Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 1 Welcome to the fifth chapter of the Story of Your Life. We ve spent the first few weeks of this new year examining our lives as stories, stories with a beginning, a middle and an end, stories that boil down to a fundamental choice: whether to live only our own smaller story or to strive for a part in God s epic adventure of life and faith and blessing. We talked about our beginnings and how in His wisdom, God had written that for us, confusing or challenging it may be. We also shared that the beginning of our story is never the most important part. God wants us to help us beyond our beginnings, to grow our faith, deepen our relationship, even to share our regrets. God puts people in our lives to help us with that and in that context we spoke of small groups including Alpha and Connect Groups both of which are excellent ways to understand better God s larger story and my role in it. Beyond helping ourselves and healing our hearts, our story can also have an impact on others. And that s what we re looking at today.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 2 As we begin, let me say if you re here today but wouldn t consider yourself a church person or religious person, if you aren t even sure God exists, welcome. We re glad you are here. The heart of our mission and vision is to create a path in which you can come to know God better, not just intellectually as a category, but personally as One who seeks a relationship with you. We believe that there is a God, who is so powerful and so transcendent creating the universe, and yet so intimate and gentle that He desires a personal relationship with every single person on the planet, including you. In fact God sent His Son Jesus into the world to make that desire known and to bring about that sharing. And Jesus created the Church that, when we re being who we re supposed to be and doing what we re supposed to do, is all about carrying on that wok of Jesus, helping people come to know the love and grace of God. We call it making disciples. You may feel you are far from God, and real far from a personal relationship with Him, maybe you re not even sure you want that. That s fine, we re simply honored that you re here, that you ve carved out some time to be with us and, hopefully to encounter Jesus.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 3 We actually have a story to tell you about somebody just like you, reluctant when it came to the whole God, Church, and religion deal. The story is about Jeremiah, a young guy who s just living his life and doing his thing when, one day he is called by God. We read about such calls over and over again in the Bible. The Bible puts a great deal of emphasis on God s call to ordinary men and women to share in the work of salvation. You can read about the call of Abraham, the call of Moses, the call of Samuel, of Ruth, Gideon, Sarah Peter, Matthew, and Paul. We know their names now, possibly even their stories, but these were ordinary men and women just going about their lives when God stepped into those lives in a profound way. Here s the way Jeremiah describes his: The word of the Lord came to me. Jeremiah enters into a conversation with God, the word of the Lord comes to him. You know, the word of the Lord comes to us all the time. The word of the Lord is always active and coming our way, it s not God who checks out of the conversation, we do. Up until this point, Jeremiah hasn t been in the conversation, he s been going about his life, busy with all kinds of stuff.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 4 But something changes, something happens, he doesn t tell us what, but something is different after THIS conversation than anything was before. The word of the Lord came to me. I don t know about you but there are plenty of times when I fail to pray, even some days when I forget, other days when I just don t feel like it, even times when I m just going through the motions. The word of God s not coming to me, because I m not listening. But I will tell you that every once in a while, I do listen, and the experience of God is clear and strong. Whether or not you ve had the same or a similar experience, the point is, you can. And when you are listening and have a similar experience, the Word of God always comes personally. It s not merely some computer generated number that tells you how long your wait is. No. The word of God came to Jeremiah in a deeply personal way. God says: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Usually the word know in the Bible does not mean intellectual knowledge. The Book of Genesis tells us that Adam knew Eve and they had a child together.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 5 In the Bible knowing is always a relationship word, always indicating intimacy and a hard wired connection to the heart. So God shares with Jeremiah not just an awareness of who Jeremiah is or where he s at or what he s doing but God shares that Jeremiah is known, known intimately even before he was born, God shares with Jeremiah that he is hard wired to God s heart. It s what Saint Paul in our second reading reminds us is the ultimate end for us: to know and to be known by God. That s what love is all about and the patience, kindness, truth, gentleness of love lead us to share with God and with one another. As we ve been saying throughout this series, God is the main author of our story and knows each of our stories intimately. In fact, God knows our stories better than we do God tells Jeremiah, Before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. Jeremiah did not yet know his whole story. He was young and busy. And God says, Jeremiah, you may not know your story but I do. You re a prophet.