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Purpose.
Meaning. Significance. Deep down, we all struggle with the
weight of those words. We hope that our life—that our
presence here on this earth—matters. We hope that it counts.
We hope that somehow it makes a difference.
But the truth of the matter is, there are times when most of us struggle
to find any meaning in our lives and any purpose to our
living. In the movie About Schmidt, the character
Warren Schmidt is miserable, and after his wife suddenly dies,
he is completely lost. He travels the country in his RV hoping
to find purpose to his life. Throughout the movie, he writes
his personal thoughts to a six-year-old African child, Ndugu,
whom he sponsors for $22 a month.
But
the movie closes with a subtle, yet sudden, turnaround for Mr.
Schmidt. Enclosed in a letter from Ndugu’s caretaker is a
drawing of two stick figures, a picture of a boy holding the
hand of a man. Warren stares at it and begins weeping. In that
moment, his tears of grief turn to tears of joy. Just like
that, Warren’s life goes from excruciatingly empty to
fabulously full.
Why the
sudden change? In that moment, Warren suddenly recognizes that
his life has mattered. In
that moment, he knows that his life has made a difference. In
that moment, Warren realizes that he has a call. He realizes
that he has a ministry. And there is nothing quite as powerful
as a life infused by a sense of Divine purpose, nothing as
dynamic as a life lived out in deep connection to God’s
call. Call and ministry, when grasped by the believer, can
alter lives and transform the world.
The
scriptures have a lot to tell us about call and ministry. In
our reading this evening, the writer boldly declares, “You
are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s
own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of the
One who called you out of the darkness into the marvelous
light.” That’s right. You are a chosen people—chosen to
the highest of callings. You are called to be God’s
instruments in the world, called to be God’s hands and feet,
called to be God’s voice in the world.
We are a
royal priesthood. To grasp the real depth of what it means to
be a part of this royal priesthood, it is important to note
who the author is addressing. This letter from Peter was not
written just for the bishops or the church leaders or the top
donors or the best educated or to those who had been members
the longest. This letter was written for every member of
several little house churches. It was written to remind every
one of them that they were called to be ministers and
preachers of the Gospel, to each other and to the world.
Some 1500
years after Peter’s letter reminded the early Christians of
their shared vocation as members of this royal priesthood, the
great reformer, Martin Luther, helped revive this powerful
teaching in a doctrine he called The Priesthood of All
Believers. Being a part of the priesthood of all believers
doesn’t mean that every man or woman is his or her own
priest. In fact, I think it means quite the opposite. To be a
part of the priesthood of all believers means that every
person is priest to every other. It does not imply
individuality. In fact, it necessitates community. So there
you have it. You, me and every other member of Christ’s
church can claim our priesthood in this priesthood of all
believers. That’s right, you’re a priest. You’re a
minister. So if no one has ever done this before, let me
welcome each and every one of you to the priesthood (and you
didn’t even have to take systematic theology). Each of us
has been called to be a minister, therefore each of us is to
have a ministry.
When we
realize that God has called each of us to be ministers, then
we can live with the conviction that within each of us is the
capacity to do the ministry to which we have been called.
And in living according to that call, we will suddenly
realize that we are no longer working from our own strength,
but that it is the Holy Spirit that is working within us. Even
though we are “just ordinary people,” we realize that God
is using us to accomplish some very extraordinary things. A
congregation full of people living according to their call and
claiming the ministry God has gifted them for will be a church
on fire for the Lord, and soon will be growing in ways it
never could have imagined.
And I want
you to know that one of the greatest joys of “my ministry”
is helping you find yours—to help you discern, discover,
develop and deploy your own unique call for ministry and
service to the world. Just as I have been called into the
ordained ministry, God has called each and every one of you in
the service of proclaiming to the world, in word and in deed,
the Good News found in the person and ministry of Jesus
Christ. Some of you may have a clear sense of the call God has
placed on your life, while others may have never given it much
thought. But it is my job, as the priest’s priest, to help
all you priestly people be equipped, resourced, unbound and
sent into the world as ministers of the Gospel.
So how do
we discover our God-given gifts and ministry? Let me suggest
that if you look closely and pray faithfully about the
following three areas of your life, you will begin to unlock
the unique ministry God has gifted you for.
The first
area to look at to discover this ministry is profession. How
am I using what I am doing every day to glorify God and serve
God’s creation? How is what I do on Sunday affecting what I
do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday? We need
ministers in the workplace, whether that is in the market
place or in the home as a full-time parent. Our world is in
desperate need of people who will bring gospel values into the
boardrooms, classrooms, waiting rooms, children’s rooms and
hospital rooms of our community. In a world where financial
markets are still being rocked by corporate scandals like
Enron and World Comm, we need business people who are willing
to ask tough questions, confront dishonesty and put high
ethics above bottom lines. Ask God how you might be used at
your workplace to witness to the Good News. Ask God what kind
of minister you can be in your profession. Maybe it is
starting a Bible study or a prayer circle with your coworkers
or colleagues. Maybe it is just simply being warm, loving and
friendly to those who are sometimes “invisible” around the
office (you know, those who clean up, answers phones, serve
lunch, order supplies), making sure that they are treated with
dignity and respect.
