Sermons

"God Is Calling You"

Sermon by the Reverend Greg Cole
Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI
Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5
June 5, 2005

I recently saw a bumper sticker that read: “Life is what happens while we’re making plans.” We could easily expand that to say, “God is what happens while we’re making plans.” God does seem to have a tendency to interrupt our daily living in ways that are both dramatic and small.

Consider Abraham, whose story we read this morning. He was living out his senior years in Ur, perhaps playing golf and minding his own business. Along comes God the great interrupter who tells him to take everything that he has and to travel to a foreign land. I am sure that this new venture was not part of Abraham’s retirement plans. However, Abraham dutifully agrees and he becomes the leader of a great nation.

Matthew, the tax collector, was at a different stage in his life – working hard to build a career, saving for retirement, looking to build a social life. However, one day quite literally he is minding his business when Jesus barges in and invites, almost commands, him to follow him. Matthew drops everything, his entire life, and answers Jesus’ call.

Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da,
The Calling of Saint Matthew 1599-1600;
Oil on canvas, 10' 7 1/2" X 11' 2";
Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

Above is a copy of Michelangelo Caravaggio’s painting, The Calling of Saint Matthew. Notice that the line between darkness and light bisects the painting. The light descends from above Jesus to illuminate the face of Matthew, who is gathered with his associates, presumably counting money. Out of the darkness comes the hand of Christ, pointing at Matthew. Almost as an extension of his hand we see Matthew’s hand, pointing at himself as if to say, “Who me?” These two hands draw us into the painting, moving us from spectators to participants in the drama. While hard to see in this reproduction, Christ’s feet are pointed not at Matthew but at the viewer, again drawing us into the painting. It is as if Caravaggio wants us to sense the call as well and to ask the same question, “Who me?”

We know from the Gospel account that Matthew did more than just ask, “Who me?” He responded to God’s call by getting up and following Jesus. This was a life changing moment for Matthew. In walking away from his tax collector status, he committed an act of political subversion. He walked away from his Roman bosses, proclaiming that there was more to life than the considerable money that he made as their lackey.
Caravaggio portrays a room of contrasts: wealth versus poverty, darkness versus light, the pull of prosperity versus the call of Christ. He makes it clear that the better way is that of light, poverty, and faithfulness to God’s call to discipleship.

Of course, as Caravaggio so vividly portrays, our Gospel story is as much about God’s call to us as about God’s call to Matthew. We too move between worlds dominated by light and darkness. We too feel the relentless pull of prosperity and material comfort. We experience the temptation of expediency, living in whatever world offers the most comfort, the greatest self-gain, the easiest path. Yet, at other times, we sense the hand of God pointing towards us, beckoning us, calling us to discipleship. God’s call to us may not be as dramatic as that to Abraham or Matthew. Nonetheless, God calls us to move towards the light, to live as disciples of Jesus, to respond to God’s call to be the body of Christ in our world.

Emmanuel’s new statement of identity says, “Emmanuel Church is a dynamic faith community committed to sharing God’s love. Our mission is to equip people to live as disciples of Jesus.” We exist to help each other to say yes to the outstretched hand of Jesus. We are here to help each other to get up and to move from the darkness to the light. We are here to equip and empower each other to say no to the ways of a world that suggests that its trappings are the key to peace and fulfillment.

What did it mean for Matthew to respond to God’s call? It meant giving up the security of his well-paying job. It meant walking from security to uncertainty, from the relative safety of his insulated world to the danger that accompanies any challenge to the status quo. For us, it means making choices everyday of our lives to live according to the teachings of Jesus, to allow those teachings to inform everything that we do, to look for God’s hand in the everyday events of our lives, to remain open to the movement of God’s call to us.

If you want a place to begin thinking about the implications of discipleship, turn to the baptismal covenant found on page 304 of the Book of Common Prayer. There you will see the foundational principles of a Christian ethic that can shape our everyday lives. To continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to persevere in resisting evil, to proclaim God ‘s love, to love your neighbor, to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being – these are the hallmarks of discipleship, the ways in which we respond to God’s call to leave the rest behind and to follow.

God is what happens while we are making plans. We are busy people. The commitments of life fill our days to the point that sometimes we are relieved just to make it to bedtime. It is in the busyness, in the everyday events, in the struggle to make it through the day that God calls us to discipleship. It is from within our frenetic existence that God say, I have work for you, I have love for you to share, or I have justice for you to seek. Discipleship is not easy. Yet, it is worth it. God’s call to serve is the greatest privilege of all. It is also the path to peace and fulfillment that all of us seek. May we respond, as did Abraham and Matthew, to God’s call to move ever closer to the light of Christ. Amen.