Sacred Calling – Epiphany 3 – Jan 23 2011
For Merriam-Webster, there are three meanings of epiphany but the one I would like to 
focus on today is an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure. Pastor Bill gives an example of epiphany as “a-ha” moments; like trying to figure out a word puzzle and all of a sudden, a-ha.
What are your examples of epiphany? Can you think of an a-ha moment that was significant? To get the fires burning I’ll go first. How many of you have ever put together a piece of IKEA furniture? Then you’ve probably had an epiphany like me. I remember putting together our coffee table. I read the directions, looked at the pictures, and then got to work. It was about the third step that I began to sweat. Why wasn’t this working? The holes didn’t line up with the pegs; the pegs wouldn’t fit into the holes. How could something so simple be so difficult? So, picking up the instructions, I tried to figure out what I had done right, and what should have been done next. And then I saw it. A-ha. And then it all snapped into place. Epiphany.
So, what are examples of some of our epiphanies that we’ve shared or had? Anyone share an epiphany they’ve had? Work, play, relationships, faith?
Let our worship be an a-ha moment today as we encounter Christ in new ways and consider His sacred calling.
To begin, a devotion by James W. Moore, titled An Eye Opening Experience.
Recently, I ran across a “fascinating list” that carried this intriguing title: “Great Truths About Life That Little Children Have Learned.” Let me share a few of these “great truths” with you.
(1) “No matter how hard you try you cannot baptize a cat.”
(2) “When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair.”
(3) “Never ask your 3-year-old brother to hold a tomato… or an egg.”
(4) “You can’t trust dogs to watch your food for you.”
(5) “Don’t sneeze when somebody is cutting your hair.”
(6) “School lunches stick to the wall.”
(7) “You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.”
(8) “Never wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts… no matter how cute the underwear is.”
Now, it is virtually certain that the children learned these “great truths” and came to these bold new insights after some dramatic eye-opening experience in their own personal lives. Can’t you just see in your mind’s eye, some children trying to baptize a cat, and leaning full well from that experience that this is just not a good thing to do. The point is clear: A dramatic personal eye-opening experience can give us new insight, new perception, new vision.
Epiphany.
Prior to Emily being born, Noah was a really good sleeper. We had moved Noah to his new room and his “big boy” bed in September to prepare for Emily’s arrival, and he did really well. At night we would put him to bed, no restraints, no rails on the bed, no twisty knob thingers so he couldn’t get out of his room, and he would sleep through anything – phone calls, talking, tv, making popcorn, and he would even sleep through me getting ready in the morning across the hall from his room. When Emily was born, that changed. It took several times to put him to bed, and he would get up as I got ready in the morning. And despite his efforts to help me get ready, I and I’m sure Kim would agree, I wished he would just stay sleeping.
Naturally I started getting ready in the basement bathroom to try and avoid the early morning wake-ups. About a week ago, I was late, so I rushed through the morning routine, and rather than leaving the lights on as I went to the downstairs bathroom, I manoeuvred my way in the dark. As I finished and shut the light off in the bathroom, I realized I hadn’t left any lights on in the basement and it was completely dark. As I began to feel my way, a dull glow from an upstairs light in the kitchen gave me enough light to see the obstacles that stood in my way. By this light, even the dull glow, I was able to see the way. Because of the light I was able to see everything, in a new light. This is epiphany – seeing what we already see, but with a new light. Like fighting with a coffee table, like ______, epiphany is being able to see what we already know, or have already experienced, with a new light, a new understanding, a new calling.
Today, in a similar vein to last week, we take a look at the calling of the first disciples, as Pastor Bill said, the sacred calling. In our Gospel, the calling is clear, as Jesus calls his first four apostles. As an aside, I saw an article that suggested that last week’s Gospel on Jesus talking to Andrew, Peter, James and John was their calling to be disciples, to simply follow him. Today’s Gospel is their calling to be an apostle, to be someone who receives a mission or task from Christ himself, according to the Catholic Encyclopaedia. I didn’t know the difference between disciple and apostle and couldn’t understand why we had two weeks of very similar texts… now I know.
Anyways, the calling of Jesus’ first apostles in our Gospel is not our only text about calling. In the Isaiah text, the last four words, “The Day of Midian” speaks of the calling and the victory of Gideon, a judge who reluctantly answered God’s call to lead the Israelites to victory over their captors, the Midianites. Father Mark Daniel Kirby a Prior at a Monastery in Tulsa, Oklahoma writes of the Day of Midian, “What then is the meaning, for us, of “the day of Midian”? Gideon’s victory was not the result of human might, nor of the strength of a great army, but of the power of God. It speaks to every situation of human weakness. It speaks to all who are few in number and poor in the resources that, normally, [foretell] victory and triumph. “
The epiphany for me this week was more a reminder than a new thought – as Jesus says to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”, Jesus is not calling great, noble, influential people to do great things. He is calling normal, everyday people to do the same things they are already doing, but in different ways. The tasks we do, the jobs we do, the things we do everyday, may be normal, ordinary, but Jesus is calling us to do these normal, ordinary things in extraordinary ways – instead of fishing for fish, fish for people, instead of leading a tribe of Israelites in captivity, lead them to victory over their oppressors. Without God’s call, Andrew, Peter, James and John would just be fishermen. Gideon would still have been a judge, a leader to his people. But after responding to God’s call, they are seen as great men, men worthy of being looked up to, considered as heroes of our faith. But the victory of Gideon was not his own doing, it was God’s. The victory of Andrew, Peter, James and John was not their own doing, it was God’s. The sacred calling was not to up and leave to do something great, but to do what they were doing in extraordinary ways.
So what about us? How are we to do our jobs, our tasks in extraordinary ways? A contemporary version of 1 Corinthians 13 sheds light on this. If I speak to my friends and customers, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I am the best at my job, am a good leader and show a good understanding, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all of my possessions to charity and give my life in service to my work and my community, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
For me today, the calling is sacred because God is asking for a relationship with Him in our work, our play, our daily lives. I can do things the way I have always done them, but there is no relationship there, there is no love, there is no life. In fact, when I do daily tasks without relationship, I find myself filling with resentment, judgement and even hatred of the task, or the people I am doing the task with. God is calling me and you, out of this way, to live our lives in relationship, to live out a sacred calling. To answer that call is not to get up and leave, but to get up and love. The amazing part is that not only is the world around me a better place, but I am more at peace, my head and heart are not pounding because of disdain for my work and colleagues. God is calling us out of that, into relationship – a relationship that He has with us, and with others.
I know you’ve heard this story before, but it is hopefully a good conclusion. This is by Pastor Paul Peterson. A wealthy businessman was horrified to see a fisherman sitting beside his boat, playing with a small child.
“Why aren’t you out fishing?” asked the businessman.
“Because I caught enough fish for one day,” replied the fisherman.
“Why don’t you catch some more?”
“What would I do with them?”
“You could earn more money,” said the businessman. “Then with the extra money, you could buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy nylon nets. With the nets, you could catch even more fish and make more money. With that money you could own two boats, maybe three boats. Eventually you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me.”
“Then what would I do?” asked the fisherman.
“Then,” said the businessman, “you could really enjoy life.”
The fisherman looked at the businessman quizzically and asked, “What do you think I am doing now?”
The baptism of Jesus is dying to our self-centered endeavours and being resurrected into a life marked by grace and love. When we live in the baptism of Jesus, we touch the hearts of others and help open them to the Holy Spirit and new life in Christ.
This is a sacred calling.
