Sunday, January 30, 2022
/The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30
The Reverend Jeff Bohanski
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Who are you called to be? Who are we called to be? Who am I called to be?
A few minutes ago, we heard the call of Jeremiah. The story follows the format of one being called, then the one being called gives reasons for why he/she is a poor choice to be called, but in the end, God calls the person anyway. Finally, God sends the chosen one to do God’s work.
I believe these words we heard in Jeremiah can be said of all of us. For God knew you and I before we were born and loved us. I believe in Christ we all, even back then at our beginning, were appointed and called to be God’s prophets, to proclaim and show God’s love for all humanity.
Like Jeremiah we come up with excuses for why we are poor choices for this ministry. Jeremiah said he was only a boy. I’ve said, I have dyslexia and I’m a slow reader and a poor student, surely you do not mean me. Some say they are the wrong ethnicity, the wrong gender, or the sexual identity or perhaps they are in wrong social class. Unfortunately, many people say, I’m not an ordained person, I know it’s not me you want, anyway, I have a job and a family. Surely, you don’t mean me.
My friends, I believe God replies to all of us, like he replied to Jeremiah, don’t give me these excuses, I chose you. I shall send you and you shall speak whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid. Trust in me.
So next one begins to wonder about how we are to do this work of proclaiming God’s love that God calls us to do. Surely, I’m not supposed to stand on a street corner and preach.
Saint Francis said, “Always preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words.” This week in men’s Bible study someone reminded us that God’s love Paul is talking about is not a noun, it’s a verb. So, perhaps we proclaim God’s love when we, in our everyday lives, are patient, when we show kindness, when we are not rude, arrogant, nor resentful. I believe we are proclaiming God’s love for all humanity when we let others have their way sometimes, maybe even that person who tries to cut in front of us in road construction traffic. Or perhaps when we simply take a second in our busyness to say hello to someone, do a small quick head bow to the other to remind to ourselves that the other person is also a chosen child of God.
Again, I’ll say, I believe we are all called by God to proclaim and show God’s love for all humanity. My hope for us all this week is that we all heed our call. I pray each of us will proclaim God’s love by showing kindness to those we encounter in our daily lives. I pray we simply take a second this week to greet someone with a simple hello and remind ourselves that that person we greet is also a chosen child of God.