On Becoming Barnabas
What is God calling you to do? Our diocese is taking the time to wonder what God is calling us to do as a diocese. We are praying together, sharing flights of imagination together, listening. I don't know what the results will be, but I am certain the Holy Spirit will help us bring new life to God's work here. What we need to remember is that the Holy Spirit will do its part and our job is to do our parts. Our parts are openness, willingness, and trust well enough to embrace that call.
Just as in the diocese as a whole, you and I can wonder about the purposes God has for us, individually and as a parish community. We can meditate about our lives and work, consider what makes us happiest and most fulfilled, see what stirs our hearts and learn how our hearts intersect with God's will. This is where God calls us. Will we hear it?
Unfortunately, we spend a lot of our time trying to figure out God's will and forgetting to be open to it and trusting in it. We take over God's work and make it our own, missing the opportunities to be open and expectant. Why? I think our expectations are overblown. I even think our Scriptures are part of our problem. We expect God's will to hit us over the head just as it happened to John the Baptist:
I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
“Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
John's call is so clear! He heard the word of God telling him what to do, and he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus and then remain there. He baptizes Jesus as he was told to do, and he begins to reveal Jesus by introducing him to his own followers. Even I can figure out God's will when the directions are this obvious. Faith isn't such a leap when you have sound and motion to signal it.
Our reading from Isaiah tells a similar story about someone hearing God's will for him.
"Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name."
Wow. He sounds pretty sure of himself and of God, too.
"…[I]n the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver."
He is a secret weapon for the LORD, which is pretty exciting, but not as exciting as something else he is told: "You are my servant Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." When we look for grand announcements of God's will we are not open to the obvious, we don't trust it. We forget that we too are made to display God's splendor. That's what being God's image and likeness are all about. We just want God to tell us about it with a little more oomph, as he does in the Psalms.
Then there is Paul, who wrote to the Corinthians and who also learned God's will through a shocking, extravagant experience. Paul was a Pharisee who took it upon himself to destroy the Christians. As he rides toward Damascus to persecute the church there, a brilliant light blinds him and stuns his companions. He's thrown from his horse and hears the voice of God: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
Shouldn't we have blinding lights and be knocked off our feet too? How else are we supposed to know what God is calling us to do?
The servant in Isaiah, John, and Paul all receive obvious calls full of special effects worthy of The Lord of the Rings. Their stories spoil us into expecting the same, and while looking for drama and excitement, we are closed up tight and miss the rich messages in our midst.
Let's take another look at our scriptures.
Andrew and Peter have no spectacular experience. Like the trivia game "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon", these disciples share a series of interactions. First, John describes Jesus as "the Lamb of God" within Andrew's earshot. Andrew follows Jesus. Andrew in turn introduces his brother Peter to Jesus. They become Jesus' disciples. Through simple grace, they are open to Jesus and willing to explore and to trust. That is all that is required of them.
Our psalm today sings of someone who waits patiently for God's call. There is no lightening bolt here. There is someone who opens himself to God, who waits expectantly. Who says "Here I am. I delight to do your will…" at just the right time. How did he know it was time? Through openness, willingness, and trust.
We have become accustomed to attributing the events of our lives to "luck" or "serendipity" or "kismet" or "fate". Can we be open and willing and trusting enough to see God moving in these events, and respond to them?
Paul and his companion Sosthenes write to the Christians in Corinth. Who is Sosthenes? Sosthenes had been the chief ruler of the Corinthian synagogue and, along with Priscilla and Aquila, had heard Paul's teaching. As head of the synagogue, he was called upon by his congregation to bring charges against Paul for his blasphemous teaching. Sosthenes refused, and with the Roman governor watching, he was beaten by a mob. He is now a footnote in our scriptures, but he is a significant example of waiting for God's call and responding to it fully. Openness, willingness, trust.
I'm going to move away from today's scriptures for just a moment to consider Barnabas. Do you know who Barnabas is? He had no visions or signs. He simply waited openly for God's call, was willing to follow it, and trusted in God for the strength he needed. It was Barnabas who brought Paul into the Christian community. Remember, Paul was hated and feared for persecuting the community he now claimed as his own. As we read in the Acts of the Apostles, it was Barnabas who heard Christ in Paul's word. It was Barnabas whose trusted Paul and trusted his call to intervene for Paul with the Apostles. When we follow the call as Barnabas did, we become Barnabas, making things happen humbly, without fanfare. Barnabas trusted in being led by the Holy Spirit. We can do the same.
Barnabas and Sosthenes remind me of a Stanford basketball player named Tara Harrington. Tara was a High School All State and All American player for three years. She made the USA Today Top 25, Oregon State and Pacific Region High School Player of the Year, among other honors. She chose Stanford University where she played every game – but generally played only in the last few minutes. Despite all her strength, skill, brains, and talent, she spent most of her time on the bench.
What amazed me about Tara was that she never missed a game. She never lost her spirit. She never failed to cheer on her teammates as they basked in the glory of fans and photographers. Although she had superb talent, her greatest talent may have been her ability to play on a team, to step back and boost other players. Tara was the glue for the team, and the team elected her captain because of it. A captain who spent most of the game time on the bench. Tara was open to and embraced her call to be Barnabas.
I was talking to someone last week who said, "I know God has work for all of us, so I'm sure there is work God wants me to do. The problem is that God's not letting me in on the plan. I need a billboard! I need writing in the sky, like Dorothy!"
Someone else said, "There was a time when I did about every job in this church. But now the kids are grown and God is just not calling me to do anything. I guess I'm just not useful to God anymore."
When we are in painful places like these, it is harder to be open to the call of the Spirit, but the call is at hand and our job is to be open, willing, and trusting. The speaker in Isaiah, our psalm, Sosthenes and Barnabas, Andrew and Peter waited in trust. Their work was to expect to be called and to remain open to it. There work was to trust in the Spirit always. Our call may be grand, or it may simply be to form the connective tissue in the body of Christ as did Sosthenes and Barnabas. With humility, we will see the place where our love and God's will intersect. With openness, willingness, and trust, we can have it all. And we will gain the finest opportunities in our lives.