Why are we here?

Why are we here?

I ask this not to be intentionally vague, though I understand that it is vague. I also don’t mean to “sound wise” without actually saying anything, though that question doesn’t mean very much beyond what you yourself put there. So, knowing that the question “Why are we here” means many different things, I want you to think about that for a moment.

“Why are you here?”

In the Gospel this morning, Jesus is going around Israel, living his life. His ministry is just beginning. Immediately prior to this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus was baptized by John , and then he goes out to the wilderness in order to be tempted by Satan.

He returns, and after an unspecified amount of time, finds out that John has been arrested for preaching that the kingdom of God was approaching. We find more details later in the Gospels, but basically Herod Antipas was upset that John was declaring that a new kingdom was approaching; this would mean that a new non-roman king was going to appear.

It also didn’t help matters that Herod had a second wife, and John went around calling both of them harlots.

Anyway, John is arrested for preaching about the coming kingdom, and Jesus withdraws into Galilee. This seems prudent. Someone is arrested for doing something, and if you want to continue or begin doing that same thing, far better to move than stay put.

So Jesus wasn’t in Galilee at the time. He was in Nazareth. But the key thing is: he wasn’t in great danger in Nazareth. John wasn't preaching in Nazareth, he was preaching in Galilee. So when Jesus withdrew to Galilee, Jesus went right to where John was preaching. Jesus went right to where John got arrested; Jesus stepped right into the lion’s den.

Jesus hears that John was arrested for proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” And you know what he did next; “From that time Jesus began to proclaim ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

God had a plan for Jesus’s life and for Jesus's ministry. The fact that we are still here, almost two thousand years after this all took place is a testament to that amazing, incredible, frankly unbelievable idea. God has a plan. Even more amazing, is that God has a plan for each of us.

Still, moving into a territory where someone got thrown in prison for speaking God’s word seem reckless. It seems especially reckless when you plan to begin doing that exact same thing, in that exact same place.

Why are you here?

God does not necessarily call us to be safe. God calls us to do good, wherever that might take us. In the case of Jesus, he was called to move right to where his cousin was arrested. This can't have been easy for him.

God calling us to go somewhere is not always easy. Jesus did not always find God's call easy. When Jesus cries out to the Father, “Please let this cup pass from my lips” he is begging God, saying that it is too hard. God sometimes asks us to do really, really hard things, and Jesus totally gets that. He completely understands, because he has BEEN there.

Now, God probably hasn't asked us to die for him, so its not a perfect metaphor, but Jesus gets it. He truly and completely understands it how hard it can be when God asks us to do things.

So Why are you here? Why do you go to church where you do, live in the city or state that you do? 

Jesus was called to to Galilee, not to twiddle his thumbs, but to continue both his and John's ministry. He was called for a purpose, for a reason, to do something that mattered.

Why are you here?

So Jesus began preaching the coming Kingdom of God. And he found himself walking by the water. Maybe he is kicking the waves as they move by, maybe he is watching some kids play in the surf. Anyway, he looks up and sees these two guys throwing nets into the sea-for they were fishermen, as the gospel so eloquently puts it.

All Jesus says is, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” AND THEY FOLLOW HIM.

So they walk along, and he sees two other brothers, and their father, fixing their nets in the boat. So Jesus calls to them, and they immediately left the boat and their father and follow him too. IT WORKS AGAIN!

What? They immediately left their nets. Immediately. I don't do anything immediately. I set my alarm earlier than I have to so I don't have to get out of bed immediately, and these brothers immediately follow Jesus when he says some weird thing about fishing for people.

Now that is faith. Now that is a call.

Why are you here?

What are you called to do so strongly, that you would leave your boat and your father and go and follow Jesus in order to do it?

One of the things that is amazing about Resurrection House is that it gives you the vocabulary to talk about your vocation. I was talking to a priest about why I feel called to ordained ministry, and as I described my call, I said something that I truly believed.

I believed in my call so strongly that I said, with a bit of pride, “God has called me to this; how could I say no?”

That got stomped on immediately. He jumped all over that.

