And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19)
I wonder what Peter and Andrew and James and John were thinking when they got up that morning. You know: the morning described in our gospel lesson in the RCL for Epiphany 3, Year A (Matthew 4:12-23). I bet they just figured this was going to be another day out on the fishing boat, hauling in the catch, separating out the saleable fish from the empty beer bottles and other assorted crap that got caught in their nets, then mending the nets, washing down the boat, and going home. Just a typical day. They didn’t expect that they were going to be called to be disciples of the Messiah. Boy. Some days really turn out weird, don’t they?
Have you ever felt yourself called? Ever started out to do one thing and found out God had other plans for you? Ever fancy you heard Jesus whisper, “Hey. Stop what you’re doing. I need you over here?”
When I think about it, I have a whole boatload of “call stories,” and not just the ones that led me to ordained ministry (although maybe they did). Once upon a time I taught in the theater department of a community college in Southern California. Among my classes was a general ed course I was assigned to teach on the Industrial Arts campus. I wasn’t too thrilled about this because a) Industrial Arts students weren’t going to be serious about the theater and go on to major in the subject, b) the IA campus was in a crappy part of town, and c) the class was at night.
I felt my department chair had sent me to Siberia by giving me this assignment, and I complained about it to my singing coach, a brilliant African American vocalist named Adrian Shaw.[i] Adrian was a beautiful Christian man, and he gave me some advice. “Owen,” he said, “you need to pray about this. If this is where the Lord wants you to be, the Lord will put the desire to be there in your heart.”
I taught that class for three more years, and loved every minute of it.
I continued to teach my non-major night class after budget cuts eliminated the courses I taught on the college’s main campus. I did a lot of odd jobs then, some in show business and some not. I was working as an extra on the NBC TV series Highway to Heaven when one of my fellow “Background Specialists” suggested I apply to be a substitute teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District. I thought, “Why not?” I had an MFA degree and a lifetime community college teaching credential, and I could easily see myself, when not auditioning for a play or movie, giving erudite talks on Shakespeare or Dickens to high school students.
God had other plans. One of my first assignments was in junior high special education. It was a good day which somehow caused the powers that be at the LAUSD to decide I was a junior high special ed teacher. With no credentials or experience with learning disabled youth at all, I spent the next six years in long-term junior high special ed assignments. This wasn’t what I had planned, but the experience gave me a perspective on people and society I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Against my will God was trying to make me a better person.
When I accepted the call to Faith Lutheran of Philadelphia twenty-four years ago, I had no idea I’d be here as long as I have. I also had no idea that I would become the Barry Bonds of neighborhood funerals. I thought I might extend my ministry at Faith to being a chaplain at the local hospital or a nursing home or something. I had no idea I’d be doing over 900 memorial services, of which barely 10% had anything to do with the folks at Faith Lutheran. But this seems to be what God wants me to do for now. It’s not always pleasant as I’ve had to deal with drug overdoses, suicides, and homicides over the years, but as a ministry there is a curious satisfaction in doing it. I guess the Lord has put the desire in my heart.
So what about you? When did God steer you away from your “fishing boat” to an opportunity uphold others? And how is Jesus calling you now to be part of the net that reveals him to someone who might really need him? Have you even considered that you have been called? Have you told anyone about it? It might be a good story to share.
The season of Epiphany is the time we celebrate how Jesus was revealed as God’s Messiah. The Epiphany 3 gospel is married to a reading from Isaiah 9. Our evangelist Matthew quotes this passage as a way of letting folks know God had been planning this for Jesus all along.
What, do you think, has God planned for you?
God’s peace, my friend. Thanks for reading.
[i]
Actually, I complained abut this to everyone.
I’m a complainer.
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