Who, me?

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost - August 26, 2007

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

“Who am I, and what am I supposed to be doing?”

Those questions are not asked just once, but again and again across the years of our lives.

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

“Who, me?” Jeremiah asks the voice of the Lord.

“You're talking with me?

You want me to do what?

How in the world can that happen; I'm too young and inexperienced.”

Don't say “I'm too....”

Start with “Thus says the Lord...”

Listen to all your forebears in the faith.

And the Lord says first, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

“Who am I and what am I supposed to be doing?”

Students are trying to unpack those questions all the time.

I heard one student the other day working on those questions.

The student was realizing that he or she needs to start the school year as a peacemaker between friends who don't know how to be friends.

It is a scary job to be a school peacemaker.

Whether or not the word God is used out-loud, this student will start with a vision that is God's gift to her, a vision of a learning community.

And the Lord says, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

When Jesus said to the woman, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment,” she stood up straight and began praising God.

“Who, me? Yes, it's me! I canstand.

Everyone needs to hear that whatever my limitations have been from the past, God can and will in his good time overcome them.

She does not say “I'm too....”

She starts with her own experience with Jesus.

She rejoiced that Jesus didn't think of her only as the old bent woman, but refers to her as “daughter of Abraham,” a member of the family of God's promise, an honorable and weighty designation.

And the Lord says, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

“Who, me?” people of St. Mark's congregation ask when the call of God comes to us through the voice of Sharon asking for persons to serve as Sunday School teachers and helpers for one month in the coming year.

“You're talking with me?

You want me to do what?

How in the world can that happen;

I'm too young and inexperienced;

or I'm too old and over-experienced

or I'm too whatever-in-the-middle.”

Don't say “I'm too....”

Start with “Jesus loves me, this I know...”

Explore the Bible with all of the helps that Sharon has discovered to aid you.

And the Lord says, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

Who, me? You're talking with us, you writer of the book of Hebrews?

Look, we're just ordinary persons, trying to get along from day to day.

You say that God is giving us a kingdom; but that is way too much responsibility for me. I'm just an ordinary person, not ready for that much attention.

Don't say “I'm too...ordinary.”

Start with “Thank you, God.”

Actually take the good book off the shelf and read, and discover the honor that God confers on us, and the joy of letting someone else know about it, too.

And the Lord says, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

Students head off to college with all sorts of grand ideas, sometimes trying to forget that it is God that is truly in charge of the whole thing.

“Who am I and what am I supposed to be doing? gets twisted and truncated into

“How much money can I earn, and how quickly?”

Don't say, “What will I get our of it?

Begin with “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening,” borrowing the line from young Samuel.

and evaluate all of the theories and possibilities against the certainty that God will yet hold onto us in spite of our doubts and conflicts.

And the Lord says, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Where the deep needs of the world intersect with the gifts that God has granted to you, there is your call.

“Who, me? you're talking with me?” say the senior members of the parish.

“I'm too...old, just too old to learn,” said one such member to me the other day.

Learning may go more slowly for seniors than years ago, and may have to be taken in smaller bites, but it is still both possible and necessary for life.

The mercies of the Lord come freshly every day, to be gathered like the Hebrews gathered the manna each and every day.

We have senior members who have been serving with distinction as Stephen Ministers for nine years now.

We have several more senior members in training for that work.

Our senior members have suggested the hymns that we sing this day both in worship and in Fellowship Hall.

I had to remind one of our senior members the other day that although he or she could no longer do some of the things that were easy years ago, there continues to be the ministry of card-writing, of telephoning, and most especially the ministry of prayer not just for oneself, but also for the rest of us in the parish, the community and the whole world.

“When you get done with that, come back and we'll talk again,” I have said.

And the Lord says, “I am with you. You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak what I command you; I have put my words in your mouth.”

Who, me?

Yes, all of us!

Even more than responsibility, it is joy for us now and always, as he leads us. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.