EPIPHANY III, B
Rev. Susan N. Blue

"And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fish for people'" Mark 1:17

Eight people were ordained priest at the Cathedral yesterday. Our own Anne Gilson was among them. It was an incredibly moving service - both because of the ordinands and the feelings it called up for me and, I suspect, others. In many ways the charge by the Bishop felt new. John Macquarrie, an Anglican theologian, once said that "Christ grew into Christhood." I found that liberating for it has allowed me to continue to grow into priesthood and my baptismal vows.
As I remembered that day nineteen years ago last week I recalled that, even after I went to seminary, I knew that it was entirely possible that the call to God I was experiencing could not or should not be lived out as an ordained person. Confirmation of the vocation of priesthood came only after I had lived it for a few years. That call to God was pivotal…it started when I was small, waxed and waned through the years, then returned in full force when I was in my thirties. That is a call that all of us gathered here today share - you would not be here if, in some way, you were not called to God.
Our Gospel lesson from Mark this morning tells of the call of four disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. "Call" narratives in the Bible typically have several parts: the setting, the invitation, the welcome, the challenge and the response.
In this case the setting is the Galilee - that beautiful area of fishing and farming, far from the teeming city of Jerusalem. The writer notes that John the Baptist had been arrested and that Jesus asserted that "…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news." John had preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus' ministry began by affirming that but focusing on the Kingdom or Reign of God. Jesus then invited the two sets of brothers. There was no coercion, just a welcome with no restrictions. He then challenged them to a new vocation, one of fishing for people not for fish. All four responded immediately, despite the risk and the consequences of leaving behind their former vocations.
Call to a new life or a new vocation often comes from a specific person at a specific time. It is a call to transformation, to letting go of the things of the world and embracing a God-centered life. The person of Jesus Christ must have embodied such trust and authority that the response of the four was an unequivocal "yes." Teillard de Chardin has said that: "Joy was the most unmistakable sign of God." Oemig has said that "this is what drew people to Jesus" and concludes that "Joy in living is the best bait for the Gospel angler." (Synthesis, 1/23/00)
We are challenged as Christians to put aside the norms of our culture and center on what God wants for our lives. This may or may not mean changes in our daily work. It can mean changes in our avocational work instead. The telltale question is: Am I living my life so as to advance God's Kingdom?
The disciples were called to be like Jesus Christ, to embody what they were to preach. Jesus, as Eugene Sutton said in his sermon at the ordinations, had no earthly power - that power rested in the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Roman rulers. However, Jesus had authority, the ability to draw people to him and to follow him. That authority was grounded in total obedience to God and shown forth in his life of unqualified love for all of God's children. He called the disciples and he calls us today to transformation of life, one that advances God's purposes.
I would suggest this morning that we are called as individuals and as a congregation to new beginnings, to ministries that advance the Kingdom of God. We live in a time of many challenges. Our nation is sharply divided economically and politically and engaged in a brutal war. Our denomination is facing sharp divisions of opinion about what it means to be God's church in the world. As we hurtle toward General Convention this summer one wonders if the marvelous Anglican center will hold, if we can continue to be one even if we disagree about specific issues.
This presents an important challenge to us here at St. Margaret's. We need to grapple with who we are and what we are called to be and do in this community and in this Diocese. If we are to be a voice of reconciliation and healing we may need to stop and to listen, rather than immediately expounding our views. We might examine how we spend our time and our resources. We need to ask ourselves tough questions about our motives and our goals. This process begins in the hearts of each of us as individuals then, and only then, can we address the issues as a community. One thing is certain; no one of us can "go it alone." We are in this together for good or ill!
Transformation, following God's call, is scary business. It requires us to give up one path and take on another. We can only do so if we have complete trust in God's love and power in our lives, individually and as a community, and we can only do it together!
There was a marvelous article in a recent National Geographic about the Mbuti men of central Africa, also known as the Pygmies. The caption under a picture of one of their camps reads: "The sound of pipes fills an Mbuti camp as men play by the fireside at dusk. Often whittled on the spot, each instrument is cut to play just one note; together they create the music of Mbuti life." (The National Geographic, September 2005, page 80)
Jesus called the disciples to share in his ministry. They, in turn, converted others who called others who eventually carried the Gospel throughout the world. No one of them could have done it alone…each played his or her own note and, in the playing, created a symphony. We at St. Margaret's are called to play our own individual notes in concert with our fellow Christians. It will involve risk, and it will involve change, but it will be marked by the joy that can only come through our oneness with our Creator, God, known in the person of Jesus Christ. Let us pray:

"O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever". AMEN (BCP page 528)