JEREMIAH 1:4-10

PSALM 71:1-6,15-17

1 CORINTHIANS 14:12b-20

LUKE 4:21-32

Sermon – 2/1/04

How old do we have to be to be called to serve God with the spiritual gifts God has given us? How do we use our gifts properly? And how can we expect people to react when we respond to God’s call and use our gifts as God intended? These are the three questions today’s Scriptures respond to.

There is no minimum age for a spiritual driver’s license. Anyone here ever ask a spiritual question as a child that your parents couldn’t answer? Anyone here ever told “Not to ask such questions” or “Wait until you’re older” or “Ask someone else”? Has anyone here had a child ask them a spiritual question they couldn’t answer? How did you react?

Well, folks, in today’s Old Testament reading, God makes it clear that there is no minimum age for a relationship with God. God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet. As is the typical pattern when people in the Bible are called by God to extraordinary ministries (see Moses, Isaiah and Peter, for example), the person called feels unworthy and tries to beg off, saying in effect, “Lord, you must have the wrong number.” God’s response is, “I never get wrong numbers.”

Jeremiah’s sense of unworthiness was based on his youth. “’Ah, Lord God!’ Jeremiah responds. “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’” God’s response is that that doesn’t matter: that Jeremiah will answer God’s directives, speak God’s word, and that God would be with Jeremiah through thick and thin. And there would be plenty of “thin.” Nonetheless you notice that Jeremiah has an entire book of the Bible named after him, and a rather large one at that; today’s passage, you could say, is the story of someone who “jumped right from High School to the Major Leagues” – indeed, right from “High School” to the “Hall of Fame”!

Too young? Not to God. Should young people be listened to, even kids? It might be a good idea! You never know who is going to be an instrument of God’s purpose.

So we learn that God’s purpose for Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s uniqueness and pricelessness did not start only once Jeremiah had reached some societally-determined “adulthood.” We learn, in fact, that God had chosen Jeremiah far earlier. God says to him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you: I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah’s uniqueness and pricelessness were already established before his birth, when he was a fetus, and God knew Jeremiah at least as early as Jeremiah’s conception. That is the plain meaning of this Scripture. It’s certainly something to ponder when we think about the question of when human life begins.

The second question for today is, “How do we use our spiritual gifts properly?” That is the focus of St. Paul in this passage from his First Letter to the Corinthians. Like a good coach, Paul says: “Use your gifts for the benefit of the team.”

As Paul puts it, “Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.” Paul points out that, as is sometimes the case in sports, the “flashiest”, most spectacular spiritual gifts are not always the most valuable. Spiritual gifts which don’t call attention to the gifted person but which serve others and glorify God are at least as important as dramatic ones. In a nutshell: “Don’t show off; serve God and help the team, namely the Church.” Timeless words from Coach Paul from the days when Roman numerals were used for everything, not just for numbering Super Bowls.

Finally, “How can we expect people to react when (like Jeremiah) we respond to God’s call and (as Paul advises) use our gifts as God intended?” Well, let’s look at today’s Gospel. If the Trentonian or the New York Post were writing a headline for this passage, it would read “JESUS GETS ‘DISSED’”. Right in his hometown. Especially in his hometown. Jesus’ fellow villagers in Nazareth were too close to him to recognize him, thought they knew him so well they didn’t have to follow him, and were especially ticked off when he reminded them that God’s love has no boundaries, and foreigners might be more blessed with miracles than they would be!

They threatened Jesus’ life – that didn’t take long, did it? – and he left the town where he grew up, having done no miracles at all there (their loss) and apparently never to return to Nazareth.

So, if we respond to God’s call to us, and recognize and use our spiritual gifts as God intends, we shouldn’t expect everyone to applaud! Perhaps especially those we grew up with or hung out with when we had very different priorities than serving God. They may think we’re nuts or worse, and try to pull us back to ungodly ways. And sometimes, we may find that our onetime friends may not really have our best interests at heart – or those of the world.

This is especially hard when some of the people with ungodly priorities are family members. Sometimes people discover that they are priceless to God, gifted by God, and are called by God to serve God and make the lives of other people better – while some or even all of their family members never mention God’s name except while swearing.

In that case, being part of a community of faith is even more important than it is for those raised and living in a God-loving family. And for those in a community of faith, reaching out to people who may be the most or the only faith–filled members of their family is vitally important. Jesus himself created a community of faith which for him replaced “the old neighborhood” – the cliquey, ultimately hostile Nazareth crowd.

That new community of faith started with some fellow Palestinian Jews from the province of Galilee, beginning with some fishermen about whom we’ll hear next Sunday. And Jesus’ community of faith grew to extend all around the world and right up to the present day to you and to me.

So all people of all ages can be called by God to serve God – and God has been “scouting” each of us for a very long time! All those who love God are called to use their gifts to serve others and not to show off. And all of us shouldn’t be surprised if some people who think they

know us don’t “get it” when we discover our mission in life is to love God and fulfill ourselves by serving others, so we need to be strengthened in our mission and in our values by our participation in our community of faith.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church