Sunday Homily - June 30th, 2019 - Will You Be Ready when God Calls?

Jesus Calls the Fishermen Icon

I.

When God calls you,
 will you be ready?

For us as Christians,
 as followers of Jesus Christ,
  this is an incredibly important question for us all to consider.

And two essential parts of following God is:
 One must be attentive to God's voice calling out to us,
 and
 one must be discerning about God's will for the world.

Be attentive,
 and be discerning.

Because there are so many loud, disparate voices vying for our attention
 every second of every day.

The voice of anger is pretty strong these days,
 asking you to be discontent and irritated at any small thing
  that doesn't quite go your way or fit into your worldview.
   Anger and outrage, by the way, is how popular news stations get you to watch.

What about the non-etherial voices of our lives?
 The voices of our family members, planning that vacation together,
  while still finding the time to argue and bicker amongst themselves.
   We've all been there, right?

There are so many voices to pay attention to:
 the voices on the radio,
  the talking heads on daily news,
   the bosses that we report to,
    that isn't it often the case that we wish we could hear the voice of God more?

Or, perhaps, we are distraught because we cannot hear God at all in our lives.

Well, I've got some really good news today, y'all.
 Just because there are so many voices in the world
  doesn't mean that God has stopped speaking.
 
In fact, if we take a look at our Scripture passages this morning,
 we will find that the two things we need,
  attentiveness and discernment,
   are how some of the central people in our Christian tradition
    have discerned God's voice in the midst of the often tumultuous world.

II.

How have our forerunners in the faith practiced attentiveness and discernment
 when listening for God?

Think about Elijah and Elisha this morning in the Old Testament.

Elijah,
 by the way, is being hunted by the King and Queen of Israel
  so that they can kill him because he dared to listen to God
   and proclaim God's judgment on the chosen people of Israel
    because they had fallen away from following God's Law.

And Elijah has been on the run,
 even though he had done what God asked him to do,
  and he feared greatly for his life.

In the midst of that time,
 God calls Elijah to the Holy Mountain,
  and reveals the divine presence,
   not in fire or flame or the whirlwind,
    but in the sheer silence and the still, small voice
     of the presence of the Lord Most High.
      And the Lord then commissions Elijah to continue in that same divine will.

For Elijah,
 the voice of God was a voice that said things that upset the powers that be,
  that called into judgment the rulers of the world when they fall short,
   and a voice that, when Elijah follows what it says,
    actually puts his life in danger.
     And yet this voice is the only true voice that exists in the universe,
      one that Elijah chooses to follow instead of what the world offered in its stead.

Think about the Apostle Paul this morning.

What are the evidences that we follow the voice of God?

The evidence lies when we are so filled with the Spirit of God,
 that we bear the fruit of that same Spirit.

We are called above the works of our sinful passions:
 "...fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, 
  jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, 
  and things like these."
   Did you notice that among the "more scandalous" things like fornication and drunkenness
    is ALSO "jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions," and "factions?"
     Notice how Scripture says that disunity in the Body of Christ is JUST as scandalous
      as the more culturally highlighted things in our context. 

Because St. Paul knows that it is the fruit of the Spirit within us
 that point us to follow the voice of God:
  "By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 
   generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...
    If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit."

Think about Jesus this morning:

When potential followers come across Jesus,
 Jesus highlights the urgency in following him that it takes for us as disciples. 

In following Jesus,
 we cannot expect ease and luxury,
  and it even may cost us a stable place to call home
   for the sake of holiness.

In following Jesus,
 we cannot expect to be able to wait until our parents are finally laid to rest
  and where we receive our financial stability from their estates.
  Which, by the way, the man who says, "Let me bury my father first,"
   doesn't mean that his father has just died.
    It means that he is burying his father when he dies,
     so that he can receive his portion of the inheritance of his family. 
     [c.f. The New Testament Commentary by Craig Keener and The Oxford Commentary on the Bible] 

And in following Jesus,
 we cannot even expect to have time to look backwards,
  to a nostalgia that makes us frozen in place,
   a state of mind that remembers "the good 'ole days,"
    and that is not set on the continual goodness that God is leading us into
     in the HERE and NOW. 

III.

In all of these passages,
 it requires attentiveness and discernment. 

Attentiveness,
 the willingness to actively pursue the voice of God when we hear it,
  and the humility to accept God's voice even when it may cost you everything. 

And discernment,
 to discern God's will from the voice we hear,
  and to act in accordance with the will of the Lord Most High,
   discerning that God desires good things for you and the world,
    even at the cost of momentary discomfort. 

Will we be careful to hear Jesus calling us to follow him,
 even though it very clearly costs you everything?

And when God calls you:
 (WHEN, not IF)
  When God calls you,
   will you be ready?

In the name of the + Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.