Moving Forward

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” —Mark 1:17

This Sunday’s scripture readings are all connected to the nature of and the acknowledgement of call. There are a lot of meanings listed in the dictionary when you look up the word call, but when we talk about call it’s a pretty churchy-idea. It’s unlikely that your non-church-nerd friends casually converse about being called unless it’s about the telephone. In fact, ‘being called’ may even fall into the swirly-language-church-insider category of words that our friend, Rev. Molly Baskette cautions against using if you want to be accessible to those who are church resistant and skeptical of what we are and do.

Yet, it is an idea that really speaks to us (literally and figuratively) as people of faith. The concept of ‘God Calling’ has a lot of power for those for whom ‘a call’ is ‘a thing’. And Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
So take a moment, if you would, and read through these definitions and think about what it might say to you (and us as a church) about following Jesus: A claim on a person’s time or life; A summons or invitation; A signal, such as that made by a horn or bell; A strong inner urge or prompting; a vocation; The strong attraction or appeal of a given activity or environment.; A decision made by an umpire or referee.

What does it mean to be called to participate in the building of God’s reign on earth? In the texts today we see different responses. For some, like Jonah, the call is experienced as scary and to be avoided; for the fishers called by Jesus, familiar things are left behind; for the author of Psalm 62, God’s call is to be found in both the hard and the soft places; and for the Corinthian Christians there is a reminder that living out our call is both urgent and corporate.

There is an urgency and immediacy in the fishermen’s response (a motif throughout Mark’s gospel) which reminds us that to follow suggests we need to be on the move, taking action, ready for engagement, stepping onto the boat and being a part of the fishing expedition, literally throwing in our line! We cannot follow if we are standing still or staying the same—to follow presumes we are somehow changed by act of following. A call is not a static process. A call changes over time, often requiring those who are called to leave the familiar behind while moving toward the unknown.

Beloved, fishers of people are called to draw others toward the compassion and love of God no matter how uncomfortable they are with the idea of baiting a hook. As followers in the way of Jesus, we must be about learning to tend and care for others, while proclaiming the love of God and building community. This is what being called is all about. This is what being Sanctuary is all about. God seeks us out and calls us by name to be participants in the building of the kin-dom on earth. Let us resist the temptation to respond with the “I can’t” that resounds in our hearts. For we have been promised that with God’s call comes the promise of God with us, Emmanuel, always.

Dear fishers—to what is God calling us?

With blessing and prayer, Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade (revwdmiller@comcast.net)