Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62:6-14 (Psalm 62:5-12 NRSV)
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
Year B
I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)
Last week we considered ways that God speaks to us, even as the young boy Samuel heard the call of the Lord and replied "Speak, O Lord, for your servant is listening," and Philip and Nathael responded to Jesus' call to Follow him.
We dwelt awhile on being attentive to God's voice in the written word, and as we discover God nudging us along as we rub shoulders with others who are alive in the Spirit. I suggested that with all the input coming our way from a variety of media, we might just have to clear out space and time to listen for God, which one rationale for each Sunday gathering here.
Today we push the call of God a little further, moving from listening-to following. Following, or discipleship, or "follow-ship" if you will, means taking that call and testing the waters, trying out ministry, speaking and walking in faith.
Let me be clear: this moving from hearing the call to following the call is not easy. If you want to be comfortable, you may be hearing another call. If you feel like you are jumping on a roller coaster, then it just may be that you are on the ride with God.
There was a prophet who heard the call of God named Jonah. You may have heard of him. God sent him to Nineveh, otherwise known as Assyria, to deal with their reputed wickedness. It's like he was sent to Hitler, or Osama Bin Laden. Jonah, as you may know, was, let's say reluctant. He tore out away from Nineveh. In fact, he ran in the very opposite direction from Nineveh, and bought passage on a ship. Then came the roller coaster ride, in the way of a storm, so severe, that it threatened to trash the ship. Where was Jonah? Asleep in the hold! "Wake up, man!" the captain said. "What are you doing asleep? On your knees, pray to your god!" Well, eventually Jonah 'fessed up that God's persistent call to him may be the reason why the ship is being tossed to and fro? The sailors said, "well, Jonah? Any suggestions?" Jonah made one step toward followship by saying, "throw me into the sea, and that should quiet things down." The sailors tried valiantly to get the boat to shore, but couldn't, and finally said, "Okay, Lord, just make sure that we don't get into trouble," and plopped Jonah in the water. The storm stopping raging, God sent a fish to retrieve the reluctant prophet, and Jonah reconsidered the call while in the fish's belly for three days and three nights, a good biblical number. Did I say that following wasn't easy?
The fish brought Jonah back to dry land via its mouth.
God is persistent, that much I can say. Last week it took three times to get a hold of Samuel. Today we hear that "the word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time." Jonah finally tries out his ministry among the wicked Ninevites with a whiz bang of a sermon (Yeah, right) (-:! He inches into Nineveh and mutters eight words, count them, eight: "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people believed! They believed despite Jonah's less than stellar performance. (Maybe I should try an eight-word sermon some time, and see how effective it is.) The whole city, from the king to the animals, donned the symbol of repentance, sackcloth and ashes. Can you imagine a camel in sackcloth and ashes?
And God changed his mind. God? Changed his mind? You mean if someone like Nineveh recognizes a need to change, God will be merciful? You mean if someone like Jonah plunges into ministry, God will use it effectively? You mean the ways of God can be laughable, incredible, and wonderful, in addition to being hazardous to your health, or like going on a roller coaster ride?
Today the invitation comes to us. Join Jonah. Join Simon and Andrew, James, and John, and others who are friends of Jesus here at Christ the King in listening for the call and becoming disciples, trying out ministry, going on the ride of your life.
Five years ago exactly I wasn't here in this pulpit. Five years ago exactly I had heard of Christ the King, and to tell you the truth I was listening for God to discern if there might be a call to ministry here. I was testing the waters with the call committee: Kay Edwards, Dan Skibba, April Ellis, Steve Hansen, Joanne Wilhelm, Jana Holst, and Mike Philion. We exchanged e-mails and letters, spoke on the phone, and met in person. It wasn't easy. It felt a little like a roller coaster. And it just might have been God's way.
Then, together we jumped in. With leaders at CtK, we worked on a congregation vision and mission. It was hard work for our congregation council, with Tami McKay, Neil Schmidt, Heidi Jakoby, Jim Watkins, and others. But we managed to put something together that gave us something to work on.
Vision Statement:
Transformed by the Holy Spirit, we will respond to God's call to share Christ's love and saving grace with the world.
Mission Statement:
Our Mission is to inspire, equip, and engage people in local, regional, and global ministries, and to model the compassion that Jesus Christ has shown for all.
A year or two later we worked to reclaim our preschool Chapel School as a ministry of our congregation. We reconfigured our staff and our program offerings. It wasn't easy. We struggled in many ways. But God has been persistent, and now more closely wed what we believe and what we practice in our church community with our ministry with young children.
A year or two later we wondered if we might renovate and expand our building, after forty years' of use and some less than hospitable spaces in our entryway and our breezeway. Many of us, including me, would have liked to run away, and I believe a few did. But with a lot of prayer, a lot of planning, a lot of listening, and a lot of simply jumping in, we expanded our tent for ministry, and God was merciful. Do I need to say that it wasn't easy? Do I need to say that everything wasn't perfect, but that we are in a great place for ministry?
A year or two later, we are onto what's next for us at CtK. We have some wonderful new faces in ministry and in our community who are joining us to listen for God's voice, and who are jumping into the waters knowing that together we are claimed by God through water and the Word. I am planning a three-month sabbatical this summer, which will be a time of renewal for this congregation and for me. So much ministry and planning continues, as we will hear about later today in our congregational meeting. Let us today remind ourselves that our discipleship is modeled on Jesus' own ministry to the outcast and sinners, through his baptism in the river Jordan, and through his own giving of himself to the roller coaster ride of his Passion, death and resurrection. It certainly wasn't easy. But God did it all for mercy, all that we might know what Jesus' preached and lived in his short sermon today: that the kingdom of God has come near, and the good news of Jesus Christ is worth knowing and sharing and living.
What's next in our call and in our following is not yet known, but is certainly in good hands, because it is in God's hands, and this is worth repeating to one another, and sharing with others.
A favorite writer of mine, Henri Nouwen, reminds us of our purpose for being the church by saying this:
The basis of the Christian community is not the family tie, or social or economic equality, or shared oppression or complaint, or mutual attraction…but the divine call. The Christian community is not the result of human efforts. God has made us into his people by calling us out of "Egypt" to the "New Land," out of the desert to fertile ground, out of slavery to freedom, out of our sin to salvation, out of captivity to liberation. All these words and images give expression to the fact that the initiative belongs to God and that [God] is the source of our new life together. By our common call to the New Jerusalem, we recognize each other on the road as brothers and sisters. Therefore, as the people of God, we are called
ekklesia
(from the Greek
kaleo=call
; and
ek=out
), the community called out of the old world into the new.
We have considered what the call is. We have considered what following is. And next we will consider what being sent will be, which is how we represent God's ways in our world. That means more listening, more speaking, more trying out, all to move forward with and toward others, with God, who can use us, like Jonah, like the Ninevites, like fishermen, like the baptized, and those yet to come to faith, all invited to come on board for the ride of their lives!
I.N.I.
The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
