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A Sermon by Bobbi
Virta
First Congregational United Church of Christ, Bellingham, Washington
God's Calling
Romans 12:1-8 - Pentecost
14 - August 25th, 2002
"What life have you if you have
not life together?
There is no life that is not lived in community
and no community not lived in praise of God."
T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from The
Rock"
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight Dear God our Rock and our
Redeemer. Amen
Gods calling...how will you respond?...you could ignore it, take a message, or
receive the call? It is your choice and the good news is that you are not being
called as an island unto yourself. We as Christians claiming to be the body of
Christ are called as a faith community, individually and corporately to respond
to the wounds of the world.
In this morning's scripture the apostle Paul refers to the human body as a
metaphor of the church in order to convince the Gentile Christians and the
Jewish Christians that all people must work together using their gifts to
nurture the church. Illustrating his point that unity and diversity are not only
compatible, but also necessary. In fact, Paul stresses the diversity, and thus
interdependence of the body's members functioning together through the grace and
guidance of the Holy Spirit.
God is calling each of us to become living sacrifices, in such a way that is
holy and acceptable to God, to live fully into who we are created to be. In
other words we are called to offer our passionate gifts to the body of Christ so
that as a community of faith we might radically live into Christ commandment to
really love one another by God's standards rather than our humanly imposed
prejudices and priorities. We are commissioned to bring the Kindom of God to
Mother Earth.
There is much work to be done, and God is calling...so how do we faithfully
listen, recognize and respond to the call? According to Larry Crabb, a Christian
psychologist and popular author. " We've trivialized God, most of the self-help
books assume God is the butler who serves us for one reason---to give us a happy
life. We've turned God into a divine Prozac" So we must ask ourselves: Are we as
Christians more interested in building personal comfort zones than in building
community and ministering to the lost and oppressed?
Unfortunately, we have been living in a ME-lennium here in the United States. As
a nation we believe that what is best for us, is best for the rest of the world.
We blindly allow our government to oppress other nations for our conveniences.
Peter, a friend of mine at Seattle U says that in Kenya there is a saying "When
America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold."
We live in times when we hire others (outsourcing) to do so much of what we once
thought we needed to do ourselves. The business world has long outsourced some
of its work rather than hire permanent employees to do the work. Are we
utilizing one another's gifts wisely...ethically...equitably?
Outsourcing has become a mark of the middle class lifestyle. We have someone to
pre-wash our salad, someone to do our nails; we have machines to screen our
phone calls, some one to iron, or dust, or clean or mow the lawn, trim the
hedges, weed the garden and then we have personal trainers to make sure we burn
off calories. You get the point...Living on the fast track few of us have time
to care for our own emotional and mental health; so we hire a psychotherapist,
or cognitive behaviorist to do the job." Between purchasing a latte' at one of
the convenient drive thru mocha stands, and our organic vegetables prewashed and
prepeeled at Haggen, there isn't much we know how to do by ourselves any more,
except pay for it.
It is really just a matter of time before we find a way to outsource our
relationship with God as well. With so much "stuff" to pack into one day, the
idea of scheduling in a church service on Sunday, let alone finding the time it
takes to ponder the state of our spirit, is beyond the grasp of most of us. We
live in a market economy --a service oriented market economy-- so if we can't
get to church any more...sooner or later it had better to come to us. So why not
find someone to handle our spiritual life for us? It may be time to reach out
for the assistance of a spiritual director, who can help us renew our thinking
as we examine God's movement in our lives.
"Spiritual direction has been around since the first two human beings were on
the planet and one person told the other they experienced something beyond self:
what we call God." Hollywood actresses and our former President Bill Clinton
have been using their services for years. Jeffrey Gaines, a Presbyterian
minister and executive director of Spiritual Directors International says
"People have been acting as spiritual directors for a long time, and what's
happening as we live into this new millennium is that those who have not been
'religious professionals,' but have continually attracted people who want to
talk about the experiences of the Divine and prayer, are now seeing that this is
a calling and are seeking training to become spiritual directors." The UCC has a
few ordained ministers who have a degree in spiritual direction (I hope to be
one of them) and there is a group of pioneering UCC students at Seattle
University obtaining their Masters of Transformative Spirituality degrees and
seeking licensed ministry within our Pacific Northwest conference as Spiritual
Directors.
Something in the universe is shifting and the public at large is catching on.
There is a longing for spiritual fulfillment. A longing to reconnect with God. A
longing to live into our calls.
