I Corinthians 12:1-12
As we have shared before, the church in Corinth was a contentious group of people. In this passage we are about to read, Paul is addressing the fact that many in the church feel they are more important to its ministry than others. In fact, they seek those positions and places in the church that allow them to be before the congregation in very prominent roles, especially during the public time of worship. Paul is trying to show them that everyone has a role and responsibility assigned to them by the Holy Spirit of God. And that each gift, each calling in the church is as important as any other, for it is only when everyone is practicing their gift that the church is the fully functioning body of Jesus Christ. So no one person, and no one gift is more important than another.

Read I Corinthians 12:1-12

John 1:43-51
As we start a new journey with Jesus this year, we know we have a goal as Prescott UMC to introduce him to as many as we can who have not heard or know the good news of Christ for their lives. Yet, we have just heard about spiritual gifts, and we know that not everyone has the ability to share the good news with others. It can be too scary or intimidating. Not everyone is called to be an evangelist. So if it is not a gift we all have, does that mean that some of us are not responsible for honoring this goal in our church? We may not all be called to share the good news, but we are all called to introduce people to the source of good news. Let us read the passage from John and see what it says to us about how we go about doing this.

Read John 1:43-51

We can all invite someone to meet Jesus. Invitation is the best way to bring Christ to another. “Come and see.” See for yourself if Jesus can make a difference for you and the living of your life. Can we all make a pledge to ourselves that this year we will invite at least one person or one family to join us in worship or a church event this year? Invite them to come and experience Christ first hand in their lives. To meet the Prince of Peace, The Lord of Lords, The Son of God, and the Savior of the world.

Sermon:
There was a made for television movie that I saw probably some 30 years ago now that had a life-changing affect upon me. At least as it helped me to look at my world and those whom I share life with. The movie was about a woman’s football team. They played in a factory league. Well that might not cause much of a stir today, but 30 years ago we were dealing with the issues of changing roles for women in our culture, so it had a lot to say in its context. As one can imagine, the women who played on the team were constantly being harassed and teased for encroaching into the male domain. Some of their male coworkers did some teasing, others were just cruel in their responses, even questioning the women’s femininity. Finally, toward the end of the movie the factory is sold, and the new owner does not believe women should be playing football, so he disbands the team. The movie closes with the woman, who was the quarterback of the team, walking out of the factory with a male friend of hers. She is lamenting to him that it is just not fair that this man should be able to do this to her and her teammates. She says something to the effect, “He has no right to do this. Why does he think that he has the right to tell me what I should think and how I should act and what I should like to do in my life? It’s not fair!” To which here male friend says, “Hang in there, someday things will change and no one will mind if you play football. Just be patient.” Wrong thing to say. The woman stops and turns and just glares at her friend. Finally she says, “How long would you have me wait? This is the only life I have to live.”

Those closing words have impacted me more deeply than almost any other words I have heard. “How long would you have me wait? This is the only life I have to live.” The scene has served as a constant reminder to me of how I have never experienced the unfairness or the injustices of life simply by my accident of birth. As a white, protestant male, I have never faced glass ceilings that have prevented me from realizing my full potential. I have never received ¾ pay for doing the same job as someone else. I have never been discriminated against because of my faith. I have never received ethnic slurs just because I was born brown, black, yellow or red. My family may have come over on the Mayflower, so I definitely have not faced immigration issues. I have been blessed. But what the movie reminded me about myself, and about those of us who do not suffer from the unfairness and injustice of life, who do not suffer from the accidents of birth, is we do not always feel the urgency of life from those who do. It is easy for us to say, be patient, it will change someday. In the meantime our words simply say, just deal with your frustration.

So my passion, as a Christian person working within the life of the church has been the calling from God in Micah 6:8. “What does the Lord require of you but to seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God?” We know that biblically, justice does not refer specifically to laws and legalisms but to how we relate to the poor and the disenfranchised in our society. The widow, the orphan, to those who are pushed to the fringes by the mainstream. Justice is helping them experience the fullness of “shalom” which means the wholeness and health of life. Jesus said it a little differently. In Luke 6:36 in the NRSV he says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” Obviously he is referring to God. Biblical scholars claim another legitimate translation of this passage is, “Be compassionate, even as God is compassionate.” Compassion, biblically, means to experience another person’s feelings in your guts. To understand their life from their perspective. Why? So that we can feel their hurt, we can understand their frustrations, and most of all, I believe, is so we can experience the urgency of a life wanting to be fully lived.

