There is no doubt about it; when God calls us, it is a dramatic event. Jeremiah, only 12 yrs old, called to be a prophet, for heaven’s sake. Now this was not just any ordinary call. Prophet, by definition is a person who serves as a channel of communication between the human and the divine; a mouth piece for God. Prophets played major roles in the shaping of both Judaism and Christianity. Prophets predicted, warned, challenged and announced the word of God. It was a dangerous role, for the people didn’t always like what they heard. Imagine Jeremiah that day, playing in the courtyard or maybe eating lunch under a shady tree, and he hears a voice telling him how he was made, set aside before he was born, for this very moment. Jeremiah had come from a family line of priests and undoubtedly aware of who God was, so it wasn’t completely unrelated. Nevertheless, there is a vast difference between knowing about God and experiencing God speak.

God had something to say to the people and Jeremiah is going to be the appointed translator. Jeremiah, naturally objects. "I don’t have any experience in public speaking" he says, "and besides I am only a boy. I don’t know what to say to the people, let alone nations!" God overrules him, telling him that God will give him the words and the courage to say them. And to prove it the Lord reaches out to touch Jeremiah’s mouth. With this act God placed the words in his mouth once and for all. Jeremiah understood, at some level, that the words he would utter would not be his own; they would be God’s.

I suspect that such call stories were not completely foreign to Jeremiah. They had been part of his oral tradition. He was probably aware of calls God had made since the beginning of time. There was Abraham, for starters, who God told to pack up his family, his cattle, his sheep and goats and travel to a land where he had never been. There would be no map, no other instructions. He would find out later what this was all about. One can only imagine the dinner conversation with his wife Sarai that evening! "God told you to do what?"

Then there was Noah, asked to build a houseboat to prepare for a flood that was nowhere in sight. And how about Moses? A man with a speech impediment, asked to convince the people to follow him into the desert, where there was no food or water. Then there was Mary, a girl of 14, who was called to give birth to the One whom we worship.

Last week we took a look at a desperate Jesus; one who seeks to save us, to prepare the way for us, to help us tend the fields of our faith. Why? So that we will be ready for whatever life brings our way; so that we will be able to hear when God calls; so that we may enjoy our lives to the fullest. When we hear these call stories, our first thought is "Well, that doesn’t have anything to do with me." We don’t think of God calling everyday people, like you and me. And that kind of thinking can prevent us from ever hearing God calling our name. You see, these stories are proof that God calls all kinds of people, even you and me.

We can respond in many ways and we do. We can pretend that we didn’t hear God; or that the repeated nudging to call a friend is a coincidence. We can ignore that wake up call in the middle of the night to get in touch with a family member. We can even know it is clearly God inviting us to do something, and say no. We can pull out our ready list of excuses: I’m too young; too old, too busy. Or people with think I’m unstable; they might laugh; I can’t afford it; all roadblocks we choose to get out of it. When we do, we can miss the call that was meant just for us. Hearing and identifying with the call stories of the Bible is critical. Having the privilege of being in a small group of people who enjoy sharing their stories is essential. It connects us with others whom God is calling too. A small group is a safe place to discern what God might be saying; or confirm what we think we heard.

The amazing thing about Jeremiah’s story alongside a call story of today is that it invites us to consider how God has called us. Last week we heard two very different stories; the call to seminary for Heather Cameron and the call from Ethiopia, to a foreign land from Ameylework Seyfu. It is proof that God was not just active thousands of years ago, but is active today. It is proof that God doesn’t call all of us to the same things, but customizes it to fit how we were made, with the needs of the world.

How do we know God is calling us? We can look back and identify patterns of how God has been present in our lives. But without some call stories in our memory bank it is more likely we will say "I’m not being called to leave my country or lead people in the desert, or go to seminary. It doesn’t apply." This is because those calls were for other people, not us. Our calls will be different, unique to who we are and where we are planted. The definition of a call from God, is the place where the needs of the world intersect with the abilities of the person. .

How do we know it is God calling and not something else? Being called has certain characteristics that can alert us; that can have us engaged instead of running away from it.

God asks an ordinary person to respond with extraordinary trust.

There is surprise; something about us we didn’t know or accept.

There is usually an element of fear in responding to the request.

