Did you call?

Acts 9:36 - end, John 10:22-30

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have been present in those first resurrection days? To have been part of that band of alternatively terrified and then elated men and women? One moment fearing for your life and the next, hearing your name spoken by the risen Christ and seeing him stand before you. It must have been an unimaginable moment of disbelief that a dead person could live again, followed by immense joy and then the realisation that you are in the presence of the messiah.

There are many ways in which we hear our name spoken; a call to attract our attention, a sudden shout of warning, an exclamation of anger and exasperation, or as an endearment or murmur of love.

Identifying ourselves by name has been around as long as the use of language by humans. We all have at least two names, some have many more! Parents spend months agonising over what to call their children; I know John and I did, before we finally settled on Amanda and Iain. There are many reasons why we have finally ended up with the name we have, it may come from a favourite football team, a saint’s name, or that our parents loved the meaning that it had.

When my parents named my sister and me, the names they chose had to be short because they didn’t want them to be contracted into nicknames. Which was probably just as well, as my mother would spend a long time calling our names down the garden to get us back inside.

We had a very long garden at that house, and the bottom half was overgrown, long grass, a few blackcurrant and raspberry canes, and there was vegetable patch that appeared from time to time. Paradise indeed for a couple of very small children and a dog - who also had a very short name!

Anyway, my mother would call... sometimes we heard her and reluctantly trailed back up the garden. Sometimes we were so engrossed we didn’t hear a thing, and sometimes we heard her, and ignored the call, because what we were doing was far more interesting than being dragged off to the shops or away to visit a neighbour, where we’d have to sit quietly and behave!

If you were in church last week you might remember we sang a song ‘will you come and follow me’ which is all about hearing our name called. Its number 560 in the hymn book if you want to refresh your memory. It’s a beautiful song and always reminds me of what it entails to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. For John Bell’s words speak very loudly about what it means to be called by God and it seems to fit well with the readings we’ve just heard.

“Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen.” Tabitha a female disciple was someone who was greatly loved in the community. Although she did many acts of charity, she seems to have been a particular friend to the widows, for she made clothes for them. Widows were often in severe financial difficulties, there were no social security programmes at that time! She ran a clothing club, a forerunner of the practical aid programmes that grew up within the early church, and are still part of church work today!

I think Dorcas is here and sitting with us in this building this morning. If fact she could be almost anyone of us. We all go about our business as disciples of Christ – we may not be required to kiss many lepers these days- but there are many here this morning who work on behalf of the Lord every single day, ministering to each other and out amongst the community but it is all done in a quiet way without fuss or the need for recognition.

Fr. Andrew in his report to the APCM this week touched on that very fact. Apparently, during weekdays, there are as many as 60 individuals who come in to this church to carry out all sorts of duties. They range from working in the Coffee shop, to changing notices on the boards; from sitting in the church wearing 14 layers of clothing during the cold weather to keep the Open Church going, to painting white lines around the steps. It took me by surprise too, that that number of people were here week after week fulfilling their call.

When Peter calls her by name, Dorcas is raised to new life in Christ to carry on his work. So we are also renewed and revitalised as Easter people each year.

“Will you use the faith you’ve found, to reshape the world around, through my sight and touch and sound in you.” Peter was a man of humble origins, when Christ called him for the first time he was a fisherman. Discipleship wasn’t easy for Peter; he often struggled with his faith. When we encountered Peter in the gospel last week he was back fishing again, and then Jesus called by name to feed his sheep and lambs, to care for all those within those new and emerging faith communities.

But look at him now! His reputation as a preacher and man of faith is such that when Tabitha falls ill and dies they send word to the next town to get him to come. But for all his new status and reputation he knows that the power of healing does not come from himself. Before he lays a finger on Tabitha he kneels down and prays for God’s healing grace to work through him. Prayer is the place where we meet God face to face. If you hear God call your name go and meet him in prayer, ask him what it is he wants of you.

