Be true to your calling

The Rev. Dan Rondeau

Isaiah 53:4-12 | Psalm 91 | Hebrews 4:12-16 | Mark 10:35-45

Did you know that our prayer after communion is linked to James and John asking to sit at the left and right hand of Jesus? Come with me this morning, and I'll show you the connection.

James and John, sons of Zebedee, sons of Thunder, give me hope. The fact that I am standing before you today as priest, pastor, and preacher, gives me hope. You give me hope. I am filled with hope today. Let me start to examine my hope by exploring the fact that I am standing here today.

Growing up as a "good" Catholic boy I knew I must avoid Protestant churches no matter what. As a child I picked up the value of my elders that practically nothing was worse for a good Catholic boy than to be caught going inside a Protestant church. I wasn't sure what would happen if I went into a Protestant church (the image of being reduced to a pile of ashes just inside the threshold still lingers in my adult years), but I knew it would be bad.

As you well know, with education and knowledge, life experiences and the gaining of perspective and wisdom, the fears and biases of a child can be overcome. I was 30 years old when I had to put these fears to rest (they become a deep part of you when picked up as a child). It is an amazing grace that permits me to be here as your priest, pastor and preacher today. Imagine, a good Catholic boy not only on the inside of a Protestant church, but serving as a priest. It gives me hope (see, Dan, you didn't turn into a pile of ashes inside the door; look around, see the hand of God at work? Rejoice and be glad, this is God's doing).

The story of James and John we heard today is a continuation of the story shared the last few Sundays. Jesus has just finished telling them, for the third time, that he is going to Jerusalem and death. (Later they would understand: Isaiah, in the words we heard today, was telling the truth about Jesus.) Despite their direct contact with Jesus, James and John still didn't get it yet. They were sure Jesus was coming into power. This would be his moment, and they wanted to bask in his majesty and glory, one at the right and one at the left as he exercised power and dominion. What gives me hope is that Jesus patiently addressed their ignorance; they weren't turned into piles of ashes right there.

I have hope because I know too well that I can be wrong, I can be dense, I can be ignorant, about the Lord, about leadership, about being a disciple, and I know, too, that I can count on the same patient, persistent, loving correction and grace experienced by James and John. (In part I know I can count on this because I am here speaking to you despite my errors, denseness, and ignorance. In part I know this because when James and John got it, they became witnesses and servants on behalf of the Lord with amazing results.) As one woman wiser in the faith told me as a young priest "we are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful." James and John, despite their early ignorance and obtuseness, were first faithful and then successful. I have hope.

Every time I encounter this little episode (and its variations) in the Gospel I am reminded of a distinction you and I must continually make in our lives, and I am reminded that I am called (you and I are called) to be faithful.

The distinction you and I must make as we live our lives is this: there is a difference between career and vocation. They may overlap and may call upon the same God-given gifts within us, but they are different.

Career, as the world portrays and honors it, consists of shining, being noticed, advancing to the next level of challenge and achievement, distinguishing and separating yourself from others on the same career path, excelling to be noticed and praised and promoted, and you get the picture. James and John as they approach Jesus are advancing their careers, separating themselves from the other ten by their proactive asking of Jesus to give them what they want. No doubt they were ready with the proof that they were the guys Jesus wanted next to him when he came into power.

Jesus wanted his disciples then, and wants his disciples now (you and me), to focus on vocation and wants us to be faithful in our response. By words (such as here) and example (teaching, healing, forgiving, washing feet, giving up his life for the "sins of the whole world") Jesus directed the hearts of his disciples and friends to listen for the voice of God and when that call was clearly heard, become obedient to fulfilling the vocation, the calling.

Vocation, the call of God to you and me, will involve us with others as servants. It's as simple as that. We will be united by God's call in loving and serving others; the Gospel image I carry with me of hearing and then honestly responding to God's call is of Jesus kneeling on the floor, towel wrapped around his waist as he washes the feet of his disciples.

The call of God is not about being a shining star, about being noticed, or about advancing to the next level of challenge and achievement; the call of God isn't about distinguishing and separating yourself from others who are doing the same work and it isn't about excelling to be noticed and praised and promoted. The call of God is always about serving others in love. What shape that love and service takes is uniquely fashioned by our gifts, talents, experiences, and God's grace. God's desire for us is that we find abundant life as we obediently (truthfully, honestly, earnestly) respond to God's call.

The compelling image of being true, or obedient, to God's call is the montage of Jesus' betrayal, humiliation, and death. Have a great career and you are voted into a Hall of Fame somewhere; be obedient to God's calling and you give up your life for others. The promise is: what is given up will be blessed and returned in an abundant form beyond our imagination.

Jesus asks us to listen for God's call to us. By being like us in all things but sin (Hebrews' lesson) Jesus taught by word and example that it is possible for us humans to be obedient to God's call, it is possible to put our vocation first. It is possible to become the servant of all, and even give up everything for others. That gives me hope.

What has sustained this hope is encountering men and women clearly hearing God's call to serve, and then faithfully responding to that call. I have my own cloud of witnesses, Vi Sargent, Joe Stidman, Gordon and Louise Buck, Betty Higgins, Paul and Eileen Miller, Geri Nelligan, Karen Foasberg, Dave and Betty Carpenter, Peter Bergstrom, Boone Sadler, and I could go on, but won't.

My cloud of witnesses has grown considerably since coming to St. Margaret's in 1993. I was going to risk naming some of you, but decided that most of you still living would be embarrassed by being singled out (glory and recognition after all are not primary in God's call and our response); I also decided that I couldn't possibly name all of you, it would take more time than I have here. (And finally, truth be told, I would undoubtedly be embarrassed myself by not mentioning someone who is a teacher and example to me).

Suffice it to say, my hope of hearing and responding to God's call (to love and serve others) is sustained by having known and knowing many of you. It can be no other way. You sustain and nourish me; and I continue to work and hope that I do the same for you. Being mutually dependent, brought together and sustaining one another in love, is a characteristic of vocation, and I continue to experience that here. It should give us all hope.

As we prepare to again offer ourselves and our gifts, we are well aware of how short we have fallen (we are reminded of how much we are like James and John in the Gospel story) and we ask forgiveness. We are likewise reminded of how much we need God to sustain the very best servant-of-others qualities within us and we come with open hands and hearts to be nourished and strengthened in our response to God's call. Finally, we pray as we leave here in communion with our Lord and each other, that God "send us out to the do the work [He] has given us to do." God's answer to our prayer is seen in the love and service that you give to this parish family and to our surrounding community as you respond to God's call by what you say and do.

It is good. It gives me hope.

Whenever we use this prayer after communion, then, let us think about James and John and Jesus' patient teaching. Let us help each other to distinguish between career and vocation, and let us determine to continue to be faithful in our response to God's call. Amen.

___________________________________________________________________________________________