Looking Forward to January 31, 2021 -- 4th Sunday After Epiphany, Year B

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Jeremiah 1:1-10
• Isaiah 6:1-8

The Sermon title is I'm Not Worthy! 

Early Thoughts: Are you worthy? When God comes along and says "I have a job for you" do you think you are worthy?  Why did you answer the way you did? What might make you change your answer?

Isaiah and Jeremiah both thought they were not worthy, that they were the wrong choice. Isaiah because he was not pure enough to stand in the presence of God, Jeremiah because he was too young. In Luke's version of the calling of the four fishermen Peter's first response is "Go away...for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). When Moses has his chat with the burning bush he is sure God made the wrong choice because Moses could not speak well (maybe he stuttered?). Scripture is full of people who feel unworthy of the trust God has placed in them. Looking back several centuries later what do we say about their worthiness?

There are, I suspect a number of reasons we think we are unworthy. But in the end it is not our call. The scandal of grace is that God declares all of us worthy. The God in whose image we are created sees us differently (both the positive and the negative) than we see ourselves. So when God comes calling what should we say?

I do note that God does not simply dismiss or ignore the objections Jeremiah and Isaiah raise. God takes transformative action to move them past those objections. [Interestingly in both cases it involves touching of the lips, a very intimate act.] How might God move us past our objections, our feelings of being unworthy?

Here, today, in 2021, in the middle of a pandemic God is reaching into the hearts of God's people and asking them to take on some task or another. God is asking us to share words of hope and challenge with the world around us. I will note that God does not promise either Jeremiah or Isaiah that the words God has for them to share will be popular or even that people will listen -- if anything the opposite is true. We can not assume people will like what God reveals to us about the world. Still we are challenged to proclaim.

What does God want us to say to the world in the face of COVID-19? In the face of economic inequality? In the face of the building climate crisis? What part of our lives make us specially suited to the task that God has asked us to do?

Our culture is good at telling us that we are not worthy, that we should not get 'uppity', that we should stick to our assigned lanes. God tends to tell us the opposite. God tells us we are worthy. God raises us up. God pushes us into another lane (or erases the lanes altogether?). God calls us to serve the causes of God's Reign. How will we respond? How is God making us ready to respond?
--Gord