in this story listened to what John said about Jesus and then just followed Jesus. Jesus said "come and see" and they did. They answered "yes" to the invitation to enter into relationship with Jesus. And, that what's really important In this story, not a specific ministry, not words from the clouds, not tasks, but the willingness to enter into relationship with Jesus and with one another. Our first response is to get to know God through God's son Jesus, to listen and to be present.
And then, after a while, but probably before we think we're ready, we will know what it is we are to do. Some of what we are to do will be dramatic and maybe even ground breaking, but it will just as likely be quiet and somewhat invisible. It might be to help in the pet or people food pantry, to teach, to help with pastoral care, to learn about healing, to offer office help, to sing in the choir, to sponsor coffee hour, to clean and polish the silver and brass, to become involved in diocesan committees, to stencil walls or to sweep floors, to work with community groups focused on peace and justice; the needs are varied and endless. The willingness to be in relationship comes first, indeed there is no ministry without relationship with God and one another.
We are called to be disciples upon our baptism. The call to relationship and to ministry follows us all of our lives. Oh, it may wax and wane, it might even seem to go away, we might believe that we are finished, that we have already responded, but it always comes back. It always will come back until the whole earth is reconciled to God. As Isaiah says, we are appointed as a light to the nations, not just to Good Shepherd or to Ascension, or to our families or neighborhoods but to all nations. We are called to be like Andrew; to spend time with Jesus and then to go out and invite others to know Jesus, just as he went out and invited his brother. As John Dominic Crossan says we are called to "Heal those who are hurting and then eat with those who are healed. And out of the healing and out of the eating will come a new community". Let us pray to do whatever we are called to do, let us pray to do our part in the creation of God's kingdom come. Amen.
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