Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

February 4, 2007 - Fifth Sunday of Epiphany

The Rev. Vicki L. Smith

In modern parlance, they have low self-esteem.  All three of them – Isaiah, Paul and Simon Peter.  Listen to what they say about themselves: “I am a man of unclean lips,” and “as one untimely born … unfit to be an apostle,” and finally, “I am a sinful man.”  These guys could use some help from Jesse Jackson’s “I am somebody” campaign, or some other ego-boosting program.

And yet, they all became tremendous servants of God – so powerful and so important that we know of them, their deeds and their words literally thousands of years later.  What brought a fisherman, a tentmaker and a small town prophet to such great and timeless recognition?  It wasn’t their own abilities or talents, they all make that clear. 

Isaiah, Paul and Simon Peter didn’t need more faith in themselves, what they needed was faith in God; what they needed, and received, was the power of God to transform their lives, bringing them forgiveness and strength and skill for their mission.  The power of God touching their lives changed everything.  Whether conveyed to them by a piece of coal, a vision or a net overflowing with fish, the power of God touched them and made them strong, made them worthy, made them witnesses.  Paul says, “though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me.”  It was not I but the grace of God that is with me.  It is the grace of God that made each of them able to say, when the time came, “Here I am Lord, send me.”

We’ve seen this pattern before, much earlier even than Isaiah.  When Moses was called by God to lead the people of Israel, he tried every which way he could think of to get out of it.  Finally he says to God, “I can’t do this.  I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”  I can’t be a leader.”  And God’s reply?

“Who gives speech to mortals?  Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.”  As Paul said, it was not Moses himself, but the grace of God that was with him that made him the leader and teacher God called him to be.

Such demurrals are the usual response to God’s call.  Perhaps it is the call to ordination or to leadership; maybe the call to sing a solo, to reach out to someone who is difficult, or to speak up in public; perhaps it is the call to stand up to discrimination or to love through the storm – whatever the call is, and whenever God calls us, we feel unworthy.  “I’m not good enough; I’m not smart enough; I’m not strong enough or clever enough.  I’d like to, but I can’t.” 

On his own, Isaiah couldn’t prophesy; on his own Peter couldn’t fish for people, and on his own, Paul was most unworthy to be an apostle – but God in them, God with them, made them worthy and made them able.

It is God in us that makes us worthy, that makes us able.  That’s where a true sense of self- esteem comes from – it comes from knowing that God cleanses us as he did Isaiah; it comes from knowing that God changes us as he did Paul; it comes from knowing that God leads us as he did Simon Peter.  It is because we know that God has made us worthy that we can say, “Here I am Lord, send me.”

When I was a child, I seriously believed that someday I would be perfect.  That someday, after I grew up, I would stop making mistakes, stop feeling inadequate and I would be perfect.  I’m not sure why observing the adults around me did not disabuse me of this belief, but I really thought for a very long time that someday I would be perfect.  I have since learned that that’s not going to happen this side of heaven.  But I have also learned that God makes me good; that God makes me worthy and that God gives me the strength and abilities to do what he asks of me. 

God did that for Isaiah, for Paul and for Simon Peter and God does it for all of us.  Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Not perfect but redeemed.  By the grace of God, we are people who are saved, people who are made clean, people who are led by God to speak, act and serve in his name.  Whether it is a call to ordination or to leadership; the call to sing a solo, to reach out to someone who is difficult, or to speak up in public; the call to stand up to discrimination or to love through the storm – whatever God’s call is to us – whether it changes our whole lives or just today – God makes us worthy.  God gives us what we need. God leads us forward. None of us can do everything, but we can all do something.  God has made it so.

“Here I am Lord, send me.”

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