Let’s call this sermon, “What to do when you can’t tell what God is calling you to do.” That is probably an odd name for a sermon, especially one that is based on the birth story of Jesus, but I think our gospel text takes us there.
Let’s
start by noting that Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus is very different
from what we’re used to, which is the version from Luke. The words of that story flow to us like a
well-known legend, “In those days a decree went out from Emperor
Augustus…” We’ll hear that story on
Christmas Eve. But in Matthew’s account
there is no census, no inn that’s too full, no angel chorus, no shepherds, and no
manger. Also there’s no Mary, “pondering
these things in her heart.”
In
fact, the birth story in Matthew doesn’t even have Jesus in it! All we’re told is that Joseph has a dream of
an angel visitor. And then he, “did as
the Lord commanded him.” The very next scene,
which we will read next week, is about Jesus already being born.
As
Matthew tells the story about Jesus’ birth, it is not about Jesus. It is not about Mary, who gets a pretty big
role in Luke’s gospel. No, in Matthew
the story is all about Joseph. That may
seem odd; especially if you remember from last week that Matthew took Jesus’
genealogy to Joseph, even though Joseph really has no biological connection to
Jesus at all!
But
it is what happens with Joseph that gets us into our theme of, “What to do when
you can’t tell what God is calling you to do,” this way.
In
what we read Joseph has a dream telling him what to do. Then he acts on it. Next week we’re going to read about three
more dreams Joseph has. In each case it
is pretty specific about what to do. And
Joseph dutifully acts on it.
My
guess is that none of us have had literal dreams giving us, with some detail,
instructions on what to do. Does that
mean that God is using us less? Are we
somehow less important to God’s overall plan for the world than Joseph was?
In
contrast to Joseph who received a number of instructional dreams, my guess
would be that most of us fall closer into the category of, “What to do when you
can’t tell what God is calling you to do.”
It
may seem like the lives of biblical characters are somehow clearer, cleaner,
more straightforward than our lives.
They receive visions or dreams or angel visitors or something telling
them what to do beyond doubt. Now, they
don’t always act on them. Plenty of
people in the Bible ignore God or reject what God calls them to do. Nevertheless, they are still told clearly. I think we want the same.
I
should acknowledge that there are plenty of people in the world who appear to
be going through life with no purpose or direction whatsoever. They seem to be perfectly okay with that; at
least for now. I wonder if they’ve ever
really given any thought as to what their purpose is? What will their legacy be? Will they leave any positive mark on the
world at all?
A
person of faith, and by that I mean any number of the world’s religions – not
just Christianity, is going to want to live in a way in which their faith gives
their life purpose and meaning.
This
is an aside, but I think a necessary one.
I disagree with those atheists who say that having faith is a crutch for
the weak minded. Or that faith is
nothing more than a society’s morality made large and imagined onto a divine
being; who then punishes or rewards after death with heaven or hell based on
how well a person followed the morals. Religion
then is about keeping a population in line.
I respond that faith is not about pleasing a supernatural being with the
way you live. Faith is, as I said, about
living in a way that gives purpose and meaning to what you do. It means that you are connected to some value
which extends beyond yourself; and even beyond your society. But that can create a problem.
There
is no problem when you feel like God is telling you what to do. There can be a problem when you don’t
feel like God is telling you what to do at all. Simply going through life with the idea that
you’re just supposed to be a good person – and have some fun when you can -
doesn’t help much. I think I can speak
for all of us when I say that we want more than that. We do want to feel like our lives have a
purpose, that we’re a constructive part of something bigger than ourselves. Sure, we may dream of becoming world famous
and being a household name like Albert Einstein or Benjamin Franklin, but we
don’t really think that could be.
I
feel like some people work really hard to figure out what God wants them to
do. They pray. They meditate. They may read scripture. Maybe they go on a discernment retreat, or
take all sorts of skills inventories to see what they’re good at. Of course there’s nothing wrong with any of
that. But it’s likely that something is
still missing.
If
we approach life with the idea that God has a purpose for us to fulfill, and it
is up to us to figure out or discern that purpose, - and I believe many people
think that’s exactly what life is – then it’s as if God is a scientist and we
are all lab rats running through the maze of life searching for a piece of
cheese.
If
we take the way Matthew describes God giving directions to Joseph and apply it
to the way we think God will interact with us, then we are unknowingly making a
basic mistake. But it is an easy mistake
to make because we live in a society that values and encourages
individualism.
What
was that old Army advertising slogan?
“Be all you can be!” It surely is
appealing. But you can’t stop there. The Army is not a collection of
individuals. No effective army is. The
Army is a community of skilled people; skilled people with a purpose.
What
do you do when you can’t tell what God is calling you to do? The Army is a good example. And the same answer will unfold as we move
forward in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus does
not create a faith of a bunch of individuals.
Jesus creates a community with a purpose. The purpose is to make God’s reign of grace
reality in the world.
I
do not think God has pre-planned individual purposes for us to do in life. I do know God wants His reign of grace to be
reality in this world. And he’s called
us collectively to help do it. Also,
just as new threats emerge and old threats fall away and so the Army changes,
so does what we collectively are called to do changes.
Even
Jesus didn’t work as an individual. You
know he had the twelve disciples, and there were many more. Consider the Lord’s Prayer. Does it start off with, “My Father who aren’t
in heaven”? Is this the prayer of an
individual? Does the Lord’s Prayer even
work if you are the only one praying it?
Yes,
indeed it can work. But this simple
foundational prayer assumes that it will be spoken by a community. “Our Father who aren’t in heaven…” Everything in that prayer about us is plural.
It
is the Church’s weakness when it thinks it’s a bunch of individuals trying to
discern God’s will. It is the Church’s
strength when it realizes it is a diverse and dynamic community with a common
purpose.
If
you don’t know what God is calling you to do with your life – and remember that
calling will change with your age, your life circumstances, and changes in the
world around you – then don’t feel like you are lacking, or missing something,
or weak in faith, or any of that.
It
is the role of the Church to be our common expression of God’s grace in the
world. It is the role of the Church to
be the community that gives our lives solid meaning and value. It is the Church that is to be the community
that offers us meaningful forgiveness from shame.
That
is a very high bar for the Church to achieve.
We certainly don’t do it perfectly here – far from it. But when we are at our strongest and our
healthiest, that is what we do. When we
do that well we should not have to ask as individuals alone in this life what
is it that God wants us to do. We know
that we are part of a much greater whole.
It is the work of the community that God’s reign becomes real.
So,
may we make our church the community of faith that it needs to be in order to
give us purpose and value. And may we
see the efforts of our labors come to life in the world. In Matthew’s gospel we’ll see a community of
believers struggle to get it together.
And we join them
in that struggle.
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