SERMON 107 - SUNDAY 14 JANUARY 2018

Sermon at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead   -  Morning Worship  – Sunday 14 January 2018 

1 Samuel 3-1-10, John 1:43-51

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Amen

When you hear the word “Vocation” what does it conjure up in your mind? In the context of the Church, probably like me at first, it possibly conjures up images of a life of ordained ministry, Holy Orders and dog collars. Yes it is true that the Diocese of Salisbury has a Vocations Officer whose role it is to encourage and initially test the callings of people to ordained ministry but I think, as today’s readings emphasise, a calling to be a true servant or minister of God’s word can take many and varied forms and come when we least expect it to.  Vocation comes from the Latin to mean “call” or “voice” from which we get the word “vocal”. It is not an ecclesiastical word at all but a far simpler one covering many aspects of life.

Our first reading today, from the First Book of Samuel, is without question one of the most well-known, and for me personally, .profound and favourite pieces of scripture in the whole bible. It was taught at my primary school and after hearing it for the first time I repeatedly wondered and hoped that I might hear the voice of God as clearly as did Samuel – actually hear his voice loud and clear – although I wasn’t entirely clear what I hoped or expected him to say but principally to prove to me that God actually existed.  As my life has passed along its course I have never heard an actual disconnected  voice speak to me, or not knowingly as clearly as did Samuel, but again as I look back there have also been times when God has spoken to me through others or through circumstances which sometimes become clear only after a period of time has elapsed with much reflection.  Certainly as we read the account of Samuel, he himself did not recognise it as God’s voice but assumed that the old priest, Eli, was its owner and that he was being called by him. It took Eli and Samuel three calls in order to discern it as the voice of God.

The week before I was admitted and licensed as a lay minister in the Church of England, I and my fellow candidates for licensing, spent a quiet day down at a retreat near Shaftesbury.  We were very much left alone to wander the beautiful grounds of our venue, which included a labyrinth and lake, to pray, read and meditate and think about God’s call to us for lay ministry.  It was a wonderful day and I thought and prayed much about how I had come to be in that place, at that time and what my future ministry might look like. In taking up my bible I was drawn to the very passage in Samuel which we have just had read and it struck me that in my own journey of Faith it had taken three attempts by God to convince me that I was indeed being called to this ministry.  On three separate occasions the notion of serving God in this ministry had come to me – thoughts entering my head or from conversations with others. On these occasions I had rejected the notion and pushed it to one side – convinced that it was a silly idea and that it certainly wasn’t something which God would call me to do. On the last occasion I this strong feeling I simply told God – “Look, I am a busy lawyer working for a large organisation. I don’t have the time or the ability to serve you this way; however, if this is really what you want please give me a clear sign.”

I was due to go away on holiday in the Caribbean and so left it at that.  On my return I was asked to meet with my then boss when I was told that there was an opportunity for me to take early retirement on a good package. I still ignored God and spent the first year of my retirement playing golf with a good Christian friend who endorsed the fact that he thought that I should consider authorised ministry.  Thank you God!  The lesson I learned was that the importance of service to and for God is not to ignore him but to obey him – those of us who do not do this will be much poorer for it.  Like Samuel, and many more reluctant servants of God in the bible, we sometimes need to have the call more than once and that more often than not our calling is such that seldom do we feel ready for it – even Moses felt totally inadequate and unworthy.  God will often seek to place us outside of our comfort zone but he will never give us a task which he does not feel we are up to.  Very often our spiritual growth and usefulness is when we do indeed push ourselves outside of what we feel comfortable with.

I was talking only the other day with a fellow- Christian about what it is that makes somebody feel the call to becoming a Christian and we concluded that this is not something which we can learn to be from an academic viewpoint.  Yes we could decide to study the doctrines and holy writings of the different religions which we find on our planet – we could sit down and construct a table of pros and cons for each religion studied – their rules about dress, food, relationships, worship, music etc. etc. and then pick the one which we like the most; but that is a sterile and, dare I say it, unholy way to do it.  It is by experiencing the living Trinity through the Holy Spirit that we can best hear the call of God to his service.

Nathanael’s call was through both hearing of Jesus through his encounter with Philip which led to him meeting Jesus and his own conversion.  As Christians ourselves it is our responsibility to lead others to Christ just as Philip did – to extend the invitation to “come and see” and experience God’s grace through our relationship with Jesus.

I was once asked, in an attempt to establish my effectiveness as a preacher, “How many people have you converted to becoming Christians?”  I thought about that question for a little while and then had to answer “I don’t know but the technical answer has to be none”. The truth is that I may have led many to Christ but as for converting them then that is the role of the Holy Spirit not me as an individual.   In other words conversion is an experiential thing not something based on academic theory. 

Samuel and Nathanael experienced the call of God.  In Samuel’s case it was to tell Eli how his sons had abused their position as priests in the service of God and how they were to be punished.  Samuel’s task was to be called to greater service but first he had to be a messenger of doom to Eli and his family.  When called by God the tasks we are to perform may not be easy ones – we may despair and try and run away like Jonah – but God will have a role for us and he will support us if we obey him.

We may not be called to ordained office in the Church – but as Christians we can expect to be called upon for all manner of service – it makes none of us less important in whatever ministry we are called upon.  As Paul reminds us in Ephesians (Chap. 4:11) “some are called to be teachers, others apostles, others evangelists, others pastors”.

As Christians we are expected to spread the good news to all we meet – to share the gospel by not only discussions of scripture but principally by the way we live out our lives as true servants of God so that when people see and hear the way we speak and behave towards others they will want to know what it is that makes us as we are and hopefully want to explore more. We can then ask God for guidance and he will respond when we say “Speak Lord for your servant is listening” and thus filled with the Holy Spirit we can answer others as Philip answered Nathanael – “come and see”.

Jesus continues to extend an invitation to us too to do just that, everyday, to “come and see” – to see what is happening in his world, to see our faith challenged and tested, to call us to mission – just as he did to those early disciples – ordinary men doing ordinary things like fishing.  

So my closing question to you this morning in this season of New Year’s Resolutions is “what is God calling you to do this year?” What vocation has he prepared for you and how will you answer that call?

Let us pray:

God, the source of
creation and love,
You invite each of
us to serve you through the life
which is your gift.
May your grace
encourage us to be holy through service to the church

Make us instruments
to encourage others
to give of themselves and
challenge us to do the same.

Amen.

MFB/107/13012017