“A Call”

Kerry McMillan 03/09/2023

Reading : Exodus 3: 1-15

Reflection

Moses hears God calling, and his response is, Here I am. Similarly in Genesis God calls Abraham and he responds, Here I am. And in 1 Samuel, God calls Samuel and he responds Here I am. A readiness to obey. There is a theme here – God calls and the faithful respond.

Understandably Moses is concerned about how he will convince people that he is acting on God’s behalf and in God’s name. And God gives an assurance - I will be with you. He does not provide a name, but more of a description of himself – "I am who I am", or it could be interpreted as “I will be who I will be”, or “I am the existing one”. The translation comes from the verb to be or to exist. God will be God with and for the people at all times and in all places.

As we know, Moses was a reluctant leader, and an imperfect one. Like other people who heeded God’s calling, he was filled with doubts and misgivings. He was not especially reassured by God’s promises, but he did faithfully do what God asked of him and lead the Hebrew people out of slavery and to within sight of the promised land.

We recognise that we meet here now, on holy ground, to be still, in the presence of the sacred, and figuratively, we take off our shoes and open ourselves to the voice of God. Let us sing together, Be Still for the Presence of our God the source of life, is here.

Reading: Matthew 16:21-28

Reflection

In the gospel stories, Jesus calls a fisherman Simon, in Hebrew a name for one who hears, to be his disciple, and Simon responds and follows. We come to know him as Peter. He is enthusiastic and passionate in his devotion to Jesus, but like the other disciples, he often doesn’t understand what Jesus is teaching and what it means to follow him. In this story as in others, he fails, just as he did when he was invited to walk on the water, and as he will when he denies Jesus three times.

In the previous chapter, Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is, and Peter names Jesus as the Messiah, the long awaited representative of God whose coming would fulfill all the best dreams and aspirations of Israel. In Jewish tradition, a Messiah is a liberator or saviour of a group of people. It also refers to a King or High Priest – an anointed one. The names given to Jesus reflect people’s expectations of him.

Jesus renames Simon, Peter, meaning rock – the rock on which he will build his church. Moving on to today’s chapter and, in a play on Peter's name, Bill Loader informs us that Jesus calls Peter a 'skandalon', a rock which trips people over. And then, astoundingly, Jesus calls him Satan. Keith Rowe suggests this is not The Satan we may think of today as the embodiment of evil, but rather a first century way of referring to the forces that deny the possibility of compassionate, life-giving communities: the economic, political, religious and social systems that draw people away from the peace-loving, generous and justice-seeking purposes of God. Peter has not understood Jesus' leadership and lowliness. He failed to see that God’s kingdom would not be accomplished through the common values of the time of power and dominance.

Nevertheless, Peter is the rock on which our Christian church was built. And of course, in reality, it wasn’t just him. The disciples and a larger band of followers of the Jesus Way faithfully lived and preached his gospel. Over ensuing centuries the Christian church as we know it came into being. And how spectacularly the church has failed, since it’s inception, to follow the way of Jesus. How focussed on power and riches it was and still is - forcefully imposing rules upon people, violently crushing those with conflicting beliefs, excluding those who are weak, poor, displeasing or otherwise offensive, and valuing wealth and personal comfort at the expense of the wellbeing of others.

And yet, it’s followers persist, continuing to seek ways of being faithful to God, in their time and their place. For all the injustices the church has committed in Gods name, there have always been people who remind us of Jeus’ teachings and lead us back to the way.

Keith Rowe, from his book ‘Wounded World and Broken Church”, says “The Way pioneered by Jesus is bigger than the life he lived in Palestine – it is a light shining down the corridors of history, summoning us into a future yet to be born and the binding of those who will, into a community of Jesus-spirit…Jesus does not represent a set of rules chiselled into concrete slabs, but rather a way of living, a style of life, that needs to be rediscovered, re-explored, and re-expressed in every generation, every culture and nation… it was pioneered in the first century and continues as a contemporary possibility and symbol of what the future can become.”

Keith sums it up for us: “…in the end, Jesus fits no formula. There will never be agreement as to how Jesus should be named. We’ll always name him according to the need and the challenges we face. What does continue is the invitation to “do Jesus”, to so live that his renewing energy is set free in our ailing world. The future of the church, of the Christian adventure and, I think, of humanity, requires that there will always be a people in whom the way of Jesus is growing and who by whatever name they call him, continue to build the road for which he laid the foundations.”

Ordinary people, fishermen, shepherds, slaves, heard God’s voice calling them to take a stand. We read about them in the bible, but it continues through the ages to this day. Ordinary people are called to stand up for justice, for peace, to speak out against the strong and powerful - those who oppress and marginalise others in order to maintain their power and wealth. Us ordinary people - you and me, are called to share our wealth, to challenge our members of parliament and city councils, to call out injustice and to live our lives in commitment to generosity, inclusivity, forgiveness and love.

Some time ago Jim Malcolm wrote a prayer of confession that could not be more appropriate for today:

            We have the very spirit of the God of love within us,

            Yet so often we do not dare to connect with that spirit,

            Perhaps afraid to think that with God we, small though we are,

can make a difference!

Fearful of the demands that the God of love might place on us, we have not

dared, we have not lived fully, we have not loved fully.

The incredible good news is that, despite our fears and lapses,

the God of love is still with us, within us, accepting us, as we are.

Thanks be to God!