“How God Changes Us.”
God Changes Us by Giving Us Work to Do

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

January 23, 2011

I am preaching a four sermon series on “How God Changes Us.” Last week the subject was sin. At God’s initiative eternal love is re-presented in a person, Jesus of Nazareth. Sin is separation from God, separation within our own hearts, and separation between us and others. God bridge the gap; Jesus is the mediator of this reconciliation. When this gift is received by faith, our lives take on a different feel, that of freedom and adventure.

Such reconciliation evokes great rejoicing----like prisoners freed, hostages rescued, the poor hearing good news, the prodigal son being welcomed home with a party. Forgiveness enables coming home. A celebration which is not of our accomplishment, but of what God has done for us---- made possible for us! And then we go to work! Who was it who said that one of the things every person needs is some kind of meaningful work to do---whether they get paid for it or not? God changes us by recruiting us to work with him for Kingdom purposes: healing and teaching. James and John and Andrew and Simon Peter had jobs; Now they use their fishing talents for different purpose! They are disciples

Disciples are disciplined learners, apprentices. I was an apprentice several times. First I was a “devil’s apprentice, a name given to one who worked for a newspaper (was this Benjamin Franklin’s terminology). I would show up at the office for the weekly Palo Pinto Star They would have me do a little of everything: melt old type into lead ingots, proof read first drafts, practice on the Linotype machine, fold the papers for delivery, run errands. I was learning by watching and practicing.

Jesus may have seen latent talents in these first disciples. But now they were students. Their first work was to learn the ropes. How do we humans learn? You and I have learned first and best perhaps by watching our teacher, coach, or boss. Children and grandchildren learn by watching---and this can scare us to death! In another church, man who grew up in Weatherford, Texas told me a story. When a child, he and his brothers and sisters lived next door to an unfriendly, obnoxious family. One night, this family’s house burned down. The next morning, they were out sifting through the rubble. My friend said that he father told them, “Go get some of your clothes, boys, we are taking them next door.” “Why? They asked. “They have not been good neighbors; they never give us as much as the time of day!” Their father told them, “This is what we do. They have not been good neighbors to us, but we will be good neighbors to them.” This was a lesson my friend has never forgotten.

Dr. Schubert Ogden is an eminent theologian, and one of favorite teachers at Perkins School of Theology. I leaned much from him in the classroom. But in addition, I learned much from him by his example. After graduating, I would return to the campus every year to attend Minister’s Week. At the annual reception following the first lecture, Dr Ogden would always greet me by name and ask how I was doing, what I was learning, and how my family and church were doing. He taught me not only theology but humanity.

We learn by paying attention to what others can teach us. We also learn by paying attention to our children or to someone’s children---from their willingness to accept people who are different.

Our oldest granddaughter, Rachel, when just a six year old, would go with her mother and others to visit nursing homes. While most people of any age find it difficult to try to communicate through words or touch, Rachel was right at home. She would sit down with the residents and talk and listen. She taught others how to live out the love of neighbors----those whom others would avoid when they could.

The first disciples? They watched as Jesus taught in the synagogues, as he healed people ---desperate people with ailments that were mental, physical, emotional, and relational----people who were shunned by their neighbors, especially the observant Jews. Words were important, but integrity more so, the congruence between Jesus teaching and his practice. How do we learn? From a handbook for youth ministry, I was taught that we first observe the teacher; then we assist the teacher. Then we work while being assisted by the teacher; next we work while the teacher watches us. Finally, we work by ourselves.

It is so with the first disciples and with us: they were caught and then they were taught. The attraction to Jesus and his cause was so strong that they did not want to leave. John Perkins wrote that in his own experience, “The call of God is sort of a trap. God pushes us in and then closes the door. We can’t just run in and out (be dilettantes). God’s call is when God nails your feet to the floor.” (Source lost) Later, they would do what Jesus did. See Matthew 10. When they had completed their apprentice phase, Jesus gave them authority (responsible power) to drive out demons, cure diseases, preach and teach.

God gives us work to do! A reason to get up in the morning. And even if we cannot get up out of bed, to pray---which is one thing Jesus taught his disciples that every Christian can do.

We are disciples today. Meet Jesus and some of us at least are caught. We say to ourselves, “I want to learn from this man. I want to tell people what he is telling them.”

Peter, James, John, and Andrew left immediately?! Did they know anything beforehand? We can’t know. We can presume so. Maybe they were aware that, in light of the coming kingdom there was no time to waste.

I have been told by more than one teacher that Community College students are, by and large, eager students. Many are people who could not afford or could not get in a larger college. Many are stuck in low paying jobs; or they are single parents with mouths to feed. They see a new day ahead. They can hope. They are motivated, ready for change.

The reign of God evoked trustful obedience. The proclamation was an imperative—you must---based on an indicative---it is a gift which, when received by faith, changes your life.

I want to tell you about some of my “follow me” experiences. This is not because there is anything heroic about them---quite the contrary. The only reason I tell you some of my story is that this telling may stimulate you to reflect on your own calling. I was baptized at age 12. I remember feeling as sense of forgiveness and entering a new relationship with God and the church. Of giving my life to Jesus Christ. And though I did not know what, I felt that I was being called to significant work. I was, of course, a lay member of the church. I have since some to see that the ministry of the laity, the laos of God is primary, always. Whatever else I chose to do, I would never be more than a members of the people of God called to serve and follow Jesus Christ. I was blessed to be led by the examples of my mother and father, grandparents, SS teachers, friends of the family, and pastors. The taught me Jesus by who they were and what they did---not always admirable; but they stayed the course, they kept on connecting with God and the communities of faith of which they were members. My grand mother, Della Lavelle played the piano at worship, in the Methodist churches of Oran and Graford. My grandfather, Jonas Eugene, led the singing. They were decent and considerate of their neighbors. In other words, they were ministers. I cringe when I hear someone say that they want to enter the “full-time ministry,” and by this they mean pastoral, ordained ministry. By baptism and other experiences of grace, every member is called to ministry. And there is no such thing as part-time ministry for those who are members of the body of Christ. Different gifts and different vocations, but all full-time servants.

