“Where you deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet”

Exodus 3:1-12; 1 Cor. 12:12-27

The problem with the Moses story is Charlton Heston.

Whenever I think of the call of Moses,

I inevitably think of the Cecil B. Demil story

“The Ten Commandments” and Charlton Heston’s

larger than life portrayal of Moses.

Somehow Charlton Heston telling God:

“I am slow of speech and slow of tongue”

is like Michelangelo suggesting “I’m not that good at drawing”

And so we start to think that all the objections that Moses offered

Were just false humility and that he really had everything he needed

Within his own ability to accomplish God’s call.

And we think to ourselves, I could never do that.

I’m no Moses.

What if Dustin Hoffman played the part of Moses,

Or the latest “everyman” actor Stephen Carrell.

Actors we actually would believe as bumbling humans

Who really aren’t sure what their next step is

Or how they will possibly accomplish it.

Because that’s what the Moses call is about.

It is about this confused Jewish Egyptian exile who finally found a home

And family in the land of Midian and was tending sheep.

He was actually an unlikely person for God to call.

He had no track record of leading people,

no history that would suggest a profound faith,

And yet God chose him and gifted him

With everything he would need

To do the task God called him to.

That’s why we interjected the little playlet “Who’s Claude?”

As a stark reminder that God’s call to Moses is not a calling to a giant in

The faith but rather the way God uses the least of us for his will.

I remember a sermon my son Adam preached last year

On the calling of Shadrach, Mishak and Abednego, friends of Daniel,

Who were thrown in the furnace.

Adam’s point in the sermon was

that these men were not bigger than life heroes of the faith,

but ordinary men placed in an extraordinary situation

and who God used to proclaim an extraordinary faith.

And so it was with the call of Moses.

He had eight different objections to why he couldn’t answer the call.

And there was only on reason why he should answer the call.

Because it was God who was calling him-

And that made all the difference.

God gives us strengths and gifts we didn’t even know we had

When God calls us to serve God.

For example, Moses was a member of Pharoah’s household

Before he was exiled to Midian.

He was a sheep herder in Midian

so he had experience in the wilderness.

And God never calls us to serve alone.

Notice that with Moses, God was also calling Aaron to serve.

He was also calling Moses sister Miriam to serve.

God would eventually call elders to share with Moses

In the leadership of his people but in point of fact

It was the whole people of Israel who were

Being called by God to serve as his

Chosen people.

And so it is with us as well.

Our first and highest calling is our baptism. Our Book of Order says:

“In Baptism, we participate in Jesus death and resurrection…Baptism enacts and seals what the Word proclaims: God’s redeeming grace offered to all people. Baptism is God’s gift of grace and also God’s summons to respond to that grace. Baptism calls to repentance, to faithfulness and to discipleship.”

So on this day,

when we celebrate God’s call to specific people in our congregation

to serve in specific ministries in the church-

elders, deacons and pastoral care givers

we are also hearing God’s call to each one of us.

“You are the Body of Christ and individually members of it.”

We are challenged to hear how God is calling each one of us to service.

One of my favorite quotes on calling is from Frederick Buechner

“The place God calls you is the place where

your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

I love that definition because it places our calling not in the category of duty

But rather the general area of “deep gladness’.

We are called to do something that will nurture our deep gladness

At the same time that it ministers to the world’s deep hunger.

I just met with my daughter-in-law Megan last week

after her mission trip to Chiapas, Mexico.

She had heard us talk many times about our mission trips

And she wanted to go

but still there was a hesitation on her part.

Even the day she left she was almost sick.

She knew the great needs in Chiapas

But what she didn’t know was the deep gladness she would

Experience on her trip there.

It turned out to be more than a trip- it was a calling where

Her deep gladness and the world’s great hunger met.

Now, all of us are not called to go on mission trips to Mexico

Serve as officers in the church but each of us is called.

How do we discern that call.

Frederick Buechner says: “Listen to your life.”

Pay attention to the gift and talents God has given you.

Pay attention to the things that inspire and excite you.

Pay attention to those times when others point out a talent

Or an interest that you had long ago dismissed.

Pay attention to the ways that God is already alive

And at work in your life.

Perhaps, just perhaps that is your burning bush calling you to ministry

In the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen