What do you want to be when you grow up?

A hint of what I dreamed of being when I grew up...

Second Sunday After the Epiphany, Year B – January 18, 2015

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace and peace are yours, from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you had to guess, what do you think I wanted to be when I grew up?   

Actually, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a meteorologist when I grew up. This desire was based on two things:  First, growing up in Tornado Alley, I was fascinated with weather.  Second, I was a bit smitten with the TV weather guy that we watched on the news every evening.

I really, really wanted to be a meteorologist – that is, until I hit the sixth grade and was placed in Pre-AP (or advanced) Science and Math classes…and almost failed both – miserably. Because Science and Math are subjects that are important to the field of meteorology, and because I felt I wasn’t good in either of those subjects, my dream of becoming a professional meteorologist gradually faded.

I continue to have an amateur interest in the weather, and will hopefully take some classes as an amateur someday, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a meteorologist when I grow up. My gifts are now being used elsewhere, as I eventually discerned that God was calling me to this work of pastoral ministry.

So, what did you want to be when you grew up (or what do you want to be)?  And now that you’re grown up (those of you who are) – what are your vocations? I don’t just mean – how do you earn your paycheck. Vocation is so much more than simply earning a paycheck. I mean – how do you serve God and others in your daily life? What roles and responsibilities do you have? 

Tying all of these roles and responsibilities together under the umbrella of “vocation” can be very useful for us as Christian people, because it helps us to see that God uses us in so many more ways than simply doing tasks around a church or serving a congregation in one way or another during worship, for example. God can use you in every single role you have in order to serve the world and to show others his love.

This is why Jesus calls disciples to follow him, like in today’s gospel lesson from John, and next week, we’ll hear about the calling of some of the other disciples in the Gospel of Mark. Without these disciples, Jesus is just one guy, wandering around Galilee, doing all the work himself. But God wants his love out there – among the people – and so Jesus begins calling people to help him with this loving work of God.

And so, my brothers and sisters, that is why we are called to follow Jesus, too. Whether we are a parent or a child, a student or a teacher, a husband, a wife, a single person, a dating person – whether we are a pastor, an assisting minister, a lawn-mower, a Council member, an usher or any of the other myriad of roles around this place – whether we are still working or retired, working 80 hours a week or 10 hours a week, cooking dinner or ordering take-out – we are called to follow Jesus in each of these vocations, and to show the love of God to others, no matter what we are doing.

Last Thursday, we had our monthly Women of the ELCA Bible Study, and at one point, we were looking at Psalm 51 together. Psalm 51 is heavy into repentance and forgiveness – it is often used as a part of Ash Wednesday worship and at other times during Lent.

This psalm has long been associated with one of the most sordid tales in the Bible: the story of King David having an affair with a woman named Bathsheba, and then killing off her husband. Later on, David is confronted about his sin by the prophet Nathan, and David repents of his great sin. Tradition tells us that Psalm 51 was written out of that scene of confession and forgiveness.

The psalm begins, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions…” and then the psalmist continues in his confession, asking God to create a clean heart within him, and not to cast him aside. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit,” he says.

And then, he turns a corner - he is confident of God’s loving forgiveness - for the very next verse says this: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” And so the one who has sinned and repented and been forgiven is the one who will now teach others about sinning and repentance and forgiveness. As we began to discuss this part of the psalm in more detail, one of the ladies in our group simply said, “We have a job to do.”

Exactly right. We have a job to do. In the case of this psalm, we are given God’s loving forgiveness whenever we come to him in repentance, ready to turn from our sin and to seek his way. And then, having received God’s forgiveness, we are not called to wallow around in the mud like a bunch of pigs – we are called instead to teach others about our repentance and God’s forgiveness.

Expanding this back out to the greater question of vocation – if you are here today, you almost certainly have as one of your vocations, “Disciple of Jesus.” How do you live out that calling? You have been given the great gift of God’s love – how will you offer that same gift to others, saying to them, like Philip said to Nathanael, “Come, and see Jesus.”

That absolutely happens in our work done in and through Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. But it can and does happen in a thousand other ways and places and times, too. Pay attention to every opportunity that God brings before you to offer his love and forgiveness to others, and through you, people will see Jesus. Amen.

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