the scripture i chose was luke 4:14-21.
Whenever I begin something new, I typically pray. A lot. I surround the experience with prayer, and ask people to pray for me, and pray for the people I will meet. A lot of praying happens at first because I’m anxious and excited, but mainly that I want God to be with me during that time of NEW things happening. When I was discerning my call to seminary, I prayed. A lot. I knew that Drew would be a whole new experience for me, and so I prayed. A lot. It’s amazing that God knows what you need at the time. So, on my second day of orientation, there was a small worship service in the chapel at Drew. The worship service was based on the lectionary text for that week, which is the text from Luke that I chose today. The director of the chapel, Tanya, decided to have a small anointing service, where she placed oil on our forehead in the sign of the cross--an ancient practice--and said to each of us, “Kaleigh, God has called you to bring justice and joy to a world in need.” I have taken those words with me ever since, and often remind myself of the service and hear those words over and over. These words are similar to when Jesus read the words from Isaiah that say “God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” Those words were spoken at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The Holy Spirit was with Jesus as he started something completely new that would change the world. Just as the Holy Spirit was present with me when I started seminary. It was an answer to all those prayers asking God to be with me. It was an affirmation of my Christian life, and the fact that yes, God is calling me to bring justice and joy to a world in need. Just like Jesus was called to do.
But let’s zoom in on how Jesus was called. That word spirit appears a lot in this passage. Twice. Jesus was filled with the spirit when he arrived in Galilee and the spirit was “upon him.” An interesting fun fact about the gospel of luke: the word Spirit appears eighteen times in the gospel of Luke; and it’s often called the gospel of the holy spirit. The Holy Spirit, by definition, is what impels people to act, gives them wisdom and moves them to prophesy. Throughout the Old Testament we hear stories of prophets who were commissioned by God to bring a message to the people and could speak it because the Spirit was upon them. The words Jesus reads in this passage are straight from the book of Isaiah, who was called in the same way. The use of the holy Spirit is the way God enables leaders and prophets (who were often common people like you and me) to carry out God’s will for them. This happens in the NT as well. The Holy Spirit is active with Jesus, and is how the ministry of Jesus begins. It also gives us a link back to history. Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus. God does a new thing by bringing Jesus into this world and in turn, Jesus does something new in his ministry by reaching out to those in need, those on the margins of society, the broken, the poor, the oppressed. Bringing justice and joy. Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus encounter lepers, tax collectors, and women. The mission that God gives to jesus is to engage the world and its people and their needs as a way to be a light, and bring joy to a dark world.
So, that’s Jesus. Jesus reached out to those in need. God called him to do that. But it’s not only Jesus who is called to do that. It’s US as well. When people ask you what being a Christian means, what do you say? I would bet that your answers might include going to church, reading the bible, and serving others. My answer? following the teachings of Jesus. Doing what he did. Reaching out. Loving others. It’s not all about standing up here, or saying my prayers everyday. It’s reaching out. Francis Assisi once said, “preach the gospel. and when necessary, use words.” It’s by our actions that people know we are Christians. There’s that hymn that goes “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love...” It’s how we use the Holy Spirit to reach out to others.
There’s a great quote in a book called “Listening at Golgotha” by Peter Storey, the former president of the methodist church of Southern Africa that hits this point well.
“Some tell us that following Jesus is a simple matter of inviting him into our hearts. But when we do that, Jesus always asks, ‘May I bring my friends?’ And when we look at them, we see that they are not the kind of company we like to keep. The friends of Jesus are the outcasts, the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, the rejected--the lepers of life. We hestitate. And ask, ‘Jesus must we really have them too?’ Jesus replies, ‘love me, love my friends.’”
I was just at music camp with Mark Miller this past week counseling, and we often sang the song draw the circle wide. I think that’s what Jesus is talking about. We have to draw the circle wide and reach out to those who we wouldn’t normally encounter. On Friday night, we went to Sunrise Mountian, which is part of the Appalachian Trail to watch the Sunset. We ran into a man camping up there who was hiking the trail for the ninth time. We explained who we were, he told us he was raised united methodist and is from Georgia, and was headed to Maine to finish up. All of the youth at the camp were intruiged by his story and we spent lots of time talking to him, and giving him leftover sandwiches from our picnic dinner. We also shared our stories. He was really interested in hearing about my experiences in seminary, and working with youth. And i was interested in what kept bringing him back to the trail.While up there, we were in the midst of a huge thunderstorm. After it was over, and we were getting ready to leave, we were saying goodbye to Jim. He told us how he was going to leave earlier this afternoon, but felt there was something telling him to stay. And how he needed to hear our stories, and how he thought it needed to happen. No talk about God, but I could feel the Holy Spirit at work. Here we were, ordinary campers and counselors having a picnic dinner, impacting the life of this one man, and maybe giving him some added strength on the journey. We proceeded to tell him how we learned something from him as well. So, from us spreading our joy, we also received joy and affirmation of God’s call in our lives.
We must love those that Jesus loved. That’s what is being a Christian is about, and is what we are called to do. When we were on RISE a few weeks ago with the youth from the church, I reminded them that God called them to that place. God called them to work on the houses of the two families. There are a few images I remember from that week which I will likely take with me forever. We had a lot of time to relfect in car rides on the way home from the sites, and what stuck with the girls I had in my car was the tears that streamed down Elva’s face when we pulled up and introduced her self and proceeded to tell us how thankful she was that we were there and that she had been praying for this for ages. Also, we’ll never forget Xzavier, Dakota and Cordell, the three grandsons whose smiling faces brought us joy every day. And of course, seeing the quiet, shy, Harry, smile at the progress we had made. Also, the smiles while Elva and her daughter painted. This was pure JOY that we had brought them. Not only did we paint their house, but we brought joy to this family who knows what it means to love and to live. AT the end of the week, when we were leaving, we all cried. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and as we pulled away from the house, I couldn’t help but think what a difference we had made. We brought joy to a family who needed it. Seven common people answering a call from God to go and paint the house of a family in need. But not only did they find joy. I think each youth and adult on RISE came away with a newfound understanding of what true joy is. Seeing Elva’s face when her three grandsons came to visit, and to see how much her family meant to her. She brought joy to us, which is why it was so hard to leave.
God calls each one of us-ordinary, common, people--just like many of the old testament prophets to bring justice and joy to a world in need. Jesus wasn’t anything out of the ordinary either; he was a carpenter’s son, born in a manger. Whether it’s helping with IHN, going on a habitat build, sending care packages to soldiers, making quilts for those in need of healing, sending health kits to Haiti, or have you be it, God has called you to it, and continues to call you to bring justice and joy to this world in need.
Amen.
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