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What does it mean to be called to ministry?
--Does it mean that God took out a billboard with our name on it? (No)
--Does it mean that we are supposed to be “perfect?” (No)
--Does it mean that we should know exactly how God is going to use us in ministry? (No to that one too).
I think the Bible has made us imagine unrealistic scenarios for receiving a call from God.
--God talks to Abraham from the night sky.
--God appears to Moses as a burning bush.
--God comes to Mary as an angel.
--Saul is struck blind on the road to Damascus.
If something like that happened to any one of us, we would KNOW we had been called. But the reality, at least in our present day, is a little murkier. And maybe that is why the Presbyterian Church (always being decent and in order, of course) talks about a call from God as a three-part call—one part God, one part individual, one part church.
So what does it mean to be called to ministry?
--Does it mean having the church ask you to fulfill a specific role at a specific time? (Yes)
--Does it mean you should be willing to share the gifts you already have and cultivate new ones? (Yes)
--Does it mean you are excited, joyful, a little scared, and not sure what is to come? (Yes, I hope, to all the above)
I find it fascinating that there is no story of Jesus’ call.
In fact, the whole construction of Luke’s version of the Baptism of the Lord is odd. If we are looking for a call from God, it comes to John, not Jesus. “In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emporor Tiberius…the word of the Lord came to John son of Zachariah in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:1-2) John hears the call and goes all around, preaching fire and brimstone, so that everyone asks “What should I do?”—“How can I make good on my baptism in the Jordan?”
Into all this hubbub steps Jesus. In Luke there is no recognition by John that “this is The ONE.” In Luke we don’t even get to see John baptizing Jesus. “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized…” It all happens off screen. We only hear God’s voice as Jesus is praying afterwards.
And after the baptism story Luke says, “Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work…” and launches into the geneology of Jesus going back to Adam!
What do we make of this lack of description of being called by God? Do we think that the writers just assumed that since Jesus “was” God, he didn’t need to go through the human process of discerning? Did Jesus not share any of that information? Did he share his experience and editors cut out the messy way that we humans tend to arrive at “hearing” God’s call? We don’t know.
And in some ways, this blank canvas allows for us to have our own stories. There is no “right” way to be called into ministry. In fact, sometimes it is a surprise. From this passage in Luke, it seems that what is important is arriving at the river, coming down to the water to pray as our special music instructs.
Arriving at the river ready to allow God to do a new thing in us, with us, through us.
Arriving at the river, ready to allow God to do a new thing in us, with us, through us, and open to hearing God’s voice say to us, before we have done anything,
“You are my Son, my Daughter, my Beloved; with you I am well-pleased.”
Today we are ordaining and installing our officer class of 2018. A very visible call to ministry. But each one of us is called, by virtue of our baptism. Each one of us needs to listen to God’s whisper in our hearts and take the opportunity to serve God in our own way.
May it be so. Alleluia. Amen.
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