Who the hell are you?

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B, July 8, 2012
Delivered at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Oakland, California (my internship site)

“Remember who you are, but remember whose you are.”

 I heard those words just last week. I had the privilege and blessing to see one of my close friends, Joshua Serrano, who as a joke I call my “brother from another mother,” be ordained as a minster of Word and Sacrament into the ELCA. It was a pretty incredible ordination service getting to see his friends, family, colleagues, and mentors support him in this call. His internship pastor gave the sermon at the ordination service, and I want to share parts of that sermon with you. She asked Josh, “Why? Why do you want to be a pastor?” That is a good question. It’s also a rhetorical question, but I would have been great to hear Josh’s answer. She also talked about call. One of the common threads of call is that it’s God’s work and tug on our lives and on our hearts. Then she reminded Josh that as a newly ordained minister of Word and Sacrament, “Remember who you are.” Which is pretty much code for “Don’t let this go to your head.” She also reminded him, “Remember whose you are.” Which is not code. Which means Josh is a mortal who belongs to God. Thinking back on this ordination service, I can’t help but tie all three readings to responding to God’s call on our lives and in our hearts. Because you know we’re all called. No one in here is exempt. Yes, you can hide under a pew, but I ask that you don’t do it now during the sermon or during service. You can run away, but please not now, and not any other time during the service. God has a way of seeking people out, even if you’re hiding and running away. Have you thought about how you are called? How that call can be a combination of both terror and comfort? How that call can be both incredibly fulfilling and incredibly draining?

Let’s talk first about Ezekiel and his call. Can you imagine how freaky it would be if God came to you and said, “O mortal, stand up on your feet and I will speak with you?” Because if someone uses that line on me, I usually want to run screaming the other way because 1. I’m either in trouble or 2. I’m being asked to do something HUGE. But this isn’t just any ol’ someone. This is GOD. And God saying, stand up, I want to talk to you? Let’s place ourselves in Ezekiel’s place. How would you feel? Intimidated? Freaked out? Maybe not able to stand? Guess what? Ezekiel’s not able to stand on his own when God comes to him. But Ezekiel doesn’t have to get up on his own. The Spirit places Ezekiel on his feet. But Ezekiel’s call? Not so easy. He’s going to proclaim God’s word with a rebellious people. They may hear… or they may not. Ezekiel has to go forward in a community where people will essentially say, “Who the hell are you?” But God equips Ezekiel in these difficult circumstances. Ezekiel is equipped with God’s Word. He literally eats God’s challenging Word of lament and woe in the form of a scroll. He eats these words of lament and woe… but these words taste as sweet as honey, they feed Ezekiel in the midst of a challenging call. These sweet words are countercultural, but they’re life giving. But they are words people don’t want to hear because they goes against what we want. The Word (and God’s call on our lives) can be considered to be awkward and not widely accepted.

Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians also plays on call. It seems problems with authority don’t go away over time. The church in Corinth was dealing with authority issues with a people coming in saying they’re a true deliverer of God’s Word and authority. People were asking, “Who is a real apostle?” and in asking such a question, Paul was dealing with people who challenged his call and doubted the Spirit’s work in Paul. In their doubting, people are asking Paul, “Who the hell are you?” How does Paul establish his authority as someone called out by God? Well, he talks about a really spiritual friend. But Paul also admits to being a wreck; he talks about being someone with a thorn in his side. But even if Paul is a total wreck of a person, even if Paul’s plagued by this thorn, he’s still called. God’s strength is at work in the midst of human weakness and brokenness. We see that in the person of Jesus. We can also see that in God’s work in our life and how God calls us out. Paul talks about his weakness, and in this weakness, God still uses Paul. God outright tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Then there’s the Gospel. Jesus is having a rough time on his home turf of Nazareth. Sure, his hometown folks are amazed, but they’re quick to turn on Jesus by essentially asking him, “Who the hell are you?” They can’t recognize him as the Son of God. But I want to focus on the second half of the story. Jesus sends the disciples out. He tells them to pack light. But he doesn’t send them out on their own. Jesus equips them in their call to heal and cast our demons. They’re being sent out into uncomfortable and awkward circumstances, but they’re not stuck on their own because he sends them our two by two. The disciples were called and continually sent out in not so great and less than ideal circumstances. There was never a good time for them to wait and to exercise their call. They just had to go.

What about our call? The times where we just don’t want to go? We may feel halted by naysayers in acting out God’s call for us. We may think the thorn in our side impedes us. We ourselves may want to wait. Wait and see when it would be a good time. Wait and see when we can ease into God’s call on us. But there’s not a “good time.” Today’s lessons show us that even in the midst of rebellion, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of people asking us, “Who the hell are you?” and in the midst of brokenness that there is no “good time” to wait and act on our call. Circumstances may not be easy, but we’re equipped in our calls whether we know it or not. Our calls are unique to us, they’re all different, as educators, as administrators, as nursing home volunteers, as those working for social justice... there’s so many ways in which we can be called to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. When we’re baptized, we’re all called out. We’re all set aside to be ministers in the church. We cannot hide from that (even if we try to stuff ourselves under a pew). When we’re held over or standing at the font, we’re not alone. Baptism is a community event where God’s Living Word meets us in the water. We die in our baptisms where our sinful selves are drowned. We’re also bathed and refreshed in God’s love and grace. We’re surrounded by a community of brothers and sisters that have made a commitment to one another to support each other in our unique calls, our unique ministries. There are days we may not feel the Spirit at work, but the Spirit’s there. There are days when stuff just doesn’t seem to go right. We’re not guaranteed a smooth ride after baptism, after being set aside to be a minister. But we’re guaranteed that we don’t go about our call, and our lives alone. As we go forth thinking about how we’re called, some may as us, “Who the hell are you?” In responding to that question, remember whose you are.