Claiming Our Call

Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren

Pastor Katie Shaw Thompson – May 30, 2021

Claiming Our Call – Luke 4: 14-21

This is a message for the young, the young at heart, as well as all those who are long in years or in heart today. It begins with this question: What kind of calls have you had lately? What kind of c-a-l-l-s have you had lately?

Phone calls have been keeping a lot of us together in this pandemic. Many of us learned the word Zoom sometime in the past year. And I know I’ve appreciated Zooming with so many of you and with family and friends around the world this last year.

But there’s another kind of call I wanted to talk to you about today. It’s not necessarily one that will show up in a text message, phone call, or video chat--although it might! It’s sometimes a very quick, clear message received in words. But sometimes it’s a murky, unclear, wordless inkling, moving us over time in subtle ways, acting maybe more like the pull of the moon on ocean tides than anything else.

That call is about how our particular gifts, challenges, and opportunities match up with the gifts, challenges, and opportunities of the world around us. I’ve heard some people talk about it in terms of being on assignment or getting an assignment from God—as if they are students researching a project or journalists writing a story.

The Bible is full of stories about calls from God. Among others, we hear God calling Noah to build a big boat, calling Moses to lead his people to freedom, and in the New Testament, calling Mary to carry Jesus into the world. Even Jesus, who is God made flesh, was on assignment here among us on Earth as he made clear to all those who heard the scripture he read among them from today’s story. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” he read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, “because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’” And that is just what Jesus did in his life, death, and resurrection. He proclaimed that none of us need be bound to the lies that tell us we are unworthy or unlovable. He comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. He proclaimed each one free. He broke every yoke. He followed this call even though it was difficult and ultimately, for him, lethal. None of us are called to be Jesus. But as followers of Jesus, we are called to be ourselves and to use our gifts as the Holy Spirit leads in the service of making the world a better place for each and every one born.

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I want to ask you another question: What are some of the gifts of the humans you know? Who does something particularly well, and you appreciate it? It doesn’t have to be someone famous. and it doesn’t have to be anything complicated. My husband, among other things, washes the dishes every night. It’s a gift he can give. He’s happy to do it—most nights. And it leaves my children and me free to enjoy abundant read-a-loud time together before sleep. What are some of the gifts the humans you know share? Someone famous whose gift is very unique and uses it to help others feel more freedom, I think, is Simone Biles. Simone Biles is the undisputed greatest gymnast of all time. She has more medals than any other female or male gymnast ever. There are three moves that are just named “The Biles” because she invented them. At 24, which is ancient in gymnast years, she is still perfectly performing moves in competition that few other athletes can even attempt in practice. Currently there’s a controversy because judges are scoring a dangerous move that she does lower than the score it really deserves. They’re doing it, so that no one else tries it, because they think it's that dangerous. Biles redefines her sport and seemingly the laws of gravity. She also does it with confidence and poise, overcoming adversity after adversity and by doing so, I think, helping us all to learn how to be a little more free. She has survived the grueling spotlight of a world stage and racist, sexist trolls online and in the media, who have attacked her from every angle, including constant denigration of her physical appearance. When she was born, her mother struggled with addiction and her father was out of the picture, landing Simone and her three siblings in foster care and eventual adoption by her grandfather. Her home life has not always been easy. And after suffering sexual abuse at the hands of then Olympic coach Larry Nassar, she found the strength to speak publicly about it and to stand with all the other victims to help bring accountability not only to Nassar but to the entire structure of USA Gymnastics which had aided and abetted him. Now, after a postponed Olympics postponed her retirement from the sport and her carefully laid training plans for a year, she is set to make more history. And I will be one of millions cheering her on every step of the way, because she gives me hope that no matter what adversity lies in our way, we too can find ways of using our unique gifts to help each experience more of the freedom God yearns for each and every one of us to experience. We don’t have to be Jesus and we don’t have to be Simone Biles. We named gifts we already see being shared around us that help make the world a better place. Ever since the Holy Spirit blew into the room the disciples were in with wind and fire, the church

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has been a place where we share our gifts with each other and where we combine our gifts to share with the world in order to share the good news of God’s love and to work for a world in which we all can feel more free. In the Church of the Brethren, “we believe that baptism is a response to God’s saving act through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” that “baptism is an act of obedience to the teachings and example of Jesus,” that “baptism is a symbol of cleansing and new life,” that “baptism is a public witness of the covenant relationship with God,” that “baptism is an initiation rite into the church, the body of Christ,” that “baptism is a beginning” rather than an ending of a faith journey, and finally, that “baptism is an ordination into ministry.” In our youth Sunday School, we spent some time talking about that last one. What does it mean that baptism is an ordination into ministry? It doesn’t mean we all have to become pastors. It doesn’t mean we’ll never make mistakes again. It doesn’t mean life will always be easy. It means we have accepted the call to use our gifts for the glory of God and our neighbors’ good. I told the Sunday School class and I’ll tell you today that all of the young people in that class are already doing just that. They are sharing their great questions about life and faith, their fun senses of humor, their creativity, their concerns, and their great big hearts with our church and with the world around them. It has been a delight for me, particularly with Leah and Jenna, to see them grow into wise and capable young women and to share their gifts with the church in the years I have been here. As they and the rest of our church’s young people continue to emerge into adulthood, I look forward to seeing all their gifts continue to emerge, and I trust that simply in being true to who God has called them to be they will use those gifts in ways that make the world a more loving, just, and free place to live. I am honored to be part of this moment of baptism today for Jenna and Leah. I will continue to pray for and cheer for them, as I know this entire church will join me in doing. As we welcome these young women officially into the church today, as we bless their calls to be true to who they are in ways that make us all more free, may we too listen for the call that the Holy Spirit puts on each of our hearts. For each of us is uniquely gifted and each of us has our own unique opportunities to share those gifts for the glory of God and our neighbors’ good. One chapter before the scripture we read from Luke today, Jesus arises from his own waters of baptism to a voice from heaven calling him God’s Beloved child, “in whom

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[God] is well pleased.” As we bless this baptism with our prayers and presence today, may we be reminded of the love God has for each and every one of us. May we be nudged to listen closely to the call God puts on each of our hearts, and may we step forward to accept that call to our own form of ministry. May it be so. Amen.