This is MLK Jr. weekend. Truly, he more than any recent person has helped us to hear and understand the urgency of people wanting to be embraced as fully human, fully seen as children of God full of the same hopes and dreams and desires for the living of their lives as anyone else. King, as a modern day Paul addressing the church in Corinth, reminds us that no one is to be seen as more important than another in the eyes of God. God loves us all. There is a statement I heard that makes me laugh at first, and then cry when I think about it. The statement refers back to my opening example, but it is a statement that reflects compassion. How we change when we have a personal and intimate relationship with another. If you want to cure someone of their sexism, let him have a daughter. Having been blessed with two daughters I now, more than ever am concerned about glass ceilings, equal opportunities, and fair pay. I do not want my daughters, your daughters and granddaughters to have to experience the unfairness and injustices of life. And they are still there. I could cite you examples I see daily. So my passion in the life of the church is centered on justice and fairness and fully respecting another child of God.

But I know it is not everyone’s passion. Paul reminds us we all have our own callings, our own giftedness, and our own place in the church body. Paul is right in that we need to have a variety of interests and foci to meet the full gambit of challenges and needs we face as the church. Can you imagine what it would be like in worship if everyone was called to preach? Some of you think the service is long now. We all have different callings.

The word we use to refer to these different callings God brings to us is vocation. Every one of us has a vocation waiting to be lived, waiting to be used in the life of the church. My favorite definition of vocation is, “Where a person’s greatest passion meets the world’s deepest needs.” Please hear this definition. Vocation is where your greatest passion meets the world’s deepest needs.” It is more than spiritual gifts. It is more than talents and skills. Gifts and skills are important, for one must have the ability to live their passion. But, unless someone, unless we feel strongly about what we do in our work in the church, we will not bring the urgency we need to our ministry. I believe with my whole being that we must feel this sense of compassion, this sense of urgency in the life of another if we are to bring our lives to acting and making a difference expeditiously.

This is why I put the insert in the bulletin today. It asks you to think about your skills and talents. It asks you to look at where you believe God gifted you and is asking you to use these gifts and skills. But the last question is the important one for me. “If you could snap your fingers and do what you most like to do, what would it be?” It is the question which is asking you, “What is your passion?” Is it in justice issues? Is it one on one relationships like those in Stephen Ministry? Is it in evangelism and sharing this good news of God’s love with those who need to hear it and maybe even more importantly needing to experience it? About what do you feel most strongly about and where is the deepest need you know that you can bring the blessings of God? Each one of us may have a different response, but each response is as valid and as important as anyone else’s. Again, Paul reminds us that we are impacting the greatest number of lives when we have different places and different needs we reach out to.

My very first sermon in Prescott I told you about my Ethics professor. His name was Ken Smith, but everyone called him Snuffy. It seems important to mention him for a couple of reasons today. First, he was Martin Luther King Jr’ Ethics professor. Also, Snuffy was on a quest as a professor that reflects Paul’s words today. Probably once a week, or at least so it seemed, we would hear these words. “What is your role as the ordained clergy? And each sentence thereafter would gain in intensity. “You, as the ordained clergy are called to minister to the ministers in the pews. You are to equip them in their faith, for they are the ministers to the world. If you hope to get the gospel into every boardroom, classroom and home, you must empower the church to take it to where they live their lives. And be able to share it with the people they meet daily. It is then and only then, that the Gospel will be fully heard and received.” And then he would always close with this not so gentle reminder. “And quite frankly,” he would say, “they have the harder job.”

It is a challenging call we have received as the church. It is why I feel we need to feel so passionately about what we are asked to do. And Snuffy is correct when he says, that those of us whose vocation has led us to the ordained ministry need to realize that we are asked to help each and every one of you discover your vocation. But even more. We are also asked to make sure that each and everyone receives the training and develops the skills needed to bring our passion to fruition in the world.

Please take the time to look at the insert and wrestle with the questions. If you could snap your fingers and do what would bring you the greatest satisfaction, what would it be? Where might your vocation lie, and in what direction is it calling you to walk this year? May we all discover our passion and apply it in love to the needs that we know surround us in this, God’s world.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on January 14, 2007.