What's Yours To Do?
“The people who think they are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who do.”
There are two movies out right now that to my mind are absolute perfection. I haven’t gone to see a movie twice in a movie theater since I became a parent 17 years ago, but this weekend I did a repeat of the movie La La Land and I hope to make a second trip to see Hidden Figures soon. Both movies evoked something deep in me and while they are very different movies, I think they are connecting with similar themes: Who are we? What are we called to do? And. What does it mean to follow that calling in a world that disrupts, interrupts and sometimes even blocks our calling?
When I was 20, I heard a sermon based on one tiny phrase in our passage today. It’s embedded in a sermon that Paul gave to some Jewish immigrants in the town of Antioch in Pisidia, sharing with them the revelation he had that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises God gave to King David 1000 years before. But as he describes David, Paul says this: that David “served the purpose of God in his own generation.”
That phrase captured my young imagination. What does it mean to live in this generation in this time? What does it mean to be who YOU are, who I am in this time? And so today, as we are talking about World changing 101, I wanted to return to this phrase 25 years later.
What is yours to do?
I won’t read all 30 verses of the sermon to you this morning – one sermon is enough! But as Paul speaks to these people who are miles away from their heart’s home in Jerusalem, he reminds them of who they are, where they came from and what they are a part of.
He reminds them that God chose them and brought them out of Egypt into their own land. He reminds them how God provided leaders for them. He reminds them of the call to David a man that “served the purpose of God in his own generation.”
And Paul says that what God did through David opened up the way for Jesus to come and, in the fullness of time, offer us a clear vision of who God is and what God is up to. And then Jesus becomes God’s invitation to us to live lives of forgiveness, freedom, joy, peace, justice and hope.
So Paul is there standing in a long line of others’ work but making his own invitation to this small congregation in Antioch in Pisidia.
And I heard that invitation when I was 20 and it set me out on my adult journey.
And now we are here, reading the words of Paul, on January 22, 2017. I am 45. You are however old you are and the invitation comes to us again.
We are here standing in a long line of healers, peacemakers and change agents and God is ready to inspire and fuel us with more than we can ask or imagine invited to serve God in our generation.
It’s all that simple and it’s all that complicated.
It’s all that simple because the directive is clear. Lead lives of love. Love God with all your heart, your mind and strength. Love as Jesus loved. As Mother Teresa said: “Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” That is simply what we are called to do.
So for just a moment, forget what your strengths, gifts and passions are. Forget what you lack and where you are weak.
We are simply called to love with the love of Jesus. If that’s all you hear this morning, that is enough.
It’s all that simple and it’s all that complicated.
It’s all that complicated because we’ve added all of these layers to the idea of what we are called to do and in order to find what is ours, we have to untangle many assumptions we have made
We have to let go of the individualist mindset that a lone wolf can change the world. We have this cultural ideal that the world changes because of strong, self-determined individuals when in actuality, all true and good change comes as a result of ordinary people working together.
We have to let go of the idea that if you don’t have a specific calling, you can’t contribute. There are some people who are very clear on why they’re on this earth but many of never get that clear call. A specific calling is one kind of gift but FAITHFULNESS is more important than any specific calling.
We have to let go of the idea that world change comes in a straight march to victory. Anyone who has made any change knows that the deepest change comes in darkness and struggle and lots of twists and turns.
And then there is the question of what kind of a difference we can actually make.
At least once a week, I have a conversation with someone who laments about the vastness of the world’s problems and then they say with a sigh something like, “I don’t know what I can do about it.”
I get it. Very few of us have positions of great power. We don’t have millions of dollars at our disposal. We don’t have the capacity to change the large unwieldy systems that make up our nation and our world.
It is easy to get overwhelmed when we look at our limited resources and the world’s seemingly limitless problems. Who are we to think we can change the world?
But God has given you YOUR life on this day, in this generation, at this stage of it. What is yours to do?
So while the question of what we are called to do is daunting and complex, I want to ask three simple questions:
Who are you?
And how can YOU love this world?
And how will you nurture that calling?
Who are you? Parker Palmer tells the story of a disciple that comes to a Rabbi and asks, “Rabbi, what must I do to become more like Moses before I die?” And the Rabbi smiles and says, “My son, when you die, you won’t be asked why you weren’t more like Moses, you’ll be asked why you weren’t more yourself.”
We will fulfill the simple command of Christ to love when we come to know and accept who we are in all of our limitations and weakness, strengths and capacities. When we can both take the life we’ve been given seriously and laugh at ourselves, we will begin to find that we discover how it is we are called to serve.
“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”
Who are you? What makes your eyes light up and the hair stand up on the back of your arms? What do you love? Listen to your life.
How can YOU love this world? The directive from Jesus is clear. Love God with all your heart, your mind and strength. “Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” We are simply called to love with the love of Jesus from who we are where we are living.
Do you have a smile? Do you have a pencil and paper? Can you ask, “How are you?” Can you affirm the image of God in another person?
When you begin to turn your life with the wheels of love for others, you begin to find your calling. Callings don’t come when you’re waiting for them to come. They come when you are in motion, when you are seeking to love with the love of Jesus, when you are open to the presence of God. When you love, your desire to find fulfillment
This world desperately needs people who know how to love. One simple act of love can ripple into great waves of goodness.
How will you nurture that love? I added this last question because I would venture to say many of us in this room are over 40. We have lost the chutzpah we had in our 20’s, we have learned a few lessons, we have taken some hits, we have dealt with the reality of making a living, raising children, and the limits of our physical capacity.
The prophet Joel set out this vision for the people of God:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Some of us may think we are beyond considering` what is ours to do or what our calling may be. But I believe that we are called to love if we have breath in our lungs. So, we must ask the question of how to nurture our calling? Which may mean attending to how our calling has changed? What is yours to do in this stage of life?
Nurturing a call for me requires daily practices of silence, prayer, exercise, reading and friendship. Without these practices, I quickly lose focus. What practices nourish who you are and your love for the world?
There is a beautiful moment in La La Land when Emma Stone is asked to tell a story. She sings the story of her crazy aunt who lived in Paris and inspired her to become an actress. It is a moment of clarity where she breaks out of her self doubt and despair, reconnects with who she is and what she loves and finds a voice that speaks the truth. Living our call in this world is both painful and beautiful but it is what it means to be truly alive. I’ll end with the chorus of the song:
Here's to the ones who dream
Foolish, as they may seem
Here's to the hearts that ache
Here's to the mess we make
May we dream dreams of wholeness and live lives of unfettered love.