"You are known. You are good. You are called!"

Sermon by Andrew Schwiebert

At First Congregational Church of Pasadena, UCC

1/18/2009 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Weekend

Text: John 1:43-51

Do you ever feel stuck in a rut? Like you are sitting back and passively watching your life pass you by? Do you sometimes feel powerless to change your circumstances? Although grateful to have a job, you might feel yours isn't the most exciting one in the world, perhaps not your calling. Maybe you feel the pressure to produce in a difficult work environment. Maybe you too often waste your time on a comfy sofa in front of the TV.

In the face of external difficulties in a world of much chaos and suffering, it can be easy to get caught up in our own individual and family lives and convince ourselves we are protected from ravages of the outside world. Maybe you just disengage. Okay, I'll confess, I admit I have from time to time felt stuck in that rut. But I don't think I'm the only one.

In addition to the normal pressures of daily life and this familiar feeling of being stuck and disengaged, I know many of us feel the newer, unusually heightened uncertainty of these past several months and often feel powerless to change our circumstances.

We sit back and watch the world as it seems to crumble around us. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan slog onward. Fighting in Gaza erupts and with anguish and tears we watch the images of innocent children and other civilians suffer?caught in the crossfire.

And on top of this violence? the economy takes a dive and everything is up in the air. A friend of mine was laid off. He is like millions of others in this country right now. He ?s been looking for work, but it has been slow going. Days have turned into weeks and weeks into months.

Then there is my uncle, a home builder. Not only is he out of work, but he's lost the ability to pay for the house he built with his own two hands. He and my aunt will most likely walk away from their home very soon, and lose all they built., including their primary investment for retirement Like them, many of us are concerned about our ability to keep our home as foreclosures loom.

And there's my grandfather, whose remaining nest egg lost half its value in the past year. Like him, I know many of us are concerned about our ability to support ourselves and our families into the future. And there are those who are even more seriously impacted? the jobless and perhaps soon to be homeless. At the same time, financial institutions and automakers are being bailed out and those who have plenty seem to be getting the most help from the powers that be.

The funny thing is, few seem to be outraged or surprised by that. We all just shrug and say to ourselves, "Hey, that's life. What's new?"

But many of us wonder, am I next? Are we next? And, is there anyone who can help me? How will we get out of this mess? Some of us may be taking action individually, doing whatever we can to stay afloat. But oftentimes, we may just choose to hole up, hoping to ride out the storm, and maybe just maybe try to make some sense of it all.

Sometimes we can get stuck in a rut of somewhat passive waiting? for God to be made visible in some way to us. Or, we forget about God and God's presence in our lives in the midst of great uncertainty.

What does it mean to be a person of faith in these times?

In this morning's text, we are called to discipleship by Jesus and by those who come in his name. "Come and see! Come follow me." I want to share with you today that through engagement with Jesus, our lives are given purpose and meaning. Engagement with Jesus begins with being open to hearing the call.

Take Nathanael in this story, for example. I imagine the faithful Nathanael, sitting in

prayer under the fig tree, searching for meaning and comfort in the midst of great

challenge and uncertainty.

Nathanael was living in very difficult times as well. For many many years, the Roman Empire occupied Israel under repressive rule. His parent's generation had been involved with an unsuccessful peasant revolt. In response, thousands were massacred. And because he himself was a faithful Jew who read and wrestled with Jewish law, it must have been infuriating and intensely disappointing to witness the Jewish Temple authorities cooperate with the Romans for personal gain. I don't know about you, but that would probably make me pretty cynical over time.

The situation for Nathanael and his community was desperate. So what is he doing? He's sitting under a fig tree. Many scholars say sitting under a fig tree is a metaphor for studying the law?he is searching for meaning and hoping for a miracle. The promise of a Messiah was a story from the prophets he knew too well. Even given that hope born out of his faith, Nathanael has seen it all, and although he hopes for change, he's learned to expect disappointment.

This weekend we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We take this weekend to

remember his call to discipleship in the midst of great difficulty. Dr. King talked about his conscious struggle to maintain hope during some of the most difficult moments of the civil rights movement. Very late in his life, when the cities of America were erupting into violence and rioting in response to racial injustice, he wrote the following words in an essay that was posthumously published, called "A Testament of Hope":

Whenever I am asked my opinion of the current state of the civil rights movement, I am forced to pause; it is not easy to describe a crisis so profound that it has caused the most powerful nation in the world to stagger in confusion and bewilderment. Today's problems are so acute because the tragic evasions and defaults of several centuries have accumulated to disaster proportions.

It mustn't have been easy to see what was happening in this country at that time and feel hopeful about change. But in the midst of our skepticism and complacency, somehow, God pulls us out of our places of refuge, and calls us to discipleship.

One day, seemingly out of the blue, Philip shows up to announce something utterly incredible to Nathanael. We've found him! The one we've been waiting for! The one from the stories! The one who will deliver Israel from bondage and bring peace.

Let's stop there for a minute. Who is this Philip? From other Gospel narratives, we believe Nathanael and Philip are brothers. Philip is a disciple of John the Baptist. Remember, John calls himself the one who prepares the way for the Messiah.

We all have stories of being disturbed out of complacency. Someone who comes to us and shakes us and offers hope and transformation. Someone who calls us to discipleship. Who has been your Philip?

I think Dr. King is a powerful example of a Philip of our time. Someone who points to

Jesus and says, Yes! Yes! Yes! We have found the way! We have found the one in whom all things are possible! Transformation, liberation, healing, justice and peace. Come and see! Come, follow me!

