August 12th, 2005
The Rev. Victoria L. Hamilton, Pastor
St. John Lutheran Church, Jacksonville, FL

Texts:

Jeremiah 1:4-8
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the Lord said to me,
"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you,
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."

Matthew 13:54-58
He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?" And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house." And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

Holy Spirit, come into this place.
Bring us healing with your warm embrace.
Show your power, make your presence known.
Holy Spirit, come and fill this place.

May the Spirit pf God descend upon this place, and Lord, open our eyes, our hearts, our minds, and our spirits to give full attention to your message. Holy Spirit, come, come into this place of this your church family. Have your way with us. Instruct us Lord. In Jesus' most holy and precious name. Amen

So, what in the world is God saying to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America? Where is He taking us? And what are we gonna see and do when we get there?

My goodness! Of all the texts that would be given to me they would be texts that I have wrestled with and had many doubts, cried many tears, had much pain and a whole lot of confusion in my life. But the God that I serve has proven to be a humorous God! Yes, indeed.

Now, if any of you have the gift of prophecy, then you understand where I'm coming from! Sometimes it is a very lonely place. It's a very misunderstood gift. Because I didn’t ask for this gift, nor did I ask for this text. But nonetheless, it's a gift. A gift that drives you back to God, asking "why me, Lord?" "Are you sure? I don’t have very many friends right now. What now do you want from me, and what do you want from us who are gathered here together to learn about as we walk with you? We know it might be something that will shake our stable data, and we realize that you alone are the One. You are God. Alone.

God has sent me and others to bring not a word of calm but a word of warning, caution, and maybe even doom! But "Do not be afraid" are the words that echo in my mind.

You know, it could be that some of your stories are pretty much like mine. You are moving through life, and all seems to be going pretty well. The children are not going through any crisis; the marriage is pretty good; friends are few, but they are genuine; the house is almost paid for; you really don’t need anything; and your health is fair to middling. Then, bam! Bam! Out of nowhere God calls you to be a minister of the Gospel. Ooh, I said "Lord, I know you don’t mean me! After all, you know, I had more things that seemed to be going against me than I had things that were going for me. I had stayed out of any community of faith for at least 10 years, and had only been reoriented with church for a very short time. See, I was a house executive; that’s a housewife, with two teenaged children, very limited college, and I was just comfortable - comfortable - with my life the way it was. I could really volunteer any time I wanted to at the church my husband and I eventually started attending with our family, and that seemed pretty good to me.

After all, I told the Lord, "You know, I really don’t think I even like your people! I love the babies; I have to throw that in. Love the babies, but the adults - we've got to go. Council and congregational meetings showed me sometimes how people truly are at times, and that can be very nerve-wracking. The folks that I ran into at times didn't seem to exhibit mercy or patience or self control, joy - or show love - but rather, there was envy, idolatry, strife, anger, and a lot of quarreling. Why - why? - would I even want to have to deal with people like that? Well, it seemed like the most sensible thing to do, in my opinion, was to run, run, run, and to hide and be the best church lady that I could be, and just ignore all the signs of God calling me nto the ministry and that God was actually talking to me and no one else. Closing my ears and my heart to anything that sounded remotely like a commitment to God wasn’t for me. I wasn’t going to come out of my comfort zone.

Maybe some of you have been in situations like that, where you're comfortable where you are, but maybe you, too, like me, heard the voice of God. You couldn't run any more; you surrendered yourself and you moved toward His voice and not away from it. "For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command."

When I did end up following the call of God I was very frightened (still am), doubtful (still am). Unconfident and very anxious are just parts of my personality. But as God would have it, I moved out of that comfort zone - a place where my family had lived and sat in for over 18 years - to accept a call serving as one of the first African America pastors, my husband being the other, so we came as a package, to an initially all-White congregation of elderly people, average age 77. But God is good. And also the second oldest congregation here in the state of Florida. I serve in Jacksonville.

I came crying, a little bit of cussing, whole lot of kicking and some screaming, and just laying myself down before God. I even thought about leaving my husband. He felt the call; I could have stayed politely where I was, in Slidell, Louisiana. But I thought being a wife it would kind of be a good thing to help support him. Well, God ministered to me and he ministered to me personally. And he convinced me that "you shall speak whatever I command; just do not be afraid."

The call that we accepted has not been an easy one, but has grown to be the largest-growing edge that I have ever experienced. This call is one that is full of awe of the goodness and mercies that God has laid out for the people in that community. It was through Jeremiah that God spoke to me. Coming into the area, surrendering to the God's Spirit, his wisdom and guidance has allowed us to really learn what love is and acceptance is. In our community of faith, we all as ministers of the Gospel have had to allow for God’s plan for the area to become our plan as well. We serve, and have as disciples in that congregation, the lovable and the unlovable, Black folks, biracial folks and White folks, the young and the elderly, people without enough money to get through the month, gay folks and straight folks, folks in good health and waning health, with and without a safe place to sleep. And some who are even imprisoned in federal and state institutions, as well as those folks who are held hostage in their own homes. We have had to look with naked eyes - with spiritual eyes - and allow ourselves to see people as persons that God loves as much as the next person.

