"Baptism and Call"

A sermon by The Rev. Keenan Kelsey
Noe Valley Ministry, Presbyterian Church (USA)
January 15, 2006

Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Mark 3:3-11

SAMUEL put on his pajamas,--or whatever the equivalent was over 900 years before Christ. It was easy for him to find his way in semi-darkness; the lamp of God was lit, and he had been at the temple since he was a small boy. He probably said his prayers - he probably smiled when he thought of his mother. He missed her sometimes - what boy wouldn't? Surely he prayed for Eli, the primary father figure in his life, his teacher and mentor. Sometimes it got old - doing all the chores, toting this and cleaning up that.

But Samuel loved the old man, and he hated the way Eli's sons treated him - They were supposed to be priests like their father, but they were scoundrels. Samuel knew how to attend to the priest; he knew where everything was, and how every ritual went. It was a good life. Samuel settled in to sleep well. And then there was the voice. The voice woke him in the night,. Samuel thought there must be something wrong with the old man, so he ran to Eli and said "Here I am!" But Eli said, "I didn't call you! Go back to bed!" It happened a second time! By the third time Eli finally realized what was happening, and directed the confused boy, to answer. When Samuel was called again, he was ready. "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." And Samuel was never the same.

Martin hung up the phone and heated a cup of coffee. The call had been another death threat. When the coffee was ready, he sat at the kitchen table, his face in his hands. He was only 26 years old, new to ministry, a baby on the way. He was a confident young man -- he had a Ph.D. in theology, for goodness sake. And he had taken charge right away in his new church. After Mrs. Parks was arrested, the people needed someone to lead them. Martin knew that God was calling him to do this one thing. So WHY was this happening? Martin began to pray, out loud, right there at the kitchen table. He said, "Lord, I'm down here trying to do what's right. I think the cause that we represent is right. But Lord, I must confess that I'm weak now. I'm faltering. I'm losing my courage. And I can't let the people see me like this because if they see me weak and losing my courage they will begin to get weak." And then it seemed at that moment that Martin could hear an inner voice saying, "Stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world." Martin said, "...I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone..."

Jesus came out of nowhere. When he traveled from his home in Nazareth, it seemed like no one gave him a second glance, not even his cousin John, with whom he grew up, both part of a loving orthodox Jewish working-class family. Crazy John is baptizing people for the forgiveness of sins, calling them to a new life, and preaching of One greater than he, the one of God, who will come after him to baptize with the Holy Spirit. And according to Mark, John simply baptizes him as he passes through the line.

But then Mark springs the dramatic climax. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart...not just "opened," the Greek schizomai means split, ripped, sundered...and the Spirit descended on him like a dove. The voice from heaven spoke directly to him, called him by name: 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" It is as if God the Creator is confined to heaven at this fantastic moment, and in euphoric frustration rips and tears the very fabric of the universe to lay claim upon Jesus, the Son. It is a cosmic YES, a celebration before anything even happens, a coming out party, the start of a whole new life. And Mark leads us to believe that Jesus was as surprised as anyone! Three stories of call. Three stories of people whom God called by name. Three stories of obedience.

The first was a boy, promised to God by his mother. The boy grew up to be a great prophet of Israel, a judge and priest; rewarded with the constancy of God's perpetual guidance. Samuel would have to sit as judge over Israel through may terrible years of war with the Philistines and at the end of his life, to appoint a king, Saul, in whom he did not believe. But he also appointed the boy king David, and when he died, all of Israel mourned for him. When Samuel said, "Here I am" he didn't know where it would lead. But he listened and followed the God who called him by name.

You will have recognized the second, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was called "a reluctant prophet," only 26 years old, barely beginning his work as a minister. He was called to lead his people in non-violent resistance to injustice. Martin didn't know that the path he took would lead him to jail. He didn't know that he would be hated and reviled. He didn't know that his stand for justice would eventually lead to his death. But already baptized and ordained, Martin said, "Here I am" And he knew that the Jesus who called him by name stayed with him until the end, and never, no never, left him alone.

The third, Jesus himself, called by a voice in the wilderness, named and claimed by God. He did not hesitate to enter into John's ritual, and as a result, he turned and withdrew, went directly into the desert to consider what had just happened. It is doubtful that Jesus had much idea of the call he was accepting, the road ahead. It turned out to be hard enough that once, mid-ministry, when Jesus was tired and discouraged, God came to repeated both the call and the affirmation, "You are my Beloved. In you I am well pleased." Once called, Jesus never looked back.

Three Stories of seemingly ordinary people, whom God called by name: ordinary people called to do extraordinary things. And not a one of them expecting it. Not one of them really prepared for it. We'd like to think it was otherwise. We'd like to think that God picks certain people out, people who are special. Not like us. We think, God won't be calling us in the night, or even in the middle of the day. So we're safe. We can go about our business, hardly qualified to be called by God. Who are we to stand up for righteousness? Stand up for justice? Stand up for truth? Why would God call any of us?

God calls the ones we least expect. When a friend of mine heard I was going to Seminary, he began to laugh uproariously. "You are going to be a PREACHER? Well that just proves there is a God and that God has a sense of humor!" God called Abraham and Sarah :both were too old, Jacob was insecure and a thief, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor and chased away his followers, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and even his own son tried to kill him, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Isaiah was a minister's son and Jeremiah liked to swear. Ezekiel was a dreamer and Hosea's wife ran off again and again. Joseph was a carpenter and Mary had not yet been married, The shepherds were outcasts and the Magi foreigners Peter was hot-tempered and impulsive, Martha was a worrier, the Samaritan woman had failed at marriage several times, Zachaeus was unpopular and also short, Thomas doubted, Paul had poor health, Timothy was timid, and Silas spent a lot of time in jail.

God calls misfits. And to each, God says, You are My Beloved. The Spirit is on you.with you, for you. In you I am well pleased. If God calls, will you hear? Back when the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, there was a story, perhaps just a legend, about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man." The other applicants began grumbling, complaining The employer responded, "All the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: `If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. So the job is his.

Our livelihood, indeed our life, depends upon our ability to discern the meaning of those words: "You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." God calls each of us by name, every day, to listen. Jesus calls each one of us, every day, by name, to follow him. We may set up chairs here at church. Or fix the front door Or sand railings and paint walls, Or teach Sunday school Or buy supplies for coffee hour and communion. We might serve shelter meals or remember the name of a newcomer. We might comfort a friend or demonstrate at city hall. But we are called by name, whatever our ministry might be. Because our vocation, is that place, as Buechner said "where our deep gladness meets the world's deep hunger." Ii is not about our line of work. It is not about making a living. It is about making a life worth living. It is about the moments in our lives, Moment after moment after moment, when we hear God calling us by name. Then we are all called to stand up for righteousness, to stand up for justice to stand up for truth.

And we know, as Martin Luther King said, that there is a force in the universe that is on the side of justice, on the side of love, on the side of truth. That force is the living God, who recognizes us, who knows all our ways. When we hear God's voice, when we see Jesus' face, when we say "Here I am. Speak for your servant is listening," we hear God speaking to our deepest need, the need to follow, to participate in the family of God.

The message of Jesus' baptism, and yours and mine as well, is that we are called, and through the Holy Spirit, we have the power to hang in there in this world; the power to keep going when the going really gets tough; the power to continue to believe in love in a world that is filled with hate; the power to continue to work for peace in a world that is addicted to violence; the power to continue to believe in good in a world that is filled with so much suffering and pain; the power to continue to believe that ultimately God's kin-dom will come.

We HAVE the power to both BE different and MAKE a difference... May it be so