Call Sunday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4hwgs_4wBM

First Reading

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS

The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

GENESIS 12:1-9

Gospel

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well." Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, "Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.

MATTHEW 9:9-13, 18-26

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

We might call today Call Sunday, because this is what our readings seem to be about.

In the first reading, we hear God calling Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house. God never tells him where he is going. God simply says, "Go." And if Abram listens, God promises, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Then in the Gospel, we hear Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector. Matthew is sitting in his tax booth when Jesus comes to him and says, "Follow me." Unlike Abram, Matthew is given no promise at all. Jesus simply says, "Follow me." Yet, like Abram, Matthew gets up and goes.

In both stories, God does not call the people we might expect. Abram is a seventy-five-year-old man living as a pastoral nomad... he lived in a tent, moving from place to place with his herd of sheep. Matthew is even more surprising. He is a tax collector, one of the most disliked people in society. Tax collectors worked for Rome and were often viewed as traitors and sinners.

Neither man appears to be searching for a new life. Abram seems settled. Matthew has a stable and profitable job. Yet God interrupts both of their lives, calling them away from what is familiar and toward something they cannot see.

What these stories reveal is that God's call is not reserved for the holy, capable, or important. God calls ordinary people. People of every age, background, and circumstance. And often God's call comes not when we are searching for it, but in the middle of ordinary life.

But maybe the most important thing about these stories is not simply that Abram and Matthew are called. It is why they are called. Abram is called so that all the families of the earth might be blessed through him. Matthew is called to become part of Jesus' ministry of healing, teaching, and reconciliation. In both cases, God's call is larger than the person. God calls them because God is doing something in the world and God wants them to be a part of it.

And this is where these ancient stories meet our own lives. Most of us will never hear a voice from heaven telling us exactly what to do next. At least that has not been my experience. I have never heard a booming voice or had a dramatic vision. Instead, my experience of call has been much quieter. It has been those moments when one path seemed worth taking over another and I really couldn't understand why. Moments when I sensed that I should take a step forward, even though I could not see where that step would lead. Moving to Grande Prairie was one of those moments. It made very little sense to me. I had never heard of this city and didn't know anyone here, and yet it felt like the next faithful step.

I am guessing many of you have experienced something similar. Maybe it was a nudge to pursue a change in work, to move home, begin or end a relationship, try a new volunteer opportunity... or a moment when you felt compelled to help someone who was struggling. Maybe it was a growing awareness that God was inviting you to become a little more fully the person you were created to be.

The difficulty, of course, is that every call toward something new is also a call away from something old. Abram was called away from his land, his family, and everything familiar. Matthew was called away from the security of his tax booth. It is the same for us. Often a call means that we must leave behind comfort, certainty, old habits, and the illusion that we can control everything ourselves. We must leave behind so much of what gives us security in order to pursue a new direction, and this is not easy at all.

The biblical stories make it sound simple. Abram goes. Matthew follows. They don't say a word; they just do it. But most of us know that real life is not like this. We hesitate. We worry. We ask questions. We wonder whether we have heard correctly. What if this doesn't work? What if I fail? What if everything falls apart? What about my family, my friends, those who rely on me?

Yet neither Abram nor Matthew were given certainty before they took the first step. Abram did not know where he was going. Matthew did not know what following Jesus would mean. They simply trusted enough to move forward.

This is what it means to have faith. It means not having all the answers. Not complete certainty. Not knowing exactly how things will turn out. But being willing to take the risk, to take that next faithful step forward, aware that no matter what happens God is with you.

Because God's call is not really about our success or our fulfillment. God's call is an invitation to participate in God's work. It is an invitation to become people through whom God's love, mercy, justice, and compassion can be made known in the world. And sometimes it is through God's call that we discover what needs to change in our lives so that we can more fully participate in what God is already doing.

God is still calling ordinary people today, much as God called Abram and Matthew long ago. Not always through dramatic signs or voices from heaven, but through quiet invitations that arrive in the middle of our ordinary lives. Invitations to trust, to let go, to take the next step before we can see the whole path ahead. May God give us ears to hear, hearts to trust, and the courage to follow wherever that next faithful step may lead.

Amen.