Easter 4 - Vocations Sunday
The Rev. Rod Sprange

Have you heard Jesus Call Your Name?

I speak to you in the name of God who created and calls you, of God who showed you the way and redeemed you and of God who sustains and inspires you.  Amen

This Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter, is often referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday because the Gospel reading is always from the tenth chapter of John.  This year we have just heard the middle section where Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd.  However if you have the Anglican Church Calendar you might have noticed that the 4th Sunday is designated as Vocations Sunday.  So the theme of this reflection this morning is vocation and call.

If we look carefully at today’s Gospel reading we can see that Jesus, in describing himself as the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep, and is ready to lay down his life for his sheep, is giving his disciples a metaphor for his vocation - the role and journey to which God has called him.  Jesus’s journey was to lead him through the darkest valley to death, on the cross.  We are called to be followers of Jesus, that’s our true vocation.  We are to follow him even when it means travelling through the darkest valley.  But as Psalm 23 assures us, God is with us, not saving us from the hardships of the journey, but sharing the journey, by accompanying us and supporting us and assuring us that all will be well.  Called to be followers of Christ, that is our foundational vocation.

I feel the need to acknowledge something about the words vocation and call.

Studies of preaching have indicated that often there is a communications gap between the average preacher and the average person in the pews.  This gap is often related to vocabulary.  Like many professions or areas of expertise, theologians have their own technical language and jargon.  They assign specific technical definitions to some words.  So we preachers are well advised to be wary of technical language and to match our vocabulary to our audience.  Another gap creator is the difference in what we believe to be important.   Some time ago I read a study about words frequently used by preachers in their sermons.  The researchers asked a large group of preachers to rank a number of these frequently used words from most important to the least.  They also asked a large group of lay people to rank these same words.  The results showed that preachers typically ranked Vocation and Call in the top three.  However, the lay people ranked those two words as the least important to them.   So I’m setting myself a bit of a challenge and putting my faith in you, that you will stay with me in this reflection on vocation and call, even if those words don’t hold a lot of meaning for you, - yet.   Ordained persons understand their ordained roles to be their vocation, that they have been called by God to ordained ministry.  It is their purpose. 

On the other hand many Christian lay people think of their work as a job, and perhaps in terms of a career. Only a few think of their profession as a calling.   However, whatever we do, whether we are an accountant, a parent, a postal worker, factory worker, plumber, doctor, teacher, priest - whatever we do, God has called us to undertake that work as a follower of Christ - as a disciple.  As baptized people, our true vocation, whether ordained or lay, is Christian Disciple.  That is our foundation and provides all the principles by which we should undertake all else that we do.

As we go about our day we would benefit from striving to be conscious of who we are - and who we are is established by whose we are.    In baptism, as a priest, I make the sign of the cross on the forehead of the candidate and say these words “I sign you with the cross and mark you as Christ’s own, forever”. 

You are Christ’s own forever.   And you are loved, forever.  Just as you are.  You are God’s beloved child.  It’s not always easy to remember this or to remember we have a vocation. 

One way we can keep our vocation at the centre of our lives is to treat every action, every task, as an act of worship.  Imagine praying before every task “I offer this work to you, and I do it in Christ’s  name”.   Here’s what I mean.  Think about a mundane task, say, doing the supper dishes.  If we just do them because they have to be washed before we can use them again it can become drudgery.  But what would it be like if we were to do the dishes as a worshipful offering to God.  Think of the praise and thanksgiving we could offer to God as we do this ordinary task.  We could offer our gratitude for the gift of food, and all that went into it getting to our dinner plates (remember many go hungry, every day; perhaps we could give thanks for the person or persons with whom we shared that food, remember many people are alone; gratitude for the clean, hot water that comes right out of the tap, think of the millions in tis world who don’t have easy access to safe, clean water;  thankful for the comfort and safety of the home in which we are doing these dishes, remember all those who are homeless.  How different would doing those dishes feel, if you were doing them as a disciple of Christ with a heart full of gratitude?

We have been called to be disciples of Jesus Christ - it is our calling, our vocation.  Somehow, you have heard Jesus call your name, the call of the Good Shepherd, and you have responded.  You are not here, joining in this time of shared worship (or reading this on the website), by accident.  Oh, we may come based on different motivations, but be assured, it is Jesus our Good Shepherd who led you here.    As baptized Christians we have been called to a very special vocation, to be disciples of Christ, which means doing our best to live our lives in accordance with Jesus’s teaching and example.

Many vocations have things like codes of ethics and practice.  Christian disciples do too.  We call them our baptismal promises.  We have rehearsed these several times already this year, so I’m not going to take us all through them again today.   But I will highlight three as examples.   We are asked:  “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself?”    Recognizing the enormity of this promise we respond,  “I will, with God’s help”.  Similarly we are asked, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”  Again we respond, “I will, with God’s help”

A more recent addition to the promises is: “Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the earth?” And we have said,  “I will, with God’s help”.

These are just three of the promises we have made and continue to make as vows of our calling, our vocation.  Given that last Thursday was Earth Day, let’s think about that last promise.   As Christians we believe God calls all people to be good stewards of the earth.  Clearly we haven’t done that well.  Instead of stewards we have been and continue to be exploiters of God’s gifts of creation.  Every one of us is culpable in the destruction of the earth’s environment.  Every day we make choices - either to respect, sustain and renew the life of the earth or to contribute to its destruction.   It’s not easy to live a contemporary life and fulfill that baptismal promise. Perhaps, individually we need to take manageable steps and let the success of each step lead us further into a sustainable future.

As a parish, we were led by the Creation Care Committee, in some very good work, to be more environmentally responsible.  We took many initiatives to become a ‘greener’ place.  We were given educational opportunities to learn more about sustainability and encouraged to practice sustainability at home.   Unfortunately, for various good reasons, the Creation Care Committee, that did such great pioneering work with us, is no longer active as a committee.  Thankfully, much of the work they set up does continue - for example we have composting bins outside the church building - if you live in a multifamily building you can bring your kitchen waste and put it in the composting bins.  Batteries and other consumer waste, like printer cartridges are collected and taken to the appropriate recycling place.  Thank you, to those who take care of these ministries. 

When in the building,  we continue to use reusable utensils, dishes and cups etc.  We recycle and encourage recycling.  We look for ways to use less energy, etc.    I understand there is talk about establishing a new parish ministry group to carry forward the mandate of creation care, to help us think about what more we can do as a parish and as individuals to live out that sixth promise with integrity.    If you have a sense of call to help with this work, please speak to one of the Wardens or Honorary Assistants who can help to get you connected.  I’d say talk to Donna about it, but she is rather busy these days getting all our ducks in a row, before she leaves us next month.

Perhaps creation care is important to you, but you don’t feel called to that particular ministry.  Then, think about where God may be calling you to focus your vocation as a disciple of Christ.  Here are some questions that many have found helpful: What brings meaning to your life?  What gives you energy and excitement?  What special abilities has God given you?  And, where is there a very real need in this world?  Where your answers to these questions come together is where you will find fulfilment and meaning, or as Jesus called it abundant life.   A good starting place is to spend time and prayer on discerning your gifts and on how God may be calling you to use them. 

Give thanks to God for calling you, and for calling us together - and pray for the inspiration and grace that we may be equal to living up to our calling and the promises we have made.  Amen.