SERMONS

By Guest Preacher Jennifer Jenkins Gill
March 7, 2010

Today is the third Sunday in the season of Lent. Which is the season of the church year that is 40 days before Easter. Lent has historically been a time to give something up as a way of showing our devotion to God. Like Chocolate, alcohol, or TV. Lent seems to be about sacrificing something for God. However, I think that Lent is not just about sacrificing but listening to God. The meaning behind this idea of sacrificing is that by giving up something (the TV, the sweets, whatever it might be), we will be more open to listening to God in our lives.

Let’s pray together: God, help us to open our hearts and minds to you during this time of worship. And may we listen closely to hear what you have to teach each of us. Amen.

Sermon:

Long before this Lent season started, millions of people in our nation have had to make big sacrifices. As you may know, we are facing the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression. One recent statistic I found stated that 17.4% of Americans are out of work. Most surveys have a difficult time estimating how many people are actually out of work. Because the survey’s only capture those who are actively searching for employment.

Another survey indicated that 44% of families in the US have experienced either job loss or dramatic decrease in hours and salary. And this unemployment has become a chronic problem. Most have been unemployed for well over 6 months without finding a new job. Some of you may be in this situation yourself. If not, most likely you know someone who has been in this predicament.

A friend of mine, let’s call her Jill, finished a masters a few years ago. And like most new masters’ grads she avidly searched for a job to begin her new career. Jill got an interview with a competitive consulting firm in her field – and she was offered the job. Jill of course was thrilled, and accepted the position. She worked very hard, and felt like she had found her dream job. Well, you can only imagine what happened when the economy tanked. Jill was one of the newest hires in her firm and so therefore was laid off.

When someone loses their job, they usually don’t just lose their paycheck. This can impact their whole identity. The way they see themselves as fitting into the world, contributing to society. For Jill, this was true – she had not only lost a job, she’d lost a sense of purpose and identity.

Have you heard the term Calling? It’s a term used more often in ministry, referring to God calling a person to do something specific. “God called me to preach the good news!” But this term calling is not necessarily about ministry. Calling can refer to anyone’s purpose in life. How any of us might live in and serve the world around us.

Jill lost her dream job. Many Americans have lost theirs. But does this mean they lost their calling in life? And what about those of you who are in a job just to pay the bills. A practical solution, not a fulfillment of your life’s purpose. Have you missed your calling? How do we find our calling?

The text that I read today is known as the “Call of Jeremiah”. It is the moment when God tells Jeremiah what his life’s purpose will be. God says, “Jeremiah, I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” God makes it really clear that Jeremiah has a specific purpose in life. Wouldn’t it be nice if God just let us know exactly what we’re supposed to do with our lives. I bet there are a lot of folks out there who would appreciate this.

But we can’t forget what Jeremiah’s calling turns out to be. Jeremiah was one of the greatest prophets, during a really rough time Israel’s history. The book of Jeremiah is one of the longest books of prophecy, and also one of the darkest. Basically, Jeremiah was called by God to preach a message to the people of Israel. And, this was NOT a message of hope and good news. He was told to warn the people over and over that if they didn’t repent, God will destroy them and Jerusalem. You can imagine this was not a popular message. Over his lifetime, Jeremiah’s calling results in being taunted by his friends, being thrown in jail, and even being left to die in a pit. These were not happy times for Jeremiah.

So far it seems like the example of Jeremiah’s calling from God is more like a punishment from God. But if we look closely at this calling story, there are a few key messages of good news for us as well as for Jeremiah. These key messages are like a foundation for Jeremiah’s mission in life. And perhaps that same foundation can help guide us as we determine our calling. Even in the midst of the uncertainties we face today.

The first message God tells Jeremiah is that God has created him. “Even before I formed you in your mothers’ womb”…God lets Jeremiah know that he created him. For those of you who are familiar with Psalm 139, the same message is shared, “I knew you in the secret place, before you were knit together in your mother’s womb.” God created Jeremiah before he was born, and God also created each one of us. What does this mean? Well, Genesis tells us that God created us in the image of God. John Calvin says that there is a spark of God found in all of creation. No matter who we are, what we do, where we live, how much money we make – we are all created in God’s image. In order to find our calling (purpose in life), we must first know “Whose we are” (Douglas Steere). Whose are we? We were created by God, and we ultimately belong to God.