Spiritual Directors International has already seen it membership--which spans
156 regions around the world--more than triple since 1995 to 4,300. There are
117 training centers world wide, with dozens more on the way. Granted, some hire
spiritual directors because they are fed up with organized religion--which goes
to show how long it has been since they've been to church, because we all know
that many churches are not perfectly organized. I know from experience that
spiritual directors do an enormous amount of good. As a requirement for my
Masters of Divinity Degree I have had a spiritual director the past four years
and can testify to you this morning that it has been a life-giving and
transformative experience. But it's not like you can run to a spiritual mentor
and say: "Here's my soul. Give it a wash, a good stretch, and I'll be back to
pick it up in an hour."
We still have this vital matter of community, of church, and the corporate
nature of spirituality. We need one another and our various talents and that
need for community is not going to go away. Moreover the apostle Paul argues
that not only is the notion of isolated, outsourced spirituality foreign to the
mind and heart of God, we're specifically gifted to provide the "goods and
services" we need within the ChristBody itself.
Paul tells us Christianity is group work. It always has been. Even 1,700 years
ago in the deserts of Egypt, where devoted Christians moved when our old-time
religion got too easy, after the Roman authorities quit tossing believers to the
lions--even then--faith was a group effort. Out there, under the hot sun, they
had holy communities, who gathered for worship. They also had spiritual
directors, the leader of those communities, who were called Abba or Amma, desert
fathers and mothers. The Abbas and Ammas listened and prayed with people to help
them identify the movement of the holy spirit in their lives, to help them
identify their gifts, talents and passions so that they could respond to Gods
call with vigor.
God is calling...how will you respond?...ignore it, take a message, or receive
the call? Walter Brueggeman once said that where our passions met the needs of
the world, we can trust that God is communicating with us and we are being
called to action. Finding your call takes courage, but it is also promises to be
life giving, especially when we seek the support of the members of the
Christbody because together we can accomplish great things. Just look outside
these sanctuary windows and marvel at the success of our building project. We
are not all called to the Peace- Core like Mari Wepprecht and Katie Guelker-Cone
or to be in Boston in America-Core as Lindsay Nyberg is, but we are called to
support them in their work in the world.
I have recently experienced a process of discernment in one of my summer courses
entitled: Community, Justice, and Mission: Communal Learning and Care of the
Earth. The components of each class included worship, a meal, fellowship, and
working hard together on projects in small and large group time. I would like to
lead you through a short mental exercise to give you an taste of the process.
Think to yourself for a moment...what are you passionate about, what brings you
life, joy, and excitement? Now put a real face on this feeling. Who, where,
when...Hold on to that thought, in fact write a word or symbol on your bulletin
to remind you. Next take a second and think of a woundedness in the world. I
know there are many but for this moment try to focus on one. Some kind of
injustice or brokenness that really sends you in to a frenzy of frustration,
sadness, or righteous anger. Put a face on that wound...a person, place, or a
situation that you have experienced. Make it personal. Finally, embrace this
woundedness with your passion of energy and vitality by thinking of a way you
can use what gives you life to help heal this identified wound. This may be
where God is calling you to act in a counter- cultural, non-violent,
compassionate way. Hang onto that thought and know this process, which can take
months or years, invites you to hear your call to be a member of the body of
Christ as a Co-creator with God and others.
With creative energy and love we can with our diversity of gifts and talents,
unit as the Christbody to make small steps of radical change in our lives thus
bringing the kindom of God to this world. We are not called to be all or do all,
we are called to be faithful to our God given gifts and to work together. Then
we can live in the hope that with the grace of the Holy Spirit nothing is
impossible.
While living into this process at school I identified my greatest life-giving
joy to be those precious times I have for Sabbath play with my family and
friends. The anguish I focused on is the grief I feel when I witness or hear
about children who are broken and wounded in any way. Then in a seemingly random
group with two other people we put real faces and names to these pains and joys
of ours, each of us concerned about a certain child. After a process of getting
to know one another and discovering our diverse gifts we began researching the
deeper causes of the woundedness of children, then we began dreaming, and
praying and doing more research. Today, I am delighted to tell you that our
small group has grown beyond the classroom walls as we continue to work together
in the creation of two healing centers for children. There is much to be done
and who knows where our idea will take us, but we are energized and that is
life-giving! God is calling you...how will you respond?... So be it, Amen.
Benediction
Fix your attention on God, so you might be changed from the inside out. Share
your gifts with the community, so Christ's body might grow and be strong. Submit
to God's call and God will bring the best out of you.
Go now in Delight.
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