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We are all called to be children of God.
In the Gospel we heard today, Jesus calls Simon and Andrew to follow him. Instead of hauling fish out of the Sea
of Galilee they will use the net of the Gospel and truth to haul people out of their lives of despair and into lives of
reconciliation and hope in a new relationship with God. He moves on down the shore and calls James and John to leave their
father, the family business and all the helpers, in order to follow Jesus.
In the Old Testament we heard about a different kind of calling. Jeremiah was calling a whole nation to change its
ways. Jeremiah was reminding the people of the Kingdom of Judah what had happened to the Northern Kingdom of Israel when
they had gone astray from God's ways. They had been warned that they would fall and be destroyed as a Kingdom. The
prophecies had been true and the nation was overrun and the people taken away in slavery.
Now the Southern Kingdom was being warned that a similar fate would happen if they, as a nation, did not turn
around and be faithful to God. The Kingdom of Judah was prostituting itself, literally and figuratively, to other gods and
that had to stop. They were denying their call to be a nation devoted to the ways of God.
But they are not the only nation to be called by God. This nation today is called to act in God's ways and not the
ways of the world. We are to take care of those among us who cannot care for themselves and to treat others with respect.
We are a nation called to act on the precepts of God with respect to the rest of creation. That is not always easy.
In the Epistle we read of yet another sense of calling. Paul calls on the Christians in Corinth to become that
which God has created them to be. The Epistle speaks of a call not as something we are to be driven toward, with God
behind us whipping us on, but as a loving call from God to come and be in His presence and share in His glory as we live
in ways that will spread His healing love in this broken world.
Paul's words are not as much about giving up who we are, but becoming who we are meant to be. Are you a Jew? Then
stay a Jew. Are you not a Jew? Then don't become one. It's not about being Jew or Greek or male or female, or even about
being enslaved or free.
In one of the most misinterpreted verses in scripture Paul says that if you are a slave then make the best of it
and don't worry about it, just be who God calls you to be in that situation. He goes on to say that if you can gain
freedom that is fine too. But this verse was used in our past in this country to justify the racial enslavement of
Africans, trying to put God on the side of slavery. We know that the verse is not about that. It is about calling us, in
whatever situation we are in, to be and act as God's children.
God calls each one of us in a unique way to act as His child and to know we are loved. Here is a story about
hearing that unique calling.
This is a story adapted from a Jewish folk tale re-told by Archbishop Rowan Williams in his book A Ray of
Darkness.
The story is about a Rabbi who lived long ago in Eastern Europe. Rabbi Yehuda Loew ben Bezalel lived in Prague and
was the greatest Rabbi of his day. He had studied hard and was a man of deep prayer.
To understand how special he was, we need to understand a bit about Jewish mystical beliefs. It was taught that
certain Rabbis could come to know the mysteries and the art of creation if they were faithful enough in their learning and
praying. Before a Rabbi could learn the mysteries of the art of creation he first had to memorize all of the Torah, the
first five books of the Holy Scripture - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Then he had to memorize all
the rest of the writings and the prophets enough so that he could answer questions about them and speak clearly about
them. Then he had to memorize the Talmud, the writings and interpretations of the Scriptures by Rabbis throughout the
ages.
Only after mastering all of this, could a Rabbi be considered for learning the mysteries of creation. Rabbi Yehuda
was one such rabbi. It was said that he made a Golem, a creature made of the dust of this world that is alive but without
a soul, because it was created by man and not God. The point of this is not the creature, but the learning to share with
God in the mystery of creation itself, learning to become ever closer to God through this special relationship. This is
the Rabbi about whom we speak.
Rabbi Yehuda dreamed one night that he had died and been brought to stand before the throne of God. The angel of
the Lord stood before him and asked his name. "I am Rabbi Yehuda of Prague, the maker of the Golem," he replied. And he
asked the angel to read the names from the Book of Life that he might hear his name and be brought into the glory of God.
The angel began to read the names of people that the rabbi had never heard of from strange lands all over the world as
well as names that were familiar. Rabbi Yehuda saw the souls of people whose names were read rise into the glory of
God.
After a time the angel finished reading and the rabbi cried out that his name hadn't been read and was about to
cry out in anguish at the thought when the angel stopped him and said that his name had indeed been read. "The names of
everyone who has ever lived are in this book, for they are all children of the Most High God," said the angel. The angel
went on to explain that there were people who had only heard their true name spoken by any man or woman once or twice in
their lifetime. And there were people who had never heard their name spoken by any man or woman in their lifetime.
Those who had heard their name but a few times would have to stand at the foot of the throne and wait until they
remembered their true name and then they would come into the glory of God. Those who had never heard their true name would
have to wait in silence until they could hear the Master of the Universe speak their true name and then they would go into
God's glory.
Rabbit Yehuda woke from his dream crying. With tears on his face he cried out to God that he be granted at least
one time in his life to hear his own true name from a brother.
I read this story after watching a wonderful thing in Children's Chapel last week. Bonnie was teaching the
children a song and the meaning of the song and she told the children that God speaks to each one of us by name and knows
our names. She asked the children what name God calls her when He talks to her. They all knew, of course, that God calls
her Bonnie.
She told them that they were right, that God calls her Bonnie and when she hears that name she knows that God
really knows her and loves her. Then she told them that "Bonnie" is not her given name; that her given name, the one on
her birth certificate, is Evelyn, but that no one calls her that, not even God. She is Bonnie and she knows it.
Bonnie is called by God to be a musician, but she also knows that she is called by God to be His child and spread
His love and reconciliation in this world. We are all called in our true selves to do that work, to spread God's love and
reconciliation in this world. Whether we are called to be teachers or parents or healers or builders, we are also called
to be those things in the way God would have us be. God calls us into a relationship with Him that will spill over into
the rest of our lives and into the world around us.
God calls us by our names into a relationship of love and trust that we hear as we hear our names in the voice of
the one who created us and gives us life. Rabbi Yehuda was a man of great learning and prayer, but he was afraid that even
he might miss hearing his name called by his loving Father. Perhaps as you go through the week you might try to hear God
call your own true name and know that you are loved as His child.
In hearing your name called by God you may find a smile come to your lips or a tear come to your eye. But one
thing is certain; you will have become closer to God in a special way because you have been quiet enough in God's presence
to hear his voice. + |