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 6 A call from God. Wow. I know what you re thinking: that must be for Bible people or Church people or religious people or holy people, or perfect people or at least for priests and nuns. Well, God s intention, as stated throughout the Bible is that it s for ALL people. God has a call for each one of us. God wants you to know Him very personally as a Father who loves you, as a Savior who died for you, as a Spirit that lives within you and wishes to guide you in the right direction. God wants to move you away from compunction and out of the obligation mentality you ve been operating; or break the religious rule keeper approach you ve been trained in; or stop the guilt trip you re on, or do away with the need you feel for any excuse like: I m here for the kids. just so they have some kind of foundation. That s why I m here. God wants you to move beyond a superficial attitude into a real, authentic, and eventually intimate, relationship with Him. Some already know that and have a story of how it happened.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 7 It may have been a season of life, a time when you just started getting into God s word, or approaching the Eucharist with greater attention and appreciation, even affection. Gradually God started emerging as a real Person, a real Presence. Or maybe someone invited you and you came with them and it started that way. Maybe it was music or a message that touched your heart and God began speaking to you through that and you began listening. Your relationship deepened over time and you found yourself returning to and talking to God, even relying on that relationship. Maybe it was as simple as that. Maybe it wasn t simple; maybe it was dramatic. A classmate of mine had a very dramatic experience when he was just out of college. He was young, good looking, charming; he came from money and was a natural at making more. He found his god in an easy life of pleasure. Everything was great but he found himself drinking too much. Eventually, he hit bottom which is what he needed finally to hear God. God was finally able to speak into his life.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 8 And God spoke to him one night, loud and clear. So clear that he came to know and worship the living God, in a personal way. The story you re called to live, however that calling happened, is the story of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Personal but not private. Look at the last part of the conversation between God and Jeremiah. So God says, Before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. God tells Jeremiah you didn t even know it, but you re a prophet. And Jeremiah responds: O Lord. I do not know how to speak; I am too young. Understandably, Jeremiah s like, Uhhh, God you got the wrong guy. That s not for me. I don t have the qualifications or the experience, let alone the desire. Sounds kind of funny arguing with God, but we do it all the time. The word of God actually comes to us, and we ignore it, or reject it or rationalize our way out of it. In this case, however, Jeremiah stuck with the conversation to hear God out. God answers: Do not say, I am too young ; You must go to everyone I send you and say whatever I command you.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 9 When you receive the word of God, you ve got to share it. You can t be in a relationship with God, claim love God and then fail to love people, to reach out to them and love them and serve them. Jeremiah was called a prophet which sounds a little strange and spooky but is actually neither. In fact, it s a call given to each of us. We are called to be a prophet for the Lord. At your baptism you were anointed a prophet for the Lord. Sounds intimidating but it simply means you share the word of God that God has given you, you share what you ve received. Probably you re thinking, just like Jeremiah did, Not me, I don t know what to say. But as with Jeremiah, God promises to step in and help you. If you receive the word of God you must share the word of God. You might not know what to say, but you may not need to say anything. We ve got a whole bunch of people working here this morning who are sharing God s word they have received in simple loving service: greeting people at the door, serving in ministerial roles, sharing the word they have received with your kids in our children s programs. That s the center and the heart of your story: Sharing the word you have received.
Homily for the 4 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C The Story of Your Life - Week 5 Page 10 And sharing the word you have received is important as we heard in our Gospel. God does not always (even usually) work in the ways that we expect. It s what Jesus is talking about in our Gospel. God came not to an Israelite widow or leper but to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon and Naaman, a Syrian leper. God uses us, our stories to share His word with others even and especially when we don t expect it. God not only calls us to be prophets but equips us in different ways to share what we have received. Our dark spots, our challenges, our faults and failings, even our regrets God can use to equip us for the work He calls us to share. Whoever you are, whatever station or state of life you re in, whatever you story has been, you can write a different story, better story. In sharing the Word you have received, you can write a better story. In fact God can help your write your part in His epic adventure.