Who is God Calling Us to be?

Is God calling you? Who might God be calling you to be, and how are you responding to God’s call? If you are in the last quarter of your life, are you accepting God’s call to age gracefully, or are you fiercely resisting going “gentle into that good night?” If you are younger, how is God calling you, your spouse, and your family? How is God calling this parish? In 1841 a small group of Episcopalians decided to begin meeting. To what might this community be called 175 years later? And are we as individuals or as a parish called to partner with God in bringing God’s reign nearer?

Today’s readings from Scripture invite us to wonder about God’s call and possible responses to it Actually, from Genesis to Revelation, Scripture is filled with stories of people hearing God’s call and wondering about how to answer it. Think of Jacob at Haran, how he dreamed of a ladder on which angels were going up and down and heard God’s promise to bring him back to the land of Israel. What did Jacob say when he woke up? “’Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’” Or think of Moses and the burning bush, or Isaiah in the temple, or Jeremiah. All knew themselves called by God, and all answered at first, “Surely, not me!” Even so, all eventually heeded God’s call and were transformed into leaders and prophets.

Do we see something similar in today’s Gospel reading? Jesus is about to depart from his faithful friends. Before the end, he gives them a preview of what life after his resurrection might look like. He promises that the Holy Spirit will lead and guide them and will call them to new, more confident life in him. In the last chapter of Revelation, the culmination of many visions, John of Ephesus has a foretaste of God’s future, of the re-creation and renewal of the entire cosmos. And, of course, the reading from the Acts of the Apostles depicts a point in the history of the early church where visions, calls, and responses proved decisive for the fledgling Christian community.

We enter the story at the point where Paul is making further plans for sharing the good news of Jesus. Having left Jerusalem, his plan was to stay in Asia Minor, i.e., what is today western Turkey. However, he “had a vision” of a call to Macedonia, i.e., the northern part of what today we call Greece. Taking with him the younger Timothy, he sailed about 100 miles northwest from Troas on the west coast of Turkey. He then went inland about ten miles to the Roman colony of Philippi, an area that had been settled mostly by veterans of the Roman wars who had been given land in return for their service. In a new place, Paul’s practice was to look for a synagogue where he might begin teaching devout Jews about the new Way of Jesus. So on the Sabbath day, he went where he thought they might gather, expecting no doubt to meet that “man of Macedonia” who had called to Paul in his vision. Sitting down to teach – that was the normal way in the ancient world – Paul found instead that he was teaching women.

One among these women, Lydia, heard God’s call through Paul’s teaching. Lydia was originally from an area of Asia Minor especially known for its expensive purple dye. Perhaps she was an agent of a company there. She was probably a widow and an independent businesswoman who owned her own home, to which she could invite Paul and Timothy. Most likely she was a gentile but also what was a called a “God-fearer,” i.e., someone who respected Judaism and worshipped with Jews without converting. Because of her devotion to God and her regular worship, because of her openness to God, she was able to hear God calling her to join the community of Jesus’ followers. From that moment on, her life was transformed. She was baptized, offered Paul and Timothy hospitality, eventually became a leader of the Christian community in Philippi and an evangelist in her own right, and even offered Paul her home after he was released from prison later on.

Through regular worship and prayer, both Paul and Lydia were able to hear God’s call. Both were transformed by God’s call. Paul left Asia Minor to evangelize Europe, even eventually planning trips to Rome and Spain. Lydia joined other women leaders of the early church, trusting in God’s promises, and courageously spreading the good news of Jesus wherever the Holy Spirit led them.

Does God still call us? On Monday I returned from a week-long CREDO conference at the retreat center of the Diocese of Virginia. The conference asked us to discern several questions. Perhaps the most important of these questions were “What is God calling me to do?” and “How am I responding to God’s call?” Nineteen of us officially retired clergy, all older than 68, attended the conference. Most were fully retired, but a few, like me, were still serving parishes. We were joined by eight faculty members, four of whom were also priests, representing the financial, vocational, health, and spiritual aspects of ministry. All of the faculty members were very candid about their faith journeys, how they had felt called, how they had responded, and what call they were now hearing. In small groups, each of us looked both back and ahead, sharing our own sense of how we were living out our call.

Some of you have heard my own call story, but perhaps this is a good time to share it. I was not like Lydia! Actually, I thought I heard a call to ordained ministry as a teenager, but I am old enough that no one was ordaining women in those days. As an adult I was busy with raising three children and pursuing a demanding academic career at three different universities. In 1998 I had organized a quiet morning at Good Shepherd in Athens led by a sister from the Community of the Transfiguration in Cincinnati. As I sat praying in the sanctuary, I distinctly heard God’s call. But I answered, “Not me, Lord! Go away.” In 2000, I chaired a parish discernment committee for another person. To my surprise, I asked myself the same questions that we were asking her. Again I said, “Nope, not me.” Shortly after the long-time rector of Good Shepherd left in late 2002, a sister from the Community of the Holy Spirit in New York, Sr. Faith Margaret whom some of you have met, came to talk with then Vestry members about the transition. I spent about five minutes with her talking about Vestry matters and the rest of the time about my lack of prayer life. Following her counsel, I began to pray again and in May 2003 became an associate of the Community.

Perhaps all the prayer had finally opened my ears. Perhaps the Holy Spirit finally shouted at me loud enough. In early 2004, I opened my mouth and said to Sr. Faith Margaret, “I’m thinking about ordained ministry.” She was the first person I had ever said those words to besides my spouse. After that, the Holy Spirit grabbed my hand and off we went: I was a postulant for the priesthood eleven months later, took early retirement from Ohio University in 2005, was ordained priest three years later, and have now stood before you for eight years. By God’s grace, and with the help of you all, my spiritual directors, and many others, I am still learning and growing as a follower of Jesus.

What is God calling you to do? Do you create the time in your day, in your week, so that you can hear God’s call to you? Is there any Sabbath time in your life, so that you too might go outside the gate by the river and hear life-changing teaching? Have you perhaps had a vision or heard a call, as Paul and others in Scripture did? Or perhaps God’s words have pierced your soul as you have read, sat in silence, or even sung a hymn. Is God calling you to have the courage to change the course of your life, to minister in some new way to those around you, to leave behind those habits and addictions that keep you from following Jesus? How are you answering God’s call?

What is God calling us to do? Are we as a parish called to leave our comfortable home in Asia Minor and cross over to Macedonia? Perhaps there’s a Lydia waiting to hear from us. Soon after Johnny “Knuckles” DeVincenzo left prison after a 44-year sentence, he heard a child crying in the lobby of his Harlem apartment building. Her mother explained that they were both hungry, so DeVincenzo took them out to dinner. So began a most unusual partnership between the leaders of the Fortune Society, a New York-based nonprofit whose mission is to reintegrate formerly incarcerated people into society, and “The Castle,” a Gothic-style apartment house. Partnering with a development firm, Fortune opened an eleven-story building adjacent to the Castle that houses both former convicts and low-income families. As so many former convicts are older and male, and so many of the low-income families are headed by single mothers, The Castle has become a unique haven. After having previously having been on the own, both the men and women have found surprisingly supportive families and healing for their souls.

Whenever we are moved by love, we are being sent by God. Who is God calling us to be? Where is God sending us? How are we answering God’s call?