Introduction. A pastor once wrote this in his church’s newsletter: I know all of you were saddened this week when you learned of the recent move out of state of one of our church’s most valuable members–Someone Else. Someone’s move created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Over the years, Someone Else did far more than the normal person’s share of the work. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results. Someone Else worked with the youth group. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, a meeting to attend, or a financial need to meet, one name was on everyone’s lips–"Someone Else will do it." Someone Else is a wonderful person, sometimes appearing super-human, but a person can only do so much. Were the truth known, Someone Else was relied upon too much. Now Someone Else has moved. Someone Else left us a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things that Someone Else did? Remember,

Someone Else can’t be depended upon anymore. (direct quotes and paraphrases from

Move 1. Though this is a tongue-in-cheek look at the church, and human nature in general, God realizes that it really is an attitude prevalent among us that God needs to work on.

God realizes this, because, as God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah, God knows us before are born, before we even see the light of day. As creations of God, God knows all about us–our thoughts, our dreams, our fears, our joys; our good and our bad. God knows us through and through.

Sometimes, God uses the events in our personal lives and in the world to propel us into doing that which we believe someone else ought to do. Not that God causes each and every event that happens to us, but God often takes such events to challenge us to rise to new heights.

Sometimes, God doesn’t want someone else do to the job; God may want us to take on the task at hand. God sent "Someone Else" in the past, but God may want us to take up the mantle in the present.

Move 2. Of course, people resist being pulled into callings and commitments.

Let’s get a bit more specific–people of faith resist being called into ministry, though they are called nonetheless.

Indeed, people of faith often resist the idea in general that they are ministers. They resist this idea, because it sounds so official, though they may not know that the basic definition of "ministry" is "service," which "is inclusive of both laity and clergy." They may not know that ministers are spoken of throughout the New Testament of the Bible, and include both ordained and non-ordained individuals in services of healing, administration, miracle-working, reconciliation, evangelism, teaching, and more. They resist the idea that, as Martin Luther once declared, "‘Every Christian has the power the pope, bishops, priests and monks have.’"

(Donald E. Messer, Contemporary Images of Christian Ministry, 1989, pp. 28-29, 66)

People resist acting on callings and commitments for a number of reasons. Let’s take two, from the prophet Jeremiah who is called by God for the specific purposes of declaring destruction, as well as the building and planting, of nations–not a job for the faint of heart. First, like Jeremiah, people sometimes protest–"I’m too young"; in Jeremiah’s case, "I’m only a boy." In other words, "I don’t have enough life experience. I’m just a kid." Young people here today–you who are children and youth--who have said such things, should hear

Jeremiah’s protest, for that excuse is rejected by God. People can’t use youth as an excuse for inaction.

Second, people often resist God’s callings because they think, "I don’t have the skills for the job." They might resist even something like being a liturgist for example, because like Jeremiah they think, "Truly I do not know how to speak."

Much less would they want to speak to others about their faith. And yet they need to see God’s response to Jeremiah, as God touches Jeremiah and says, "Now I have put my words in your mouth." People need to realize that God gives the strength and the abilities to perform various ministries; that they don’t need to rely on their own strengths and abilities when God is with them.

Yes, Christians often resist doing risky or scary tasks, services, ministries–but they are often tugged at and pulled on nonetheless.

Move 3. We see this story in Jeremiah, though, and we find it hard to believe. Probably we haven’t heard God talking out loud to us recently, much less reaching out and touching our mouths. And so we need to determine where such callings to ministry even come from in the first place.

We might begin in our text from the New Testament book of Hebrews today, written some 750 years after Jeremiah lived. We see that the writer of Hebrews first talks about how God spoke in the past, using the example of Moses receiving the law at Mount Sinai, from a God who communicated in a very tangible way through volcanic blazes and rumblings. Then, we see the writer of Hebrews say of the present time that "No, that’s not (our) experience at all," but rather, that we are part of a new agreement through Jesus Christ. We find that the good news is that this new agreement is kinder and gentler than the old, legalistic one of fire and judgment; but we find that the bad news is, that it is not as confrontational or clear as the legalisms–the dos and the don’ts –of the past.

And so we are left--sometimes it feels on our own--to determine what God is saying to us today. And unfortunately, when we are searching for what God wants us to do in our families, in our church, in our lives, we often think of calls such as the one Jeremiah received–a voice from the heavens with clear directions. We want this kind of confirmation, and otherwise feel uncertain. For some of us, even

99% certainty is not enough–we want 100%, short of which we won’t go forward.