“Will you risk the hostile stare, should your life attract or scare?” Simon the tanner. Now just who is he? He’s tacked on, like an afterthought at the end of Luke’s telling of Tabitha’s healing. Anyone who was anyone in Joppa would have thought that Peter had lost his mind, going to stay with a tanner. It was profession that Jewish culture looked down upon. An unclean occupation it involved the handling of dead carcasses, dog excrement and fermented bran, the smell would have been enough to keep most people away. In fact, under Jewish law, a wife could divorce her husband if he was a tanner. But God has a special purpose for him (as always). In the next chapter of Acts, Peter will need to be somewhere he can be found – I’m not giving the story away, go home and read chapter 10!

But the fact of Peter staying with Simon the Tanner, represents a continuation of Christ’s ministry amongst those who are on the margins of society. As a person ostracised in his neighbourhood, the fellowship of the fledgling Christian community may have been the first time that Simon had ever been accepted fully for who he was as a person, rather than just seen in the terms of his profession.

St Matthew’s quietly does this. We welcome everyone in through those doors; we don’t vet you for what you do to make ends meet. We don’t condemn you for what you are or what life has made you. We have members who work with the homeless, single parents, families in crisis, care homes the list is endless. And I am reminded of the Street Pastors who make their base in our Coffee Shop. Who go out into the town each Friday and Saturday evening from 10pm to 4am in order to minister to all those on the street who need it.

I remind you of our Church mission statement – we welcome all, we follow Jesus, we worship God.

“Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?” What a question! But that’s what being called by God and being a disciple is all about.
Jesus says “No one will snatch them out of my hand.” Once we accept God’s call, we are never the same we can’t be, for we have reached out in answer and touched the hand of God.

The events of Easter Day made sure that nothing would ever be the same again. During Lent I read a book by Paula Gooder, and she spoke of the Resurrection being a “Slice of the end times appearing 2000 years ago.” Or alternatively, a slice of Thursday morning, inserted into Tuesday afternoon. This is an unsettling thought in itself, but something we still occasionally get a glimpse of. And when you read between the lines, there’s a touch of that in the gospel reading. Here we are, still in the Easter season hearing of the post resurrection events. But here is Christ in the Temple at the feast of the dedication. It is the winter festival of Hannukah which occurs normally between late November and the end of December. Though not connected in any way, it’s enough to make you think of Christmas and the Incarnation. God came down to earth, not as a king or a warrior to ride out and save the people by his mighty acts of war. But he came as a small naked baby, helpless and unable at that point to do anything for himself. But who grew up and was and is the Messiah, the Son of God.

“Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.“
We are all called to be Christians, at Baptism we are named in the sight of God, identified by God and brought into the heart of Christ’s church. Then at Confirmation we are called by name to respond to our initial call at Baptism and confirm our willingness to belong to him, to follow and to serve others.

But – be ready and prepared for God to be calling your name at any time. It may come through prayer, but is as likely to come through your dreams, when you are working or when you are just sitting around minding your own business – I can identify with that one!

Accepting God’s call will quite possibly mean moving outside your comfort zone. You may find yourself at the head of a path down which you just don’t want to go. Second, third, fourth and fifth thoughts are commonplace. But don’t struggle on your own, use prayer to explore this, and talk about it to people when you can. I know from experience that it’s not something that is easy to speak of to others, but Fr. Andrew, Rev. Rosemary or any member of the staff team are always there for you to confide in.

By the way, being called does not necessarily mean a call to ordained or licensed ministry, my goodness; we’d be knee deep in clergy, readers and SPAs! God calls the majority of people to use the talents and gifts he has given them to work in his name. However, I do have to say, that at the time you might not necessarily think that you have the skills to fulfil this call, but stick with it, God usually knows what he is about.

And if you don’t feel a sense of God calling you at present – please don’t think that God has no use for you. You are probably exactly where God needs you to be at the present time, doing what he wants you to do, and surrounded and upheld by his love. As we all are.

Let’s just finish with prayer

Father,
We abandon ourselves into your hands.
Do with us whatever you will.
Whatever you may do we thank you.
Into your hands we commend our souls.
We offer them to you with all the love of our hearts.
For we love you Lord and so need to give ourselves,
We surrender ourselves into your hands without reserve
and with boundless confidence
for you are our Father.
Amen