Called to Serve Epiphany 5

Isaiah 6; 1-8
Luke 5; 1-11

Several years ago after being accredited as a Methodist local preacher, along with others who had recently been accredited or who were nearing that point, I was invited to visit the then Chair of the Cornwall District. I cannot deny that I went somewhat reluctantly. After all I expected a sort of talk on how to be good Methodists. Surely there would be warnings about conducting ourselves in a responsible fashion, keeping our distance from strong drink and wild women, and of course the warning to be careful not to teach anything contrary to our doctrines or at least to beware of the paths that might lead us into heresy.

Well to my relief, we got none of that stuff. Instead we were challenged to become the awkward squad. We were told that as the younger preachers in the District we should be those who saw it as our duty to challenge the status quo. Where we had a vision of what might be, we were told to state it and if ignored to state it louder. And where we felt concern at the realities we encountered, we were told to challenge them and if ignored to challenge them all the louder.

I went home quite joyful. I never knew that Methodism could be such fun although on at least one occasion I was to get myself close to being disciplined as a preacher for taking the advice a little too enthusiastically.

The point of this is that we sell the call to follow Christ short if we portray it as being about rules. This morning, I want to offer three aspect of the call to follow the God who reveals himself in Christ.

The first aspect to consider is that the call to follow God is rooted in revelation as to the otherness of God. This is particularly powerfully revealed in the call of Isaiah. At a time when Uzziah who had led Judah through a period of stability and prosperity is dying, Isaiah receives a vision of the majesty of God, a vision that leaves him all too aware of his own inadequacies. For now he has had a vision of the glory of God which exceeds all the superlatives that we can envisage in our human discourse. God’s greatness is revealed and as God overcomes Isaiah’s resistance, he is left to ultimately cry out;

“Here am I. Send me!”

For fishermen at Lake Gennesaret, the revelation of God comes in a very different way. Experienced fishermen, frustrated from a fruitless night going about their trade, by following the advice of the carpenter Jesus at an hour when fishing offered little prospect of success, they get a catch of such a magnitude that even with the help of other fishermen, the nets that had been untroubled at night begin to burst. And so Simon Peter filled with wonder at an encounter with the Divine, like Isaiah utters words concerning his own inadequacy, before like that great Prophet responding to the call.

In a real way, the path of discipleship has to begin with an encounter with God which reveals to us the unlimited and inexhaustible wonder of God. It can be summed up in the title of an old book written by J.B Philips entitled, “Your God is too small.” It is as we begin to see that too often we have squeezed God into a box that is incapable of confining God that we begin to glimpse that God is altogether “Other”, greater than we can imagine and so is worthy of our devoting our lives to seeking glimpses of the Divine mystery.

Secondly, the calling is as much about our being as our doing. Just as God far from being passionless and removed as demanded by the Greek philosophers, is passionate about our well being as is shown in his grace which showers value and love upon each of us, we are called to be transformed people. Perhaps this is best summed up by Kate Wilkinson’s well known hymn;

“May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Live in me from day to day,
By his love and power controlling
All I do or say.”

The great hymn writer, Isaac Watts gets hold of this idea of sharing in the passion for vulnerable humanity that is seen in Christ. One of his neglected hymns, “Blest is the man whose bowels move” expresses this rather well - although I guess with a title like that, it would be hard to expect any congregation to sing it with a straight face. Nevertheless, I shall try to read its first two verses as reverently as possible because of the valued points that Watts makes;

“Blest is the man whose bowels move,
And melt with pity to the poor;
Whose soul by sympathising love,
Feels what his fellow saints endure.

His heart contrives for their relief
More good that his own hands can do;
He, in the time of general grief,
Shall find the Lord has bowels too.”

Now leaving aside jokes about irregular Christians, mention of bowels at the time of Watts referred to deep feelings. And is not part of following Christ about having deep feelings for those who are seen as losers in our competitive society? Is not part of following Christ about having deep feelings for those who are hurt and devastated for as Watts reminds us, such is the way of our Lord. And following the way of that Lord unleashes great potential for God alongside us empowers us well beyond our natural strengths and abilities.

And certainly, we see this passion in Isaiah’s support for the poor and his denunciation of the injustices around him. And we can find it to in the life of the early Christian communities when the likes of Simon Peter ensured that life’s casualties were very much a part of the early Christian communities, helped as much as possible, for they were following the Lord who time and again raised the standing of the lowly, the poor and the dispossessed and in so doing confronted the powerful.


And finally, the calling of God is a calling that makes us not spectators but participants. Isaiah becomes a voice that reflects God in tempestuous times whilst Simon Peter becomes a fisher of men whose efforts for the rest of his life are used to connect people with God and to form communities of faith. In these things, God does not reject human creativity and individuality but is the One who empowers the people of God.

It does not necessarily mean abandoning all that went before. Isaiah remained at the Court in Jerusalem although he could never be the same. Simon Peter probably carried on with fishing. After all he had a mother in law and so probably a family to support and certainly soon after the resurrection, Christ finds him back in Galilee fishing according to John’s Gospel. But whilst much may have been as before, the calling to be participants in God’s work is unending.

And what of us today? We too are called by God. We need to have a big picture of the wonder that is God. We too need to have our world vision transformed by God that we care about things that matter to God. And we, even we, are need the Epiphany of seeing that we are called to participate in God’s mission helped by the enabling God. Our age, health, family responsibilities, places of work, all impact on how we are to participate. But the God who in love has redeemed us and calls us, wants each of us to be a part of God’s mission. It may be that we are called on to be involved in some activity or other for we are the hands, the feet and the voice of God in our world today. It may be to encourage others in their tasks or it may well be to be those before God in prayer. This morning I encourage each of you to contemplate how to respond to your particular calling in the knowledge that we are all called to be a part of God’s team.


Preached at Bideford and Clovelly on February 4th 2007