Sermon, Epiphany 4C, Jeremiah 1:4-10

What does your image of God look like? An old man with a long, white beard? A loving father? A protector? A king? Sometimes I see God as Teddy Roosevelt -- speaking softly and carrying a big stick. This is known by some people as the Holy 2x4, because sometimes that's what it takes to get our attention. Are we listening to God?

The voice of God, it is said, is not found in wind or earthquakes or fire but in the sound of sheer silence. God speaks to us in that still, small voice that whispers, "I am here." The problem though, is that most of us don't listen, or are too busy to take the time to just sit and BE with God.

What is our prayer life like? Do we ever spend it in intentional quiet? Or are we too busy telling God what's on our mind? Do we even take time to pray outside of church at all? We can get so busy with ourselves, so wrapped up in our lives, so overwhelmed by the noise around us that it's no wonder we don't hear the still, small voice of God in the sheer silence.

Because of our inability to hear God, or maybe I should say, because of our refusal to listen, at times, he applies the Holy 2x4 to get our attention; sort of a spiritual, "Can you hear me NOW??" moment.

For me, that moment happened when the new priest at our former parish suggested that I needed to enter the ordination process. It lasted a few weeks while my job fell apart and everybody I talked to said, "It's about time." That call took me on an eight-year odyssey of school, night jobs, a cross-country move, and the odd world that is seminary, until finally ending up here. I like to think that over time I have learned to slow down, to spend more time listening and less time talking, and to work at discerning God's call in the sheer silence.

Jeremiah was hit with a Holy 2x4 when God said, "I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations;" then God reached out and touched his mouth. And God appointed him to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

What's the first thing Jeremiah says to God upon hearing this call? He says, "I don't think so," or words to that effect. When we are called by God into something new, our first reaction is like Jeremiah's. "I'm only a boy. I can't do this. You've got the wrong guy."

Out of all my classmates at seminary, I can't recall a single person who said, "I jumped for joy when I felt God calling me to ordained ministry." All of us searched and tested and, if we were honest, looked for a way out. Jeremiah said he was only a boy. Isaiah will say, "Woe is me." Mary was perplexed and pondered. Jonah ran away. Those first steps of answering a call can be a frightening thing.

It's frightening because, first, you've just had an encounter with the living God. We are apt to repeat Isaiah's words and say, "Woe is me!" It's frightening because we feel unprepared and echo Jeremiah and say, "I can't do this; I'm only a boy." It's frightening because we are being led into a new way of being. We are being pushed out of our comfort zone, out of the way we've always done things, out of the scarcity we know and into the abundance we don't. And if you've managed to put off listening to God in answering that call, God will eventually whack you with a Holy 2x4.

For Jonah, that 2x4 was a storm where the crew had to toss him overboard to be swallowed by a giant fish. For Isaiah, it was the image of God's holy temple and the burning coal. For Jeremiah, it was the voice of God and his touch.

I believe we have been hit with a Holy 2x4 that came in the form of a letter. That letter, you will recall, came from the diocese and stated that we could not be supported with outside funds after 2010. In essence, we are being called into a new way of being the church. And that scares us.

We are being led into a new way of being. We are being pushed out of our comfort zone. We are being asked to give up the way we've always done things. We are being asked to give up the scarcity we know and live into the abundance we don't.

Like Jonah, we need to ride out the storm and maybe spend some time in the belly of a fish. Like Isaiah, we need to conquer our fears and respond, "Here I am -- send me." And like Jeremiah, we need to believe that God will be with us, that we will speak God's word, and that it is our time to build and to plant.

God is calling us. We are being asked to change and grow. We can choose to ignore that call, live in fear and attempt to run away, like Jonah. Like Isaiah, we can choose to bemoan the place we find ourselves in and cry out, "Woe is me!" And like Jeremiah, we can choose to say that we aren't ready, that we are only boys and girls.

Or we can choose to respond in faith, like Isaiah, and say, "Here we are -- send us." We can choose to believe that God is with us and that it is our time to build and to plant, just like it was Jeremiah's time.

Only you can determine how you will respond to God's call. But know this: we have, indeed, been called by God into a new way of being. Are we listening?