Isaiah 49 1-7: 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9; John 1: 29-42

“You Lord are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name. (Jer 14;9)”

Our lectionary readings today, in these strikingly different passages, are about the initiative of God in calling forth God’s servants and the communal even public character of faith.

Isaiah:49: ‘The Lord called me before I was born’ The prophet Isaiah uses very dramatic language to describe how God called him. He says ‘Before I was born.. while I was still in my mother’s womb’ The Servant was aware that his calling was deeply embedded in his very being.

1st Corinthians:1: ‘To the Church of God in Corinth… called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord ..’ St Paul sees the Corinthians as a ‘people called of God’ This is a communal calling, a call to the community rather than an individual one. The response is a community response, not an individual one.

John1: ‘ I am the one crying out…make straight the path of the Lord…. this is he who of whom I spoke…’ The Gospel reading from St John concerns the role of John the Baptist and is, like Isaiah, an individual call to undertake a specific task.

From our most well-known O.T. prophet Isaiah, to the dramatic figure of John the B. and on into the life of the Church at Corinth, to the most anonymous woman and man, all God’s servants (and that includes us) have their role as a result of God’s calling. So, how is God calling us today, in this Church, in this place?

Jane Williams, says this ‘ To be called by God is a thing of joy and terror, in about equal measures.’ Our call in 2005 is unlikely to be comfortable.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of his calling over which he has no choice. Once called, he had to respond. John the Baptist was probably a desert hermit, aware from an early age of some God-given role but like Isaiah, well aware of a calling from God. The complicating factor was for Isaiah and John that they were not sure, for quite some time, what this would involve.

When I was exploring, what I later realised, was a vocation to the ordained ministry, I lived through a deep and disturbing awareness that the life I was leading, my lay vocation in education, was giving way to something else. I was aware of a call from God but for a considerable period, I didn't know what, when, where or how this would be resolved.

Living at the 'aporia point, the time when everything goes back in the melting pot, is a time of waiting and journeying. It is an unsettling and uneasy time; the watching and waiting and the not knowing create anxiety. During this waiting period, I went to an Ignation retreat and during that day I had one of those very rare and significant moments of revelation.

In the stillness and silence of the Retreat, I experienced a deep sense of knowing that where I was, in the waiting time, was where I was meant to be. The phrase 'waiting on God' became meaningful as never before. And the unease, uncertainty and anxiety were stripped away in an instant. It was as if God had spoken to me saying
“Margaret, you are where you are, and where you are is where you are meant to be. Stay with it”.

So when Isaiah says that ‘he was hidden by God’ for a period of time, knowing only that which he needed to know of God's purposes for him, I understand, from my own experience what the passage means.

And maybe this is where we are in relation to the Asian T'sunami. We have become aware as never before of the fragility of the world and we are deep in a re- evaluation of a global responsibility towards each other across ethnic, cultural and religious divisions. We live in one world, we are one people; we belong to each other. But we are not sure what is to come. It seems to me that we are not the same as we were before it happened.

Following Patrick's powerful sermon last week on 'Where is God in all of this' and his understanding that God in Christ is in the suffering; what our Gospel reading for today reveals is that God is not aloof and disengaged, apathetic to human distress but a saving and liberating presence; He cared so much that he sent his Son; and that now, in the power of the Holy Spirit, God in Christ, is moving the hearts and minds, world wide, of so many who are offering help and support.

We can't turn the clock back-- this Epiphanytide we are on a different journey. We realise that if only we, as a world community, had installed the kind of early warning systems in Asia that the wealthier parts of the world have, the loss of life could have been minimized. Poor countries cannot pay for such a system but we can but chose not to. We thought it was not our responsibility. May God forgive us for our insularity, selfishness and ignorance? We need to forgive ourselves and be forgiven for our sins of omission as well as our sins of commission, as our prayer book puts it 'For what we have done and what we have not done'.

But we cannot stay berating ourselves. A phrase from the 'Images of Forgiveness' exhibition lives with me 'Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past’

We are at the point where, with Isaiah, we say "We’re really sorry, we did our best as we saw it but our best was not good enough.”

For Isaiah, it was at this point that God suddenly revealed that the task ahead was much bigger than Isaiah ever dreamed of. It wasn’t to do with Israel but the whole world. What a response to failure!! Telling someone in despair about the outcome of his or her efforts in the smaller task that actually, the job is much bigger, greater and harder than ever dreamed of.

The community of believers cannot act as a privileged enclave, assuming that God loves them and condemns the rest. It is God's redemptive action for the world that becomes the basis and motive for the community's commitment to the purposes of God for God's world.

And so, in the heart of this world tragedy of the t;sunami, we see more clearly that we are being presented with a huge worldwide challenge from God--a massive worldwide community rescue plan to rebuild and transform.

We have no time or energy to spend on petty quarrels. Perhaps for us in 2005, the failure to resolve issues about gay priests, women bishops and differences of churchmanship and Biblical interpretation is minor in comparison. Perhaps this Epiphanytide,God is revealing to us that if only we could kneel at the foot of the cross asking forgiveness for our disputes, the resulting awareness of our failures and weaknesses are in fact the very qualifications that God chiefly looks for in his followers.

It is time to re-group and for the Church, which after all, holds the knowledge of the love of God for all his people, to wait on God, to listen to his call, and be ready, as individuals and as a community, for what God wants for and from each of us. Epiphany involves journeying and waiting, but it means manifestation. But we need to be found prepared, ready and above all willing to do the will of God when the waiting period is over.