08-21-2011 – “God has a sense of humor” by Rev. Cameron Ayers

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. J. Cameron Ayers

August 21, 2011

     God has a sense of humor.  Think about it!  At first glance, Jesus chooses the most unlikely candidate to lead the apostles and his church.  Wouldn’t John have been a better choice?  He was so holy and so profound in his writings.  Or perhaps Peter’s brother Andrew?  Or dare I say it:  Mary Magdalene.    I identify with Peter.  He usually speaks too impetuously, placing his foot in his mouth.  Jesus even says to him at one point, “Get behind me, Satan.”  And yet, to this apostle Jesus speaks these words of binding and loosing.  Peter becomes a leader of the infant church.

     I think there are a couple of points worth pondering as we consider the readings today.  They all refer in some way to call, to God’s calling Moses, Peter and us.  First, call is not based on our worthiness.  Second, our virtues are also radically related to our vices.  Finally, the whole church shares in the commission which Christ gives in today’s gospel.

     Our first reading from Exodus is a good example of the relationship of call and worthiness.  God arranges that Moses be saved from death while he is a very young infant.  He has done absolutely nothing to deserve God’s protection or blessing, yet he is pulled out of the water (which is the derivation of his name from Hebrew).  God uses us with all our challenges, weaknesses and blemishes.  Moses had a stutter, yet he would be the one that the Lord would send to speak to Pharaoh.  Again and again through all the Scriptures, ordinary folks like you and me are called by God to do extraordinary things.  God’s call to each human person is a free gift.  That’s what grace really means.

            Our very weaknesses are almost always tied to our greatest strengths.  The passage from Paul’s Letter to the Romans teaches that we all have different gifts to use for the good of the whole body.  Moses was brave and headstrong, Paul was devout and judgmental, Peter was passionate and impetuous.  Each had gifts to offer to the community in which they lived.  God always places us some place for a reason.  Why did the Lord invite you to Holy Innocents?  This community would be less without each one of us.  We all play a part in making this a better, more compassionate and more faith-filled church.

            This is really a good segue to my third point and the message of the gospel:  each of us by our baptism shares in the call to leadership in the Church.  Each of us (use some names) has been baptized to be prophet, priest and king: in other words, we each are called at times to speak up, to show God’s presence and to lead. 

Our baptismal convenant says that we commit ourselves to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.”   We do that in all of our homes, places of work, the stores in which we shop and the places we go for recreation.  We are prophets by our example and by our words.

            We also promise to love our neighbor as ourselves and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being.  That is very much being a priest in our daily lives. 

It’s probably hardest to see how we are each called to the role of king or queen or leader.  The difficulty is how we have been brought up to see a leader:  president, king, bishop, boss.  Authority for Jesus means being a servant, it’s the opposite of arrogance.  The gospel we read today is often used in debate over the office of the papacy.  In my humble opinion, what is most significant is not that somehow Jesus created the Vatican with this commission to Peter, but that He gave his authority to the community.  Peter and the other apostles served this community and the Church over the centuries. 

The Christian tradition is at its finest when leaders see themselves as servants:  Desmond Tutu comes to mind as do Martin Luther King or John XXIII.  I am personally challenged and inspired by people like this, but also by people like you.  This parish church is full of people who take their call very seriously.

            We come to the table each Sunday—one of the most important things that the Eucharist is meant to remind us is that our call to follow Christ empowers us to be disciples, ambassadors of God in whatever situation we meet.   We are nourished in order to go out and be Christ in the world.  May the Holy Spirit act in and through us each day to respond to this amazing call!