No matter
what your profession, if it is done in a way that brings glory
to God and done in service to humanity, it is ministry. I’ll
tell you who was the first minister I met when I first walked
through the doors of this church. It wasn’t Bill Ritter. It
wasn’t Rod Quainton. It wasn’t Lisa McIlvenna, Carl Price,
Matt Hook or Taek Kim. The first minister I met was Gary Peck,
a member of the custodial staff here at the church. It was in
January of 2002 when I was visiting as a part of a class
offered by my seminary. Gary met us at the door, and from the
first moment, it was clear that this man wasn’t your
ordinary janitor. It was clear that he saw himself as a
fundamental part of the operation of this place. He understood
his work here as his ministry. With great enthusiasm, he told
us of all the things that went on in the church and how glad
he was that the building was used so heavily. I thought to
myself: When was the last time you heard a custodian brag
about the amount of cleaning he had to do and who seemed to be
glad that more groups were using the building than ever
before….which of course created more tables to set up, more
chairs to fold up and more messes to clean up? I walked away
thinking that this man saw himself and the work he was doing
as integral to the proclamation of the Gospel. Looking for
your ministry? Consider asking God how your profession can
really become your ministry.
The second
area of your life to consider when discerning your ministry is
what pains you. What is it that breaks your heart? What is it
about the suffering of the world that moves you to do
something to help alleviate it? What could change about your
church or your community to better reflect God’s love and
justice? In the answer to those questions may be the seeds of
the ministry to which God is calling you. God is deeply
connected to the pain and brokenness of the world. His
reaching out to those who were forgotten or suffering marked
the life of Christ. Therefore, it makes sense that so many ministries are born
out of people’s concern for the pain of their fellow
brothers and sisters in the human family.
Take my
dad, for example. Because of his work as social worker, he has
become acutely aware of the hardships people endure when
living on limited and fixed incomes. This awareness of the
pain of his fellow brothers and sisters planted in him a seed
for ministry. Along with some other members of the
congregation, he helped start a small group ministry called
Loaves and Fishes. Every other month they initiate a food
drive that helps keep the local food pantry well stocked. He
tells me that right now in the fellowship hall of his
100-member church, there is a pile of cereal boxes that goes
from floor to ceiling. The pain of the hungry in his community
called my dad into the ministry, a ministry that brings
God’s hope to those often forgotten, a ministry that brings
both joy and purpose to his life. Whether it is working in
soup kitchens, building homes for the homeless, visiting the
sick and shut-in or raising money to cure AIDS, becoming aware
of what pains you can be where you discover your call to
ministry.
The third
place to look for your call to ministry is in your passion.
What is it that you love to do?
What is it that gets you excited? What would you do if
you had a free day to do anything that you wanted? In the
answers to these questions are the things that are our
passions, and our passions may be the starting point for our
ministries. Whether your passion is fixing cars, riding
motorcycles, playing video games, scrapbooking, cooking,
gardening, doing aerobics, going to sporting events or
watching movies, there is in each of our passions an
opportunity to bring glory to God, grow the church and serve
the world.
Don’t
believe me? Consider this example from a book I recently read.
In this book, a pastor is recounting a similar challenge he
has just given to his community. “Bring your passions to God
and God will transform them into ministry,” he boldly
proclaimed from the pulpit. A couple of days later, a man from
the congregation came into his office. The man told his pastor
that he been thinking a lot about the sermon from Sunday, but
didn’t think he had any ministry that God had called him to.
The pastor asked him what he really loved to do. “Fish,”
the man replied. The pastor asked if he might ever consider
taking some kids in the congregation, especially a couple of
boys who didn’t have regular contact with their fathers,
fishing some Saturday. The man agreed, and a couple of weeks
later, he went out fishing with three boys from the
congregation. Two
years later, eight retired guys now take close to 100 kids
fishing over the course of the summer. Out of his passion came
a ministry, one that is creating relationships, bringing
vitality to the church, joy to the fishermen’s lives and
transformation to the lives of the kids of their congregation
and community. You think any of the guys who take these kids
to the lakes and rivers early Saturday mornings understand
what it might have meant when Jesus said, “Follow me and I
will make you fishers of men”? Out of our professions, pains
and passions, God is calling us to ministry.
Sometime in
the next three years, a bishop will lay hands on me and ordain
me as a member of the clergy. In that moment, will something
magical happen to make me something that I am already not? I
don’t think so. When the hands are laid on my head, will I
suddenly be filled with a whole new set of gifts, graces,
skills and abilities? I don’t think so. What I think happens
in that ordination ceremony is that there is an outward
affirmation of the inward call that God has already placed in
my life. It is only after ordination that a member of the
clergy can wear a stole, making it the outward symbol of
God’s inward call. So tonight as you leave this place, we
will have an ordination ceremony of our own. Each of you will
receive a stole to symbolize how you, too, have been called
into this royal priesthood. The stole is to remind you that
God has indeed equipped you for ministry, a ministry to bring
glory to God, growth to the church and healing to the world.
Our task is to help you find it and then allow God to nurture
it.
Do you want
to grow in ways you never imagined? Do you want to be a part
of a dynamic and growing church? Then accept God’s call to become the minister you were
destined to be.
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