Called & Equipped

Jeremiah 1:4-10

I recently learned that Jeremiah is often referred to by scholars as “the Weeping Prophet” because of how vulnerable, honest, and anguished he often is in the service of the Lord. Throughout the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, one of the longest books in the Bible, the prophet brings hard words to the people of God, especially those in power. He is honest, at times confessional, and deeply disturbed in his spirit by the ways that the people of God have turned their backs on their liberator and protector. He earnestly desires the repentance of his people, that the calamities he predicts might not come to pass. He also speaks with hope about the promised future in which all will be made right and the people of God will live in peace and harmony with God and all creation. Ultimately, Jeremiah serves a God who knew him before he was formed in the womb, a God who empowers him to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. This is not a distant, clockmaker God who set the wheels of history in motion and then stepped back to watch how things would play out. This is a God who is fully present, fully involved, a God who exists outside of history and yet holds the ultimate authority in the accidents and events of history.  The God of the weeping prophet knows and understands every tear that is shed and promises that one day they will all be wiped away. The God of Jeremiah is also our God, and the relationship between God and the prophet has something to teach us about our own.

We enter today into the prophet’s call story, the moment the Word of the Lord first came to Jeremiah to commission him for service as a prophet to the nations. It follows a traditional pattern of call and response; first the Lord’s assignment, then the young prophet’s self-deprecating rebuttal, followed by God’s promise to be with the newly called in his ministry, providing for him and empowering him to go forth without fear. It is a familiar pattern, one I heard time and time again from my mentors and classmates and colleagues during my own journey to ordination. But this exchange is not exclusive to men and women of the cloth. I have heard it in the discernment of individuals I’ve asked to serve on vestry, or to take on the role of Senior Warden. I’ve heard it in people invited to serve on committees, apply for jobs, and lead ministries. I have heard it in my own head and heart, the hesitation and the imposter syndrome that often stands between me and a new opportunity God has nudged me to consider. Jeremiah’s response to God is so relatable that I can think of at least three occasions in the last year when I’ve asked someone to speak up in a meeting, I’ve heard almost the same exact words: “Truly I do not know how to speak!”

Unfortunately for those of us, myself included, for whom public speaking does not come naturally, God is often persistent. “You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,” God says to Jeremiah. He had similar words for Moses, and Isaiah, and Jonah. The God who knew us before we were formed has no time for our excuses, does not give our unfounded insecurities the time of day. Jeremiah protested against God’s calling, saying “I am only a boy.” But God does not seem overly concerned about calling the young and the naïve and the inexperienced, calling Samuel and David and Jeremiah and Mary and many of the disciples early in their lives. Neither does God hesitate to call the aged and the elders, those approaching the end of their lives like Zechariah and Anna and Elizabeth. God calls young fishermen and shepherds, women struggling with infertility and widows who barely have two pennies to rub together. God calls people who dread public speaking and people who struggle to find their place in social situations and people who would never leave their house if left to their own devices. God seems to treasure the underdog and the underprepared, always equipping the called rather than simply calling the equipped. Every reason we can come up with for why we are not the right person to carry God’s word into the world is met with the same response- Do not be afraid. I know you, and I am with you. It is you that I will send.

Not every one of us is called to be a prophet, it’s true. We are not all given the same gifts, we do not all have the same abilities and capacity and talent and skill. Paul acknowledges in his letters that there are different gifts and different functions in the body of Christ, that every individual is equally necessary but no two individuals have the exact same purpose, and this continues to be true of every member of the church, every member of the body. We are not all called to be prophets. But we are all commissioned by our baptism to carry the Word of God into the world. God has put God’s words in our mouths, and we are meant to do more than quietly swallow them. We are all empowered to share the good news, to be evangelists carrying the Gospel, to go to all whom God sends us and to not be afraid of them.

“See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” It is no easy thing, being a bearer of the Word. As Jesus told us in last week’s Gospel passage, the Word can sometimes burn. Sometimes, the Gospel will bring division, and conflict, and discomfort. Some things will need to be plucked up, pulled down, destroyed, overthrown to make room for the justice peace of the Kingdom of God. If we are to build and to plant, we must be prepared for the challenge of clearing space for God. We must be prepared to watch some things be plucked, set aside, burned up, so that we can fully know the God who fully knows us. We must be willing to be the ones doing the pruning and the pulling down of those things which run counter to the Love of God. Whether we feel equipped or not, whether we feel like we’re the right person or not, God does not hesitate to consecrate us for this work. Each of us is appointed an evangelist to the nations, and there is no better time to answer the call.