Sermon preached by the Reverend John E.
Kitagawa at the Celebration of Holy Eucharist on
HERE I AM, SEND ME!
Isaiah 6: 1-8; I
Corinthians 1: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11
As you heard, today’s Gospel closes,
When
they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him
(Luke 5: 11).
Have you ever
wondered about this? Is this what is required
to be true followers of Jesus? Are we supposed
to leave our jobs, our families, our possessions and our community networks? To me,
Peter, James and John seem impulsive, bordering on reckless. Sage advice from Robert Greenleaf of the
Servant Leadership movement comes to mind:
Everyone, at some time and in some areas, is a follower, and it is
just as important to be discriminating in choosing who to follow as it is to
prepare to lead[1].
In Luke’s narrative, Jesus has established a
reputation for preaching and healing. In
fact, in Chapter 5, verse 1, we learn a crowd pressed in on him—trying to get
closer to hear, to touch, to ask for a prayer, or for healing. Nevertheless, I am amazed that Simon Peter,
James and John would give up the family business, sacrifice the security of a
steady source of food and income, and leave the safety of community and family
ties to follow someone they barely knew, and for a life they could not
imagine. I have accepted this story on
faith, but suddenly “leaving everything” to follow Jesus has never really made
sense.
In his book, Let
Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation (John Wiley & Sons, 2000), Parker Palmer offers a
helpful perspective for making sense of this story.
Today I understand vocation quite differently -- not as a goal to
be achieved but as a gift to be received. Discovering vocation does not mean
scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of
true self I already possess. Vocation does not come from a voice "out
there" calling me to become something I am not. It comes from a voice
"in here" calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill
the original selfhood given me at birth by God[2].
Palmer reminds
me of a time when I did not accept a call to a ministry with a fancy title at a
prominent Episcopal institution. An “out
there” voice called me to a ministry I was competent, experienced and prepared
to do. Going through the process, I
discovered that position did not cause my “in here” voice to respond. It did not make my heart sing, nor did it
fire my imagination or ignite my passion for ministry. I was confident that I could do the job
proficiently, but it just did not feel like “me”.
Applying Palmer’s thoughts to today’s
Gospel, Jesus is clearly a voice “out there”.
Had that been the only dynamic at work, Peter, James and John might not have
followed. The story makes sense to me only
if Jesus’ “out there” voice touched Peter, James and John’s “in here” voice,
and tapped into their deepest longing to be the persons God had created them to
be. Jesus saw true treasure in each of
them, and his call led them to see it in themselves, and to accept the true
vocations they were born to fulfill.
It might be said that Peter, James and John
had the advantage of a close encounter with Jesus himself. As noted earlier, Jesus was a hot commodity
in
Earth is crammed with heaven,
and every common bush is ablaze with God.
Those who see take off their shoes.
The rest just sit around and pick blackberries[3].
(Modern translation: The
rest just sit around reading their blackberries.)
I imagine Jesus
saw potential in many who flocked to see him.
I imagine he invited many to follow.
In Browning’s images, Peter, James and John were the ones who “took off
their shoes”; and most of those “pressing in on Jesus” ended up “sitting around
and picking blackberries.”
Open up your senses, your minds and your
imaginations. God is all around. God is here.
We can encounter the awesome presence of God in today’s music; in the
Bible; in serving the poor; in Christian Education classes; in care-giving for a
child or senior; in worship here in the church or for some families next week, in
a “comfy place”; in expected and in surprising people and places. Any
and all of these encounters can be “out there” voices that touch, awaken and
lead our “in here” voices towards acceptance of the persons God created us to
be, and the purposes God intends for us to fulfill.
Two
Sundays ago, during Annual Meeting Part II, I outlined the adverse implications
of a smaller staffing budget, and potential impact on ministry. Some parishioners immediately wanted to explore
ways to generate new income. A mid-week
report showed 19 parishioners have pledged or paid an additional $12,000. Thank you so much! Needless to say, staff members are anxious;
and, we share everyone’s concerns about carrying on and developing St. Philip’s
ministries. It is in the midst of such
angst and turmoil that I welcome and commend today’s Gospel. The calling of Peter, James and John—and by
implication all of us—is a timely reminder that God created us with unique
gifts, and that God calls to reawaken and remind us of our truest purposes in
life. This Gospel is a timely reminder
that we are called to accept and use God’s unique gifts and blessings for mission
and ministry, not for institutional maintenance and survival. I remind everyone that this parish was founded
during the Great Depression. Despite our
difficult financial position, and a shaky national economy, Christ bids us follow
and flourish.
Jesus called Peter, James and John to
follow, not to succeed and not to achieve.
The invitation to us is the same—to follow Jesus and his way as
faithfully as we can, taking chances and risks along the way. That can be a little frightening. This thought from mystic Julian of Norwich (Revelations
of Divine Love) is worth
holding on to.
If
there be anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe from falling,
I know nothing of it—for it was not shown me. But this was shown—that in
falling and rising again we are always kept in the same precious love[4].
AMEN.