How do we respond to God's call?

The passage from Isaiah that tells of his vision and how he becomes a prophet, a man of unclean lips, in the service of God and Isaiah's response to the summons of God whom shall I send "Here, I am Lord. Send me." (Is 6:1-8). This is affirmed in that wonderful hymn "I the Lord of Sea and Sky" which is often sung at the commissioning of priests and others. For me, whilst it reflects Isaiah's call it does poorly to reflect our response unless the final chorus becomes the plural allowing the emphasis to reside in the heart of those called and who have responded. But today we hear the various positive responses on the level of the individual to the call that God gives summoning us to ministry in the world. Even today God calls out to us in the same words that are sung in the hymn and in Isaiah "Whom shall I send?".

God is calling just as God called Isaiah in our time and in this place. The question becomes how are we to respond to the call that God puts upon our hearts. In the scriptures that are read on this Sunday there are a number of responses, the enthusiastic Isaiahan response "Here, here, choose me" through the Pauline response "Oh woe is me weak and poor yet doing God's work by God's grace" (1 Cor 15:8-10) and into the disciples immediate acceptance to follow Christ (Lk. 5:11). I am not sure where you stand in that spectrum but each of has a story about being called by God into ministry of one sort or another. It may not necessarily be a moment of enlightenment such as Isaiah, more likely not, but it is a call that is laid upon our hearts. Yet, so few of us actually respond in any way whatsoever. I can hear the response now "Yes, but we don't all want to be priests or deacons or heaven forbid a bishop". My response is that God calls not into a ministry such as a deacon but into a ministry that God wishes you to take part in. Indeed some calls may not be seen until the person has died. Isaiah did not want to become a prophet, Paul was a persecutor of the Church and the disciples were fishermen not deacons, apostles or anything else. Yet, they all stopped doing what they were doing and heard God's call.

Responding to God's call means we have to first listen to God

The issue perhaps for us is not that we do not hear God's call in the modern world but that the call is drowned out by the practicalities of the world in which we live. How many people who do not come to church are actually responding to God's bidding in doing what they are doing? Why should the Church have the sole right to hear God's call? Occasionally we have to be more aware of our faith and how it operates in the reality of this world in which we live. I am not saying that those in the church do not have a call, I am not saying that our response to God is invalid, what I am saying is that God's call is often different to what we expect as a faith group. All we have to do is look at the examples that Christ gives to see how true this is (Lk. 5:25-27) and if we are not careful we will all react in the same way as those in the synagogue did when this is proposed.by Christ. We are so focussed on ourselves that we rarely look outside of the group to see where God is actually working and who God is calling into ministry.

God calls us into a number of ministries  which in our hearts we recognise. prophets, teachers, speakers in tongues, etc. All of whom we either celebrate or do not recognise, particularly prophets. Some denominations go over board and almost worship those who speak in tongues (no one is a Christian unless you speak in tongues attitude). If we are all made in God's image then we are also called in some fashion to undertake God's work and that is to bring peace, justice and love into the world. Some of us do this well others ignore God's call and sunder their relationship with God but in reality, even today, we need to answer that call that God has put into our hearts, no matter how hard it might be and no matter if we think, like Isaiah that we are not worthy, we still need to respond in some fashion. In this case doing the opposite of what God calls us to or not responding is after all a response.

Presenting ourselves

  The Jewish ordinances required that the first born be presented to God which is what happened when Christ is taken to Jerusalem. It was part of the purification ritual that all Jewish people undertook in accordance with the laws given in the Torah  (Ex 13:12-15; Lev. 12). The event is for Mary herself and for the redemption of her first born son, Jesus. The first was to remove the impurities associated with childbirth and is a rite of cleansing something that was a must in ancient times to ensure, not only in terms of faith but also in terms of social behaviours and health, cleanliness with a surety of being disease free. This is also a time when the first born son was presented and redeemed from God who required the firstborn as sacrifice. There have over the years a number of other things been associated with this date in terms of its alternative name of Candlemas when the beeswax candles were blessed for the year.

So why celebrate this, why make a liturgical fuss about a Jewish event for a mother that was normal for the time and has lived out its usefulness in terms of our modern society? Perhaps there are a number of reasons that can be thought of a) it introduces the Simeon prophesy with regards the Christ and Mary, b) it also introduces the prophecies of Anna though we pay small attention to them. Furthermore, it is an opportunity for ourselves to once again present ourselves as an offering to God and seek his presence to guide and direct us in lives that are lived in Christ. Something that we remind ourselves of at the end of each Eucharistic service. In doing this we need to pay attention to both Simeon and Anna as their words, at least some of them, are familiar to us or should be. The words that are not familiar, I suspect most people do not know what Simeon says after what we call the Nunc Dimittis but are indeed important for us, just as the words of the prophetess Anna who we neglect.

We need to present ourselves before God each day of our lives

Anna's word speak of liberation for the people of Jerusalem. It is probably fairly certain that readers and those listening to Anna think in terms of liberation from the Romans. However, like the more deluded and opaque followers, not only in Christ's disciples but also today, this is not the reality, I suspect, of what Anna is speaking of. Christ shows us a way towards redemption and liberation that is not the overthrow of those in power by physical revolution but rather in the revolution of our understanding of living. Once we think in terms of mortal revolution and liberation we begin to be the Che Guevarra's of the day losing our hope and the understanding embedded in the way of Christ. The liberation that Anna speaks to is the liberation of our own lives from the tyranny of the selfish physicality of human thought of power over and to the transformation of our lives to the spiritual reality of living alongside others in creating community by using power with.

However, as Simeon points out in his final words to the parents, particularly Mary, such a liberation that is promised by Christ is not without its own issues and challenges to our lives. Some of these challenges will pierce our hearts with doubt and sorrow. So that in following Christ we follow fully to the cross and its underlying pain and struggle. Power over is an easy route to take as it establishes us without concern for the other. The revolution that Christ calls us to is a liberating of our need to control and allowing God to take that power. By presenting ourselves as a sacrifice as the parents of Christ did we relinquish our idea of power over to attain a more cooperative understanding of God's presence that allows us to care for the other and encourage them to perform the miracles of community with us rather than subjugating themselves to us. This is liberating in this day and age as we forgo the need to maintain ourselves as powerful but rather we submit ourselves to the authority and presence of God within our lives. We give ourselves to God, truly as a living sacrifice, as required allowing for God's leading and direction to fulfil that which brings justice. All liberation in Christ is about bringing that justice which is God's rather than the justice promulgated by our own power and authority.