This is what he told me. “You can always tell God no. We have a relationship with God. There are many different things that we are called to, and we can tell God no to any of them. If we can't say no to God, it doesn't mean anything when we finally say yes.”

If we are unable to say No, it means nothing if we say yes.

Selfishly, I want my call to mean something. I want to serve God, but for there to be any meaning you have to be able to say no. And that was something that I just did not get.

Simon Peter, Andrew, John, and James all said yes. This is so remarkable because they did not have to. They could have said that they had responsibilities; that they enjoyed life as a fisherman. They could have said no for any multitude of reasons. They Chose to follow Jesus. And because they had a real choice, it meant something when they said yes.

So why are you here? What is God calling you to do? What ministry is God calling you to? And man, wouldn't it be nice if it was as blatant and obvious as someone literally calling out to you from the shore?

Peter, and Andrew, and John, and James had it easy in that regard. They were called. Literally, by a voice that said, “follow me.” We are not as lucky. When God calls us, it can be far more subtle.

Why are we here?

Vocation is the word that sums up our call. It is our calling, our ministry, our passion and hopefully, our job. According to Matthew, Jesus went through Galilee teaching and healing and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. If Jesus's vocation was to be summed up, the last sentence of this morning's Gospel hits the nail on the head.

Frederick Buechner, a theologian, wrote that, “Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world's greatest need.”

Our greatest passion meets the world's greatest need. Jesus lived his life serving others, fulfilling the greatest need.

You will notice that that definition is not restricted to church work. Teaching can be a vocation; so can construction work. Any way you merge your strongest passion with the deepest need of the world, you have found your vocation.

Why are we here?

We are here to do two things. We are here to listen. And when we hear God's call for us, we are here to choose to say yes.

Camels: $500?

Camels: $500. Gold: $150. Frankincense: $100. Myrrh $200. Finding the Son of God, priceless. There are some things money can’t buy, but for everything else, well you know the rest of the commercial. For the wise men in the Gospel, I don’t know what their true expenses were, but I bet they guessed that following a star to find the Son of God was not going to be inexpensive.

It definitely sounds a little bizarre, follow a star to find the son of God. And what made God choose those wise men to follow a star to find Jesus? Would God ask anybody to follow a star to find Jesus? Was it all a coincidence?

So what made those wise men so special? When reading a commentary about this particular passage, I learned that wise men, were also referred to as Magi, and the word Magi stood for several things. It stood for a Persian priestly caste, it was also short for the word magicians, and finally Magi referred to individuals who were astrologers. And as astrologers they understood the science of reading the stars. This understanding of science was what made them wise. As a part of the science, we can infer that they had the skills to map out a journey simply using the night sky, they could follow a star to find the new born king. This was their God given gift.

Back to the story, now prepared to begin their journey, the wise men were summoned by King Herod. They were summoned because the king was frightened because this was his understanding of the birth of Jesus, “a child has been born king of the Jews”, a king to rule over all kings. This could only mean one thing, he wasn’t going to be King much longer. To prevent this new King from taking his throne, he called together all the scribes and all the chief priests to understand exactly what he was up against.

And from the gospel reading it says that they explained what the prophet had written, “‘[from Bethlehem] shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” This meant King Herod needed to find that child and do all in his power to prevent him from becoming King. And since those wise men from the East were on a journey to find this new born king, he would use them to find the child and stop him from becoming King. Thus he ordered the wise men to send back the location of the child, and then Herod himself would stop the child from becoming King. Brilliant plan, but what King Herod didn’t realize was that the wise men weren’t going to follow his orders. They were warned by God in a dream not to.

So to answer the initial question, was it simply a coincidence? I don’t think so. The ability to understand the stars was a God given gift. God reached out to the wise men, to use skills particular to them, and to find the son of God. Yes, it was a challenge to use the stars as a map, but the wise men could rely on those skills because God gave those skills. Most importantly, the wise men weren’t following the word of King Herod, they were following God’s word.

What does this look like for us today? How do we listen to God to learn what our gifts are? And most importantly, who are we following? We, like the wise men, are on a journey. A journey to serve God by loving each other using the gifts God gave us to serve others. To understand what are gifts are, I think we must understand how we best serve others. For the wise men it was being able to read the stars, for those that are teachers it’s teaching, for those that are consolers it’s consoling, and for those that are doctors it’s treating illnesses.

