Sermons

What does it mean to be called the Son of God? What does it mean to be called to follow Jesus? What does it mean to be called to put your talents to use to build up the church, to build up the Body of Christ to be his arms and legs in the world?

We are blessed to have so many ministry groups meeting in our Divinity family both inside and outside the church building. We are using our time and talents to serve others. Sometimes our service is planned and sometimes Christ shows up in our midst quite unexpectedly needing us to help him out.

Jesus said, “When you serve the least of these, our brothers and sisters, you are serving me.”

Angela Schon and Nathan McRae were joined together in the covenant of marriage back on October 12. Before a Divinity wedding, the women dress in the choir room on one side of the building and the men dress in the youth room on the other side.

Our Sew-N-Sew group normally sews in the choir room on Saturdays but got moved to a Sunday School room because of the wedding.

The women were busy sewing as always when a young man with a dark, long beard was knocking on their door. The women looked at one another, wondering what to do. Mary was sitting closest to the door and decided to open it and let him in.

The best man was stressed. They had ordered their tuxes online. Because he was from out of state, he had just put his tux on for the first time and realized his pants needed hemming. One of the groomsman had noticed there were women sewing next door.

Mary simply said, “Take your pants off and I’ll hem them for you.” He complied.

A short time later with his pants hemmed perfectly, he shared with them the story of him and his brother serving in the military and how Nathan had been stationed in Iraq in the midst of the war. After returning, he and his brother had not spoken for a long time and had recently reconciled. He was worried about getting through the best man’s speech at the reception without crying. The Sew-N-Sews assured him it was O.K. to cry.

When he offered to pay Mary for prepping his pants, she said, “No, but I’ll take one of those beers you’re drinking”. Obviously, they’re not supposed to have beer in the church. He brought her a cold one and later a second one. The ladies told Mary to go directly home after sewing. I’m sure she was smiling. It was a good day to sew or stand next to your brother at Divinity!

You never know when a bearded one will suddenly show up at your door needing your time and Talent.

Being called. In our gospel text for this third Sunday after the Epiphany, four men are being called. Jesus had been called to be the Son of God. He had figured out what that meant during his solitude time in the wilderness. Now he is calling, Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow him. Being called.

As we now turn to our 2020 time and talent sheets, we need to all ask ourselves the questions, “What is God calling me to do and what is God calling us to do?”