A sermon preached by Elle Morgan
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to thee, O’ Lord.
Today, I was struck by Paul's epistle to the Ephesians as I’ve been thinking a lot about formulas and how they apply to our worship and spiritual lives. As Christians we experience formulas in many ways. The Apostles and Nicene Creeds can be considered formulas, the Lord’ Prayer, the Sanctus, and there are many more. For some aspects of worship and ministry following the formula is important. We need to get it right.
There is a meme that passed around the seminarian world regarding the formula contained within most Pauline letters. There are usually five specific elements:
Paul begins by offering greetings and Grace
He follows by letting you know that he thanks God for you.
He urges all to hold fast to the Gospel.
He continues by begging, for the Love of everything holy, to stop being stupid.
And finally, "Timothy says hi."
Paul had a formula that worked for him and is recognizable to us. In addition to the formulas related to worship, we celebrate the ability to recognize our individuality. I loved Steve Bailey’s sermon last week. Steve delivered an inspirational sermon in his own unique and wonderful way that gave me a lot to think about. The ministry of preaching allows for me to preach differently than Father Michael and Robert Shaw to preach differently than the two of us. Ministry benefits from the individuality of the minister and what they bring to the scriptures.
Today’s epistle speaks of many essential issues, but three that stand out for me are call, unity, and spiritual maturity. With call and spiritual maturity being particularly individualized.
Paul is writing from his imprisonment in Rome, where he is concerned with the condition of the early church. I’m sure his incarceration left him frustrated at his inability to impact and encourage early
In his epistle, Paul urges the followers of Christ to live lives worthy of the calls they have received. “Call” is an interesting topic, particularly for a seminarian. We talk about it a lot and think about it more than one might imagine. How are we called? And to what? Callings can be described as a profound sense of purpose or direction to which an individual has been led that aligns with their belief and faith. For Christians, it’s the deep conviction that God has called us to fulfill a specific role or mission. As Paul so eloquently wrote, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of YOUR calling," I'll emphasize the word “your” here as Paul did not limit or circumscribe access to callings. We know that calls are not limited to those in ministry. They are a God-given gift to all of us to share our talents and abilities for the glory of God and the greater good.
It's easy to imagine the challenge this presented to the early followers of Christ. Depending on where you are in the world, leaning into a call can have its consequences – even now. But we are all called, and a challenge with which we are all charged is to find and act upon our calls – often an individualized practice, even if it means trusting divine guidance or stepping outside of our comfort zones to do so.
Discerning calls can be challenging. Having a calling and being called are distinguished but never really bifurcated. Our relationship with God simultaneously involves being in relationship with others. Ultimately, the discernment around calling comes down to faithfully responding to God’s will for one’s life – and responding fully trusting that “with God’s help” we will be able to fulfill our unique purposes in God’s kingdom.
Every day, we see people in this congregation faithfully responding to calls: serving as lay eucharist ministers and altar guild members, tending the flowers, making treats for coffee hour, and doing all manner of things to serve this loving congregation. But what about the rest of the world -- who among us is called to serve in the greater world? We know that many at St. Philip’s hear that call in the larger world. Pioneer Valley Power Packs and Take & Eat serve our greater community. I was delighted by the number of people that I did not recognize at the Philadelphia Eleven screening. In thinking more about the individuality of calls, I think about those who shared their gifts at that event. Deborah did a remarkable job with communications and public relations, Julie arranged all our Zoom meetings, and the online tickets, Janet and Glee must have been professional caterers at one point as our hospitality was just right and so well received. Betty was the first volunteer on board and helped us determine where to best use our donations, Fran continued her remarkable yearlong job of lay adviser to a new seminarian, and Steve did a wonderful job with the audio visual and keeping us laughing when it was over 100 degrees in the church the night before the event. Can you imagine if this “project manager” had suggested that they all shift one responsibility to the left and do something different than their God-given talents allowed. I suggest we would have had a much less successful event. Each heard a call to a specific ministry.