Ultimately, this shows us that God meets us where we are. God meets us, where we are. God gives each of us different gifts to serve others, and when we listen and follow God’s word we can perform wondrous ministries. It is the beginning of a new year, and for us, it is the beginning of another journey to live out God’s mission for us. If we listen and serve God through our own God given gifts we can begin to serve others better and love one another more.

It’s won’t always easy, and there will always be expenses along the way, but how bad can they really be? Reading the bible: $0, praying: $0, listening and loving others: $0. And serving God through our gifts: priceless.

Thoughts on Sunrises and Dishes.

As I was flying home from Omaha early on Christmas morning I was taken aback by the beauty of the sunrise. Below the horizon was a deep royal blue, which slowly transitioned into purples and pinks. Within a few minutes there were yellows and oranges, and as I was watching the new day begin from thousands of feet in the air I thought it might be one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. I could see the ground below, the endless sky above, and all the colors of creation being born for the new day right in the middle. Although what I seeing was pure elegance and grace, I realized I had seen it before. You see, I cannot say with certainty that the sunrise on Christmas was prettier than on any other day. I cannot say whether seeing the sun rise from an airplane is any more sacred than watching it rise over the snow-capped mountains, or watching it creep through the kitchen window while I make my breakfast. That’s the thing about sunrises, and all other magnificent things of creation: they cannot be judged fairly from day to day. Each is new. Each is being born again, and bringing with it new possibilities.

As I continued my journey home I thought back to the very first sunrise. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” I wondered if the word has been in the sunrises since the beginning, but we haven’t always seen. If the word has been in the vast sea, and the open landscapes, but we haven’t always paid attention. If the word has been in the singing of the birds, but we haven’t always listened.

Then there are all the little everyday things. The divine dish cloth. The psalms of dusting. The anthems of laundry. Is the word there too? Do you see it? We might praise the beauty of nature, as we should, but we should also bless the monotonous and drab.

We have been back in Nebraska for about two weeks. Back in community with each other at the house. Back in community with our parishes. Back in community with our non-profits.

Back to the routine of things.

Cooking.

Discernment.

Cleaning.

Morning Prayer.

Community Meetings.

Bulletins.

Grocery Shopping.

Spiritual Direction.

Here we are: seeing sunrises and chopping onions; praying compline and sweeping the kitchen floor; discussing liturgy and taking out the recycling. Who is to say what is holy? Who is to say what isn’t holy?

The three of us were called to Nebraska. The three of us were meant to be a part of this cornhusker-obsessed, freezing wind chilled, Midwest-friendly state. We are not the same people we were when we arrived last August, and we most assuredly won’t be the same people who leave in May. We followed God’s call to be here, and we have spent almost as much time laughing as working. Sometimes we joke about what the community would be like if just one of us was replaced with someone else. Would we still get along like we do? God is moving throughout our community all the time. I look forward to these next four months, where we have the time and space to explore even further what intentional community means, not just for resurrection house this year, but when we leave this place.

“Come unto me. Come unto me, you say. All right then, dear my Lord. I will try in my own absurd way. In my own absurd way I will try to come unto you, a project which is in itself by no means unabsurd. Because I do not know the time or place where you are. And if by some glad accident my feet should stumble on it, I do not know that I would know that I had stumbled on it. And even if I did know, I do not know for sure that I would find you there. … And if you are there, I do not know that I would recognize you. And if I recognized you, I do not know what that would mean or even what I would like it to mean. I do not even well know who it is you summon, myself. For who am I? I know only that heel and toe, memory and metatarsal, I am everything that turns, all of a piece, unthinking, at the sound of my name. … Come unto me, you say. I, … all of me, unknowing and finally unknowable even to myself, turn. O Lord and lover, I come if I can to you down through the litter of any day, through sleeping and waking and eating and saying goodbye and going away and coming back again. Laboring and laden with endless histories heavy on my back.” ― Frederick Buechner, The Alphabet of Grace