We certainly are free to act as individuals, but as baptized members of the body of Christ, we all are called to ministries. We might discern calls of service in

a variety of ways. We might discover through prayer something God is laying on our hearts that needs to be done. We might get a request from others in the church or in the community regarding important needs that are being unmet. We might, through crisis in our own lives, be called to action in a particular area, whether it be in ministries of administration, or social justice, or care and compassion.

We probably are not going to receive a voice from the heavens, at least one that is audible to other people. We are called, through our faith in Jesus Christ, to determine, on our own or with help from others, what it is that we might be about in our lives.

Move 4. Reluctance to accept our Christian calling seems to be a normal part of who we are. It is part of who we are, as we have said, because of our youth and inexperience, because of our perceived lack of skills, because of many reasons. But reluctant obedience to the calling is still obedience.

A reluctant heart, it is sometimes said, one that is not pure in its calling, is not acceptable to God. Reluctant obedience is not true obedience to God’s leading, some say, and it sometimes leads us to think that actions performed by us that are not done with love and joy are not legitimate. Of course, overwhelming joy in our actions would be nice. But reluctant obedience is the story of most heroes of the Bible, including Jeremiah, and it is the story of most Christians today.

I don’t know that I completely agree, for excitement and enthusiasm have been a big motivating factor for a number of leaders in our church. And certainly, if reluctance doesn’t eventually turn into a degree of joy and satisfaction of calling, then that reluctance should be paid attention to and another calling should be sought. Yet it is important to note that reluctance is not at all a reason to discount a call to service.

Move 5. Opportunities for service abound. Opportunities to be leaders in ministry are many in our church and in our community. Some of these opportunities have been taken by many of you. And a few more I’d like to share today and in the weeks to come. These opportunities are not fleshed out, detailed plans as much as they are the beginning of some ideas for consideration by all of us.

Opportunities exist to assist the elderly of our church. Many are healthy and very able in body, but some struggle to walk up the stairs to get here into the sanctuary. Others don’t come at all because they can’t drive, and even if they could, they can’t get up the stairs. These needs will be partially addressed when the Worship Committee hosts an "ushers training" in September to, among other things, train a large group of people on how to use the elevator, and to ask those trained to be faithful in keeping that elevator running each week. But the need could be even further addressed if somebody or somebodies could take on the task of picking up people who can’t drive, and getting them here for Sunday worship and back home again. Maybe other needs are out there, too, regarding our elderly members.

Opportunities exist for prayer and Bible study. Several of these were announced earlier–the Ruth Circle study of women in the Bible, meeting on the second Wednesday mornings of the month; and the mind/body/spirit group, meeting on Thursday evenings. Another opportunity is the Tuesday morning prayer group, meeting faithfully each week. These are chances to jump in and take an even greater part in ministries of prayer and study. Are there other chances for an individual to start a prayer or study group? Of course–they just need to be seized upon by a reluctant person of faith.

Opportunities exist to serve in our children’s and youth ministries. Some of these opportunities have been presented in recent weeks by our new staff persons Emily Zebarth and Lauri Muller. These chances to work with young people are so important as faith is passed on from generation to generation, and can’t be fulfilled by Emily and Lauri alone.

What is so beautiful about that these and other opportunities for ministry is that though they might be entered into reluctantly, they not only serve God’s purposes but also wind up being personally fulfilling. They build the knowledge, faith, and love of us who are serving, whether: in the witnessing of the joy of a child, in the answering of a prayer, in the receiving of wisdom from an elderly person. And they often lead to a true discernment of God’s calling in our lives.

Conclusion. The book of Hebrews proclaims that God will perform a thorough house cleaning, a shake down from top to bottom. It does not say what this shakedown is, whether a reference to the end times or simply a reference to the shake downs that happen in our lives and in history from time to time that cause us to examine and rearrange our priorities.

In either case, when a shake down causes us to get back to our priorities, to the essentials of life, may we find ourselves not relying on "Someone Else," but ourselves attempting to discern God’s calling in our lives, if not already in full swing with answering that calling. For we are given by God each day an offer we can’t refuse, however reluctantly–a chance to do ministry in the name of his son

Jesus.