About age 14, I began to sense an invitation and a desire to be an ordained minister, a pastor, to be specific. I did not follow this trail immediately as did the disciples who were fishermen. I was always afraid of speaking before anyone, even my family. I could not imagine doing what I now do every week. (To be a pastor was to be a preacher where I grew up; sacraments were an add-on!)

In the first semester of my freshman year at Decatur Baptist College, I decided that I wanted to be a pastor, that I was called to this work. And to be an “itinerant” pastor, one who would move to different places, “appointments” as they are called in the UMC. So I began to follow Christ by entering the path into ordained ministry. I read and wrote book reports; I met with the Superintendent. I went to a District Conference meeting in Graham, Texas and was “Licensed to Preach.” My pastor, S Wayne Reynolds, decided I needed to get my feet wet. He asked me to preach. My first sermon was 5 minutes long. The pastor got up to make a lame joke about the Cowboys kicking off at twelve and we all would be able to watch it. It was an awful debut, made more difficult by the presence in the congregation of about 20 of my family. Reverend Zan Holmes, Jr has told about his first sermon. He had a similar experience as I. After stumbling through his sermon a while, a woman in the church finally shouted her prayer, “Help him Lord!” In my first try at preaching, I had no such help! I was out there in deep water and did not swim very well at all! My situation reminds me know of H. Richard Niebuhr’s words, “If you are going to be a fool, chose a magnificent foolishness.” (Source lost)) For reasons which I cannot now discern, I stayed on the trail. I watched other pastors and listened. I was taught by teachers and campus ministers. I read theology and analyzed the Bible. In time, I was ordained and assigned my first “charge, at three point circuit in Young County. That was 44½ years ago. More than once, I have wanted to quit. My Dad had a thriving Abstract and Title business. No one in the family wanted to take his place when he retired. I thought, maybe I could be a good Christian businessman like my father.

That would have been OK, too, of course. God’s will for my life was for me to love God with all my heart and mind and soul and to love neighbor as myself. Not everyone who becomes a Christian moves around like the apostles did. In Jesus’ day, very few Christians traveled with Jesus here and there. They stayed to be the stewards of the gospel in their places. They witnessed and served Christ. They kept with their jobs with a sense of being servants--- within the churches’ gathered life and scattered life---out there in the world as they rubbed shoulders with those who were not followers.

“Listen to your life,” Frederick Buechner wrote, for God there. The kingdom lives within you as well as in your midst. Reflect on the ways you can be Peter, James, John and Andrew; and Mary, Martha, Eunice and Dorcas and Esther--- in the places where you have lived, in the vocations you have taken up.

Some are called to be pastors. Most are not. But all are called.

It was not just Peter that the church was built on. It was Peter’s faith; and Peter, like all of us, went three steps forward, two steps back much of the time. And he was never ordained. But he hung in their. He never quit forever.

Most people have no leisure to get to know themselves or go through therapy to uncover latent talents. They respond to needs at hand: there is a job to do and they do it. One woman told me that, in her small church, “They needed a teacher and I was the only one available. So I said yes.”

At the first, where did Jesus find those first disciples? In Galilee, of all places, people known to be uncouth, boorish, uncultured, pugnacious, unlettered, conservative agrarians, not deeply religious, a mixed-race people. Jerusalem was considered the navel of the universe, and this was not where you could find anyone of the “creative class!”

A young woman was preparing to marry into family which was proud of their racial purity. The matriarch asked her, “What race is your family?” She proceeded to tell her with pride of her lineage: German, Irish, and English. “Oh,” the matriarch replied, “so you are a mongrel.” Galileans were considered racial and cultural mongrels! Through the centuries, there have been many persons of great wealth and power who used their resources, talents and skills for the kingdom of God. There still are, and God bless them! But it is sobering to remember what God (and often does) accomplishes with such unqualified, relatively poor and powerless people.

The all-encompassing message of Jesus and early church was this:
“The ruler ship of God is at hand, here now and coming, and it can be within you as well. Now is the time you can and must turn your life around and trust in the good news. Accept it and live in its power and under the direction of King Jesus.” And so we put one foot in front of another, walking beside Jesus. We will learn. “We have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” “We believe and then we see,” Fred Gaely wrote.

Jesus traveled from the edges to the center, Jerusalem. Then the Risen Lord sent the disciples from the center to the edges. Those who sat, [stuck in one place], in darkness have seen a great light. It is the light of a new day dawning.

Fishers of people? But people are not fish. In Jesus’ day, this phrase, “Being caught” was synonymous with being trapped in a bad situation, or in evil. Jesus switched it around to mean something divine: to catch people for good purposes.

The mission of the church was and is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the sake of joining with God in the work of transforming the world. This is stated by our present day TUMC Compass Committee like this: “Our mission is to be a community of faith which helps persons become committed Christians who serve their neighbors near and far.”

The Church at its best, in the spirit of those first disciples, catches people is the net in which people are “caught” into the gracious arms of God in Jesus Christ.

Come along with Jesus as we walk together and learn and serve. There is work to be done.