(fear of not being good enough; fear of failure; or fear of God.)

We may think that God only calls important people; those more gifted than I; those who are closest to God. Some think a call is must be something very big, like a vocation or a move, or into some particular position of authority. Others think that you have to be a certain age for God to call you. Still others say that God calls his favorites. None of this is substantiated by scripture; for there are no restrictions to whom God calls.

God calls children; the handicapped, the rich, the poor; God calls the married and the single; the gay and the straight. God calls the elderly and the middle aged. A call from God can come in dramatic ways or in the whisper of our name. God calls those just beginning their faith journey and those who have been deeply entrenched. There is no limit to whom, or when, or how, God will call us. But one thing is for certain: God calls each one of us throughout our lives.

From the beginning, the world and everything in it, belongs to God, who created it. Therefore, we do not belong to ourselves; as jolting as that statement can be. We belong to God alone. The call of God, whatever it may be, is a drama of God claiming what already belongs to God. But sometimes knowing this is not always reflected in how we live. So belonging to God puts some light on this call business. God, who knows us, better than we even know ourselves, is calling us into who we are, transforming us into who we will become.

We can be called out of destructive behavior into a new life. We can be called into reconciling with a family member. We can be called into joining a small group at church, or talking to our neighbor. Whatever it is, God calls us into something good and equips us to do whatever it is. This is God’s promise to us. Whether God is redirecting us, urging us, reminding us, or inviting us; when God gets our attention it is a dramatic time.

These are the defining moments of our lives. Those times when we are being shaped, transformed, made new, so to speak. We are not the same person we were before the event. There is a reason God calls us to something, and we don’t have to make sense of it; explain it or weigh it with other things we have to do. When God calls, all we have to do is show up and God will do the rest.

But you know that we resist taking risks. We want guarantees. We want a signed contract. I think answering a call is much like a toddler, who has spent 12 months getting acquainted with her parents. She has learned to trust their love of her. She risks taking her first steps into her parent’s outstretched arms because trust has already been established. She can fall but she will not be destroyed. So it is with God.

John Ortberg has written a book entitled, If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat. If you want to be faithful, you have to take risks. We can’t always stay in our boats of comfort. He describes a time when he and his wife had arranged for a hot-air balloon ride to celebrate his birthday. After they began their ascent he noticed that the basket was only knee high instead of up to his chest, as he had thought. It occurred to him that they had placed their lives in the hands of a pilot they didn’t know. He thought, a bit late, that their safety depended on this kid’s character and competence. So he decided to get to know him and this is how he describes it:

"I asked him what he did for a living and how he got started flying hot-air balloons. I was hoping his former job was one full of responsibilities – a neurosurgeon perhaps, or an astronaut who missed going up in space. I knew we were in trouble when his response began, ‘Dude, it’s like this…’ He did not even have a job. He mostly surfed. He said the reason he got started flying hot-air balloons was that he had been driving around in his pickup when he had had too much to drink, crashed the truck and badly injured his brother. His brother still could not get around very well, so watching hot-air balloons gave him something to do. ‘By the way,’ he added, if things get a little choppy on the way down, don’t be surprised. I’ve never flown this particular balloon, and I’m not sure how it’s going to handle the descent."

His wife looked over and said between clenched teeth, "You mean to tell me we are a thousand feet up in the air, with an unemployed surfer, who started flying hot –air balloons because he got drunk, crashed a pickup, injured his brother, and has never been in this one before and doesn’t know how to bring it down?" The question for Ortberg out of this experience was, "Is there somebody piloting this thing? And can we trust his character and competence?"

John’s balloon story is like our faith journeys. It is about both risk and safety. It is about how much we know the pilot. It involves knowing and having some experience with the pilot. It has something to do with getting prepared before the flight.

Last week, in our worship planning meeting for this service, we found ourselves in an interesting conversation about the call on our lives. One of the gourp shared one of his encounters with God. I knew as I was listening that this was a story all of us needed to hear. But how would I ask him this late? I decided that my job was to invite him to share it with you, not convince. There was surprise, risk, and an element of fear, both in the asking and in the He could say yes or no. I am grateful that Mark Baxley decided to say yes.

There is a connection between invitation and call. God’s call is an invitation to each of us: watch for me; listen for me; come with me.

Amen