There have been many, many tears shed. Many, many, many tears shed. We are all in some way or another, we have found, victims of circumstances. But we have also learned that we are not to be Pharisitic in our practices. To see and love only who we want to love was not an option for us. God knew who had been in exile and needed to feel his touch through others, because God’s desire was for their hearts to be open to the Word - to love and know acceptance. To be able to live with hope and with peace - hope in the promises of God; peace, which surpasses all understanding. Many have experienced church hurt, and they find it hard to understand that nothing - nothing will separate them from the love of God, when all they have felt in the past was pure rejection, and from the people that they were seeking acceptance from most. And that was within the church.

We on the corner of 10th and Silver Streets have conscientiously sought the spirit to show love as God shows his unadulterated love for each one of us. Who are we to choose whom God loves, when we, too, fall short of the glory of God? "Go. Go to whom I send you, accept them as mine too, and treat them as such."

We are a young church, the ELCA, about 17 years young. If we were children like some of the ones I minister to - whew! That's an ugly age! Children 10 or 17 - you know, when puberty starts setting in about 10? Nasty little people! Seventeen? They know it all. But, you know - and I know and you know because you are here - that great strides were set up to make this church - this church, this ELCA - a united and stronger church through the merger of the three prominent bodies of Lutherans.

However, we do still have people living in exile within our communities where our churches are located! Are we, Church, truly inviting intentionally? Is evangelism on the rise only when the budget needs to be met? Are we concerned for the well-being of the spiritual growth of people, or is it truly the numbers that seem to be important? Or maybe others need to meet our criteria so that they kind of look a little bit like us, they smell like us, and they think like us, too. Are we accepting to understanding, truly understanding what it means to worship contextually? Fitting my African American face here in this worship service is different for me right now, and it may be for some of you as well; the number of people of color has decreased in many of our committees, boards and in our congregations. Many other congregations with people of color go without spiritual leaders for years before a pastor is even found, and/or redevelopments are usually congregations that have been previously given a death sentence.

We as a church have made some mistakes, and we will continue to make mistakes. But if we continue to, like we are doing this week, just to seek the face of God in prayer and surrender ourselves to his will, then we will grow, and we will grow stronger spiritually. But where are we going? Does anybody seem to know? Are we skating along without a care in the world, hoping that Jesus will return before we really have to vote on those major decisions?

Well, people of God, we have been called. All y'alls - all of you raise your hands like this. Everybody - everybody! - has been called. Each and every one of you though your Baptism has been called. You've been gathered here, and we are to be sent out to be ministers to this entire world! Not just a portion of it and not just periodically when we come to meet together to see how we're checking in to do with one another. But every day of our lives the poor, the homeless, the hurting, the grieving, the outcast of all forms - those in society that people say are dead will remain with us over the next 17 years and over the next 117 years. And 117 years plus.

God. God who is and has been faithful to us expects us Evangelical Lutheran Church people - his 21st century disciples - to move about this ELCA and this country with expectations - with expectations that God is gonna show up. And when he shows up he's gonna show out! But if you don't let the Spirit of God within you take precedence over whatever seems to be the most important thing at that moment, God's Spirit will be quenched. And this ELCA will die. The Church won't, but what we know as the ELCA could die.

Let's move toward one another in unity, praying to the Father in one accord. All of us - all of us should join hands, ready to revive the ELCA. Be ready and open to share your stories. In my church we use the word "testimony." Your testimonies about how you may not have wanted to be where you are right now, but God said, "Go! Do not be afraid, for I command you to speak, and to speak with authority." And when you go and you share your stories about those places, or the other many ways that God has shown up, and he shows himself, remember that God has said to you as he said to me, "Do not - do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord. Serve. Serve him. Trust him, like you have been given a new life and you just want to share it with somebody. Because, you know what? God is good! (Congregation: All the time.)

Oh, I'm glad y'all knew the response. God is good! (Congregation: All the time.) And all the time (Congregation: God is good!)

Oh, precious Lord! Precious Lord, just take our hands and lead us - lead us in the direction in which you would have us to go. Help us to open our eyes and our ears because we are tired, Lord - we're tired of fighting each other. Because we are weak people that you have called - that we know in our weakness there is strength because you are the One. Because, Lord, we are tired and worn. There are many storms that are brewing - storms that sometimes come up in the night. But just hold us tight, dear heavenly Father. Oh, Lord, Lord when the fights and the discussions seem to get personal and not for you, just take our hands - take our minds, take our spirits, and lead us back toward you, your Son and your Holy Spirit, and help us to see with your eyes and know that there is a plan. There really is a plan for our lives. And, O Father God, you are the Designer of it all.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever more shall be. Amen.