God did not stop creating Jeremiah when he was born. He continued to create and shape and bring life to Jeremiah throughout his entire life. And believe it or not, God is still creating us. Each of us is still learning and growing. Some of you may have thought you were finished growing up – but the truth is, you are never finished – God is always growing us into a new creation.

Or maybe you feel like you missed your calling in life – but I don’t believe that is possible. Our calling is not necessarily our job. It is also not a mark or goal that we either achieve or miss. Calling is much deeper and more organic than these. Our calling begins with an awareness of being created by God. And that God is continually creating us, molding us, shaping us, throughout our lives. And just like us, our calling is also a creative work in progress.

The second message of good news is that God tells Jeremiah that he KNOWS him. God says , “Even before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you…” I knew you and I know you. Jerusalem was turning upside down with war and poverty and earthquakes, and violence. So how is being known by God such good news? The verb “to know” in Hebrew is not just about being aware of something, like I know its going to be sunny outside today or I know that we have the annual church meeting tonight . Knowing in Hebrew terms is to be deeply and intimately connected. Knowing is about being in close relationship. By knowing Jeremiah, God is saying that he is in a deeply connected relationship with him. And this is also true for us.

God knows us…everything – the good, the bad, and the ugly. But do we know us? Do we know ourselves? Perhaps if we knew ourselves better, then we might begin to understand our calling. This is not an easy task. Knowing ourselves is not just being able to rattle off resume like we might in a job interview. Knowing ourselves is an intimate knowing – an awareness of our weaknesses, struggles, the places we don’t want to accept as a part of ourselves.

Parker Palmer is a minister who has written a lot on this subject. He wrote a book called “Let your Life Speak”. In this book, he shares his search to understand his calling. Palmer spent his early adulthood struggling to become an academic professor instead of looking inside himself. Palmer says that once he was willing to look more honestly at himself, including his weaknesses, he found a more clear sense of his vocation in life. A calling involving writing, teaching, and lifelong learning.

Fredrick Buechner is another minister and writer, who said this “Calling is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deepest need.” (Repeat) According to him, we have to know what our deepest gladness is. What does this mean? Buechner’s idea of deepest gladness, it is a source of energy. When do you experience lots of energy, when are you in the zone? What are you doing? Is it when you are teaching or painting or fixing things or caring for someone? if you know the answer to this question, is there space for this source of energy in your life? How often do you use or access this energy? And finally, can you think of a need that this fills in the world? Our deepest gladness meets the world’s deepest need.

You remember my friend Jill, the one who lost her dream job. As you can imagine, she was pretty devastated by this. But, like many folks who’ve been laid off, Jill poured her energy into the job search process. So much so that she became an expert at it. And it turns out that Jill found a way to use her experience of unemployment to meet a need. She found a job working for the Employment Security Department. She now manages the stimulus money used to help others like herself. The energy of her experience (even though it was a challenging time) was eventually used to fill a deep need in the world.

The third message of good news is that God tells Jeremiah that he will always be with him. God says, “Do not be afraid”… “I am with you to deliver you”. When Jeremiah is going through hell on earth in Jerusalem, God is there. When Jeremiah is thrown into a pit, God is there. When Jeremiah is despised by his friends, God is there. And God promises never to leave him.This is true for us as well. Jesus told his disciples this same thing when preparing them for his death – he said “I will be with you always, until the very end of the age.” End of the age….that’s a long time. God has promised to be with us forever.

God has not promised us an easy situation, a successful career, or a clear pathway to whatever we have next in our journey. We live in uncertain times. The next decade is not going to be easy, with high unemployment rates, war, illness, and natural disasters. Your circumstances or my circumstances may at times feel almost as daunting as Jeremiah’s. But despite all of this, we trust in this foundation: God will be with us. God knows us inside and out. And God is definitely not finished with us yet! And that is Good News.