Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts beacceptable in you sight, O
Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.
Sometimes in the evening when our phone rings, my husband Ron will say, I’m gonna see who it’s
from before I answer it. I do this too, but I’m perfectly content to let him get up out of his comfy easy
chair while I stay put in mine. If the caller ID shows “Unknown caller” or a number we don’t
recognize, Ron will say, “I’m gonna let it go into the message machine to see if I want to talk to
them.” Everybody gets strange phone calls in the evening, so I’m sure that many of you do
something like this.
I wonder what would happen if it was God calling? Would we recognize him? OR would Ron and I
totally miss out on the chance of a lifetime to speak with God because we are so cavalier about who
we choose to talk to on the phone at night?
I’ve been thinking about this with respect to the Old Testament lesson. When God called Samuel,
just a young boy who was serving the priest Eli in the temple, Samuel reacted quickly. He didn’t get it
right about who was calling the first time. He ran to Eli three times before Eli realized that it was the
Lord calling Samuel. Then Eli coached Samuel about what to do. The fourth time Samuel
recognized God’s voice. “Speak, for your servant is listening,” he said.
Are we listening for God? Would we recognize God’s voice? Would we be like Samuel and act
promptly when we hear the Lord calling us? Or would we respond like we do in my household and
avoid unrecognized callers at all cost. Samuel is quick to listen and obey. He follows God’s
summons to do His work.
We have several examples of how God calls people in the readings today. In addition to the story
about Samuel, we have the gospel reading.
We meet Jesus making his way to Galilee. A few days earlier Jesus was baptized by John in the
Jordan River. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him and John the Baptizer recognized Jesus as the
Son of God. Now we see Jesus as he begins to call his disciples.
I looked up “CALL” in Webster’s. Some of the meanings are: to announce; to summon, as to a
specific duty; to awaken, give a signal to. Jesus did all these things when He called His disciples,
and He does all these things when He calls us today.
It’s a beautiful scene with Jesus and the two men he is calling, Philip and Nathanael. Jesus is not
just randomly choosing any guys he runs across. He knows these men. Jesus finds Philip and says
to him, “Follow me.” Phillip drops everything and follows Jesus. He doesn’t ask his boss for time off
or go home and pack a suitcase. No, Philip follows Jesus’ call right away. From the stories in the
New Testament, it appears that a call from Jesus “Follow me” is pretty much irresistible. (There are
a few exