Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 15 January 2012 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were 1 Samuel 3:1-21 and John 1:43-51.


Prayer:

Gracious God,

May Your Word enlighten us to know you more deeply. May the Holy Spirit help to transform our lives to become more loving and more faithful to Your call. May the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, our Creator and our Savior. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.


Introduction

Today I would like to share with you a message on God’s calling.

To Christians, God’s calling is something familiar. Christians have been told once and again that we are called by God. God calls us to become his children and his disciples through Christ. In God’s creation, we are called his children. In God’s Kingdom, we are called to repent, and we are called to bring peace and reconciliation (2 Cor 5:17-21), and to witness the life and faith of Christ.

All the above would be something abstract and distant if it were spoken to somebody and not to us. If I ask you today, “What is God’s calling in your life?” What would be your answer?

God’s calling is about ‘partnership with the faithful’.

We have just started the season of Epiphany. The liturgical color of green has reminded us this particular season of the church calendar.

Epiphany comes from the Greek word ‘epiphaneia’ or ‘theophaneia’, meaning ‘appearance’ or ‘manifestation’. Epiphany reveals the divine presence of God through human flesh in Jesus Christ.

In the season of Epiphany, we are reminded and prompted to learn once again the life of Jesus and his ministry on earth. Jesus was called by God the Father, to engage himself to transform the world and to bring to humanity the new life of love, hope and peace.

Jesus was called by God. In his ministry on earth, he called others to serve as his disciples to work with him together for God’s Kingdom. In Jesus Christ, we know that God does not work alone. God is a God of partnership

The readings we heard today, from the Old Testament of 1 Samuel 3:1-20 and the New Testament of Gospel John 1:43-51, God has called his people to work together in the history of humanity.

Samuel, the great prophet of the Israelite was called to speak for God to his chosen people, the Jews. Jesus called the first disciples for his ministry of healing, teaching and preaching. From the gospel readings, we knew Jesus called Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael to follow him.

God’s calling is about ‘partnership with the faithful’.

God’s calling is about love and compassion.

In the book of Samuel, the prophet Samuel was an influential God’s servant whom God had chosen. But his life and story began with a woman, Hannah, her mother. Hannah was a barren woman who bore no child at the beginning of her marriage. She was very upset and depressed. She did not, however, lose her faith. She kept on praying to the Lord for a child. Eventually God gave to her a son, this was Samuel. Hannah was thankful to God and in return she offered this first born child to God and left him in the temple to serve God.

God called Samuel to become his servant and to serve as a prophet to the Israelites. God’s calling to a great leader of the Israelite community began with God’s compassion to a faithful woman who was in need of a child to save her life.

I remember a couple who had a strong wish to have their own child. But unfortunately they couldn’t have it. They tried artificial insemination without success. Eventually they gave up and they decided to adopt a baby girl.

The baby girl turned out to be a blessing to the couple as her presence had redeemed their marriage which was at the brink of breaking up.

For the child, the parents were a blessing to her in return. She was abandoned by her biological parents. But she was redeemed by God through this couple. The couple became her adopted parents giving her love and care.

We may say God has called this couple to love and care for this baby girl who has been abandoned by her biological parents. But it was God’s love falling upon them in the first place. God knew their needs. God knew that they had longed for a child so desperately.

God’s calling is about love and compassion. God’s calling is to fulfill the need of his beloved children.

God’s calling is about our passion completed in God and for God.

Jesus called Philip to follow him when he was in Galilee. He took up the call from Jesus because he found that Jesus was the messiah of the Israelites that he and many other Jews were longing for. Philip had heard about Jesus from his friends: Peter and Andrew who came from the same town of Bethsaida.

Philip responded to Jesus’ call positively because he knew what he wanted. He was looking for a messiah to restore his nation and to serve his people.

We must know our passion and desire. Only when we are able to know ourselves are we able to take up the call from God.

Philip’s friend – Nathanael, has given us another interesting perspective on God’s calling. When Nathanael was told about Jesus by Philip, he did not respond positively. He had a kind of discrimination again Jesus because he came from Nazareth, a city which was not so respected in Jesus’ time. Nathanael was transformed when he realized that he was known and understood by Jesus. Nathanael was impressed by Jesus by what he said about him. Jesus described him as a ‘man of no deception’. Jesus explained that he knew it because he saw him under the fig tree. With reference to a commentary, the author shared that in the ancient time of Israel, a fig tree was a symbol of peace and wholeness. A man under a fig tree reflected that he was a spiritual person who prayed and longed for peace and care for his people. Nathanael was moved by Jesus’ understanding of him and his deep passion for his nation. He immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God and the king of Israel.

God’s calling is about our passion completed in God and for God.

I have completed four year of service in KUC since I started in 2007.

When I was looking for a ministry after my graduation from the Chung Chi Divinity, I prayed to God that I wished to work in a ministry which could give me wider exposure to people from diverse backgrounds. I prayed to God also that I wished to do something more international and serve marginalized and vulnerable people. God answered my prayer. God knew my desire and passion. He thus led me to KUC and helped me to engage in this church to serve.

God’s calling is linked to our inner desire and passion. Therefore, sisters and brothers, it is important to know our inner desire and passion in life and communicate to God with courage.

Today is the birthday of a great civil rights Christian leader --- Martin Luther King. Revd King had dedicated his life to end racial segregation and racial discrimination. He had a strong passion to bring about a world of love and peace where people embrace one another with respect and equality. He had a noble dream in which no men and women should be discriminated nor excluded because of their race. He had faithfully taken up the call of God to advocate for a world where all God’s children love one another without hatred and discrimination.

Revd King had paid a great cost for his service to God and to the world. He was assassinated on the 4th April 1968. But his life had brought glory to God. His inner passion went hand in hand with God’s will and calling. He was God’s faithful servant who had taken partnership with God to heal the broken world and to transform the lives of many.

In our Christian confession of faith, we believe in the communion of saints. May the spirit of Martin Luther King inspire us today to rethink about and respond to God’s calling.

Sisters and brothers, at the beginning of 2012, I invite you to think seriously the question I asked of you right at the beginning of my sermon -- “What is God’s calling in your life?” My blessing to you all is to live a life to fulfill God’s calling in you, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.