For me in college the one who played Philip happened to be a girl I like while studying abroad in Chile. I was annoyed that the Chilean students had taken over the campus, interrupting classes for some protest, and that it was lasting for weeks. Lissen, whose parents had seen their friends and neighbors disappear under the dictatorship, did not take this kind of protest lightly. She explained why she was involved?to stop the massive tuition hikes that was making education inaccessible to many of her friends. She beamed with hopefulness, and invited me to join her and other students.

But I, like Nathanael, am a reasonable, rational person. Nathanael's seen his share of

disappointment. I was younger then, but had already experienced disappointment.

Even if you are a faithful person, but you've seen your share of disappointment, you are probably a bit skeptical of the possibility of change, maybe even cynical.

Your first opinion of someone like Philip, even if he's your brother? or maybe especially because he's your brother, is probably that he's lost his marbles. Either you dismiss him as naïve to believe that change is possible and that oh by the way, a person he's just met? from the middle of podunk nowhere is the Messiah. Or you would probably think he's off his rocker.

Nazareth, you say?!?! That tiny village in the middle of nowhere?! What good ever came out of Nazareth?! The messiah couldn't possibly be from Nazareth!

Although I believe his response is mostly about skepticism, I think we also get a whiff of Nathanael's prejudice and small-mindedness. Too often, I'm sure I've been guilty of that kind of thinking, I'll confess. We all have, right? But Jesus comes to us in places where we often least expect, and calls us to discipleship and service. We remember Jesus' words from Matthew 25, when he tells his disciples when you served the least of my brothers and sisters?the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the imprisoned, the naked, the foreigner and the stranger, you did it to me.

Somehow, miraculously, Jesus reaches into our safe places of refuge, our shady spot under the fig tree, and every great once in a while, we actually respond to the call? to go and see.

You look your brother Philip in the eyes, with his passionate optimism, and his childlike hopefulness, asking you to "come and see!" And you look around at your nice little sunken-in spot in the couch?that warm, familiar, cozy place of comfort and ease, and you shrug, and against all logic, say, "what the heck? Sure, I'll go."

So you go. ?And you encounter Jesus. And before you even arrive Jesus sees you

approaching. He sees you, all of you, for who you are. For everything you are and

everything you wish you were, and he calls you? good! "You are an Israelite in whom there is no deceit" That's a nice way of saying, "you're skeptical, you're blunt, maybe a little cynical, but honest and faithful, and most importantly, you're one of mine. You're one of my people. And you were created in God's image. And you came! You're here."

It's like, Jesus takes a look at you, and he says, Hey, I know you?. I've been watching you? And I love you. And Nathanael responds, "Wow! You know ME!? You really are the Messiah!!!"

And Jesus says?"you think that's great, we're just getting started! I'm bringing a new order to this world. You'll see heaven opened up right here on earth. Come and see. Come follow me!"

That encounter with Jesus changes your life forever.

So, what happened with the protest at the university in Chile? Did I go? Yes, I did. That light in Lissen's eye?that glimmer of hope and optimism got me. I went and slept on the floor of the administration building, and was changed forever. The commitment to change that I saw in my fellow students, and their ferocity to fight for it moved me. I ended up dedicating 3 more years of my life advocating for more just US foreign policies towards Latin America while working and living in Mexico and Colombia. And by the way, while in Mexico? I first heard a calling to ministry.

So what's the good news of this story? When we respond to the call to discipleship and the call to "Come and see," especially to places where we might not expect to find anything holy or special, Jesus has a way of finding us, and giving us meaning and purpose. We are his. And as a result, our recognition of that leads us to live out our discipleship through serving others in need. Our discipleship begins to touch the lives of those who most need it.

Like Philip who responded to Jesus' call by going to find his brother Nathanael, who

desperately needed it, we too are transformed? from skeptical Nathanael to believing Philip. We seek out someone who, although they may not know it, is desperate to find a way out of skepticism and cynicism, a way to hope and transformation.

So? there may be no easy, quick fix end to our current situation. But I'm not sure that's what Jesus is offering. Jesus calls us to come follow him especially in the most difficult circumstances.

A few days ago, I received a forwarded email about the call to service from President Elect Barack Obama and his family. This weekend, to honor Dr. King and his call to service, President Elect Obama is inviting each of us to make the holiday a day of service. Like Congressman John Lewis said, "Let us think of this holiday not as a day off, but as a day on."

But like Philip, Obama is calling us not merely to a day of service, "I'm not just asking you to take part in one day of service. I am asking you to make a lasting commitment to make better the lives of your fellow Americans ? a commitment that must endure beyond one day, or even one presidency," Obama said. I looked on the website for this day of service, and there are a number of opportunities to serve those in need right here in Pasadena and in other parts of LA county.

One such opportunity is an organization that is calling for volunteers to come help canvass neighborhoods with high rates of foreclosure to help homeowners find options to refinance and re-adjust their loans to be able to keep their homes. This group is seeking out, engaging and serving those in need. These may be difficult times, but the opportunities to serve others are abundant.

I want to close with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from that same essay about hope in difficult times:

A voice out of Bethlehem two thousand years ago said that all men are equal. It said right would triumph. Jesus of Nazareth wrote no books; he owned no property to endow him with influence. He had no friends in the courts of the powerful. But he changed the course of mankind with only the poor and the despised. Naïve and unsophisticated though we may be, the poor and despised of the twentieth century will revolutionize this era. In our "arrogance, lawlessness and ingratitude", we will fight for human justice, brotherhood, secure peace, and abundance for all."

Let us respond to the call to discipleship and arise out of skepticism, cynicism, self-centeredness and doubt and run passionately and enthusiastically towards hope, optimism, and transformation. Let us serve one another in love, with the promise of the realm of God right here on earth. Amen