Our members also serve on local committees, historical societies, and at libraries and social organizations. But as Episcopalians, we are called to move our ministries into the community and the world. In the pamphlet produced by the Episcopal Church "From the Pew to the Public Square," we are reminded that “our Christianity is something that impacts our social and communal lives as well as our private or personal lives. As a result, Episcopalians are called to live Christ-like lives personally and work for the good of our communities by seeking structural change.” We are reminded of our baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. We follow the example of Jesus, who sought to restore people to physical, mental, and spiritual health. Jesus also fought injustice at every opportunity – whether it was an oppressive occupying force or community members who were not treating the community well. Sadly, we see this today in our communities and country. People serving their own ambitions, financial desires, or political agendas instead of God's will and the community's betterment. We see the ongoing foment of hate and the development of "otherness" instead of a commitment to honor God and love one another. One of my favorite statements Presiding Bishop Michael Curry made is that “if it's not about Love, it's not about God.” This is a straightforward litmus test. If it is about exclusion, hate, judgment, racism, homophobia, or misogyny, it's not about God, and those engage in those activities should be redirected. We are called as Children of God to stand up against hate and oppression.
Many churches hide behind jeopardy to their non-profit status to avoid any statements or actions that might seem political – citing a risk to that status if they do. And, while it's true that religious organizations can't endorse one candidate or party, there are many things they can do – and I am proud that the Episcopal church and the Diocese of Western Massachusetts takes the position that it is our sacred duty to be civically involved. They suggest five specific engagement actions.
The first is to vote at every opportunity, educating ourselves about candidates and issues and not becoming discouraged by the toxic political involvement but understanding that we matter and, therefore, our votes matter.
They suggest direct actions such as non-violent protests, sit-ins, vigils, and corporate divestment actions.
They emphasize the importance of policy advocacy – getting initiatives on ballots, starting petitions, and advocating issues before legislators.
Significant emphasis is placed on the importance of prayer in bringing about a just and equitable world through private prayer, corporate worship, teaching, and preaching.
Mobilizing resources of people, time, space, and money to create systemic changes in our communities.
Now, you might appropriately wonder how I went from a sermon about Ephesus and Paul to a call for political action. But it really all does hearken back to Paul’s epistle when he refers to the “gifts he gave… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
The result of a discerned call plus action results in unity of the people and a spiritual maturity that is expected of us as followers of Christ. We cannot shirk our responsibility to serve. We are all called to something – let’s find that thing.
My experience with calls is that they don't always make sense to us as individuals. You are aware that I will be stepping away to complete a chaplaincy residency in Birmingham, Alabama—a call that feels inexplicable to me in some ways but a call that is strong, nonetheless. Candidly, my family, who has listened to me decry the Deep South for my entire life, was stunned when I made the announcement, and if someone had suggested this to me three months ago, I would have laughed out loud. But sometimes God acts quickly, and in this case, God did. Ignoring the call is tempting, but I've done that before to my peril and I won't do it again. Perhaps it's part of that spiritual maturity thing Paul talked about. But responding to a call that takes me away from St. Philips where I have felt so held and cared for by you, where I have learned more than I can ever retain from Father Michael, is indescribably difficult.
Discerning a call isn't easy, but with prayer, reflection, and sometimes input from those around us, God will make it known to us where we are needed. "How can I best seek and serve Christ in all persons?" Be careful, though; for me, the answer was, "Go to Alabama!"
Most of you know that I grew up in another tradition. Some of the hymns we sing are the same and others are very different, but thinking about call takes me back to a hymn from my childhood entitled "I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go.” The lyrics go like this:
It may not be on the mountain height
Or over the stormy sea,
It may not be at the battle’s front
My Lord will have need of me.
But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.
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There’s surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth’s harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life’s short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I’ll be what you want me to be.
Paul was right in encouraging us to lead a life worthy of the callings to which we have been called. We are unique and wonderful children of a loving and living God with so much to offer. We should discern those calls and rise to serve. There is no formula for loving and caring for others.
In Jesus name, Amen.
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