Reflections on "Answering the Call" I Samuel 3: 1-18; Acts 18:1-4

the glaring hole in the sermon was a story about someone being called outside of the church context.  I noted that we should not limit our understanding of call to the church context, but my examples did not expand beyond the church context.

How have you felt God's call in your life?

“Answering the Call” August 28, 2011; FPC, Troy

Introduction: I don't suppose most of us have had the voice of God calling our name in our sleep like Samuel, but we Presbyterians have a high sense of call.

New member class – is God calling you to this congregation at this particular time in you life?

Nominating committee – not necessarily the best skilled or most talented, but who is God calling into leadership at this time in the life of the church.

WE sometimes do a disservice to our theology of call by limiting our understanding of call to church work, but our theology of call teaches us that God calls us in all aspects of our lives.

Reflect for a few moments about God's call in your life.

Move 1: Listen for the call

a. Mr. Burch – Jr. High youth group leader; left the church I grew up in 10 years ago after 30+ years in membership; I'd never asked him why they left and joined another church; as we spent a morning together in conversation, I finally asked why he and his wife had left the church

He told me their story. He was preparing to retire from the Untied States Postal service. He thought he might want to go into some type of ministry. He looked into going to seminary, but he had too many years of classes (he'd joined the Marines right out of high school; went to work for the Postal service immediately after the Marines; so he would need an undergraduate degree before he went to seminary.

Next, he thought about mission work; maybe Africa; but, his wife was still teaching and he was not sure he wanted to go to go to Africa; kids in the area; grand-kid or two already

He was at a presbytery meeting. And he heard about a new church development that the presbytery was starting. That caught his attention. It was going to be not too far away from their home (they lived in a small town outside of the town where I grew up).

He told his wife about it. Maybe they could help with this new church development. They prayed about it. Now, ten years later he can tell story after story about being a part of this new church development. And, how he and his wife with their numerous years of experience as both Elder and Deacon in a Presbyterian church continue to play the role of the wise, veterans who help the congregation claim its Presbyterian identity as it welcomes new members with no connection to church or the Presbyterian church.

1. Not only a powerful story of call.
2. But about being intentional.

b. Samuel

1. Does not understand the voice of God when he puts it in the context of his work for Eli.
2. But when he intentionally listens for the voice of God, he hears what God has in store for him.

Listen for God's call.

Move 2: Someone helps us hear God's call.

a. Samuel

1. If we go back in the story, we discover that Samuel's call grows out of his mother Hannah's deal with God.
2. As you may remember, she promises to give her child to God if God will allow her to bear a child.
3. Literally from the womb, Samuel's mother begins the process of helping Samuel hear God's call.

b. IN that specific moment, the priest Eli comes to Samuel's assistance.

1. When Samuel does not recognize the voice in the night.

2. When Samuel does not understand what it happening.

3. Eli guides him.

c. Priscilla and Aquila

1. They'd already been driven from Rome because of their religious beliefs.

2. Now they are in Corinth when Paul comes to town.

3. Paul's a tent maker, so he stays with them./

4. Imagine those conversations that took place as they worked or hung out at home at night.

5. IN addition to being a fellow tent maker, Paul also happens to be the most persuasive, most compelling, most persistent evangelist in the early church.

6. Before too long, Priscilla and Aquilla are packing their bags and moving to Ephesus to help start a church there.

7. I bet some days they wish they had not been tent makers when Paul comes to town.

d. Presbytery meeting

1. Jr. High leader

2. Yes, something good and of /God can happen at a presbytery meeting.
3. A committee of presbytery reports on a new church development about to happen and someone hears the call of God to be a part of that church.

500. Just before I went was going to start law school, I took the Sr. Highs to a Sr. High convention.

1. Singing, praying, small group, worship.

2. Keynote speaker – David Barry, a minister from Houston.

3. Friday night final worship service – “I'd Rather Be Fishing” Is he talking to me?

4. Talk myself out of it.

5. Arrive in Houston the next day.

6. Minister is at the closest Presbyterian church to where Leslie, now my wife, lives.

7. Go hear him.

8. Too lazy to write a new sermon.

9. Preached the same sermon.

10. went to see him the next morning – you don't know me but...

11. A week later I was in seminary.

e. Do not ignore your role in helping others hear the God's call.

f. Sometimes we need somebody to help us hear God's call.

Move 3: Call demands a response

a. Every situation led to some type of response.

1. Samuel – he is going to take on the mantle of leadership for God's people
2. Priscilla and Aquilla
3. Jr. High leaders

b. Warning

1. God is alive at work in the particularity of our world.
2. That means that when you hear God's call, you are often asked to do something.
3. Do not seek God's calls unless you are ready to make some changes.

God's call demands a response.

Move 4: Passion

One of the most compelling conversations I had on Clergy Renewal was with a colleague who serves a church in TX.  He and I were in the same prayer group in seminary and now still connect via email on a somewhat regular basis.  We had not talked in person for more than a minute or two since we left seminary.  What a treat for me to spend an afternoon with him.  We actually did less reminiscing than I expected and more reflections on how being ministers had turned out for us and the struggles the Presbyterian church faces.

One of the churches he served in W. Texas had significant financial struggles; now he serves a church that faces the same struggle we face -- the dying off of the old guard and the challenge of finding new members who have time and want to make the commitment to be part of a community of faith.

We also talked about how our being in ministry had impacted our families.  He had gone to seminary after being out in the work force for 10+ years, so his wife and kids knew life before dad became a minister.  We talked about the difficulty some minister's families have adjusting to that in their lives.

He has done a lot of work with the Committee on Ministry in his presbytery, so he has seen lots of problems in churches and in minister's lives.

In that moment, I asked him -- given all the struggles you have had and have seen in the church, would you go to seminary again?  I confess to thinking as I asked that question, with the conversation still full of the challenges and struggles we had faced and witnessed, that he's going to give me the honest, logical answer, "I'm not sure I'd go to seminary if I had to do it all over."

Instead, he looked me in the eye and said with conviction, "My only regret is that I waited the ten years to go to seminary.  I wish I had those ten years of ministry to do more ministry!"

He overwhelmed me with his sense of call and passion for that call.

Conclusion: I hope and pray you feel that sense of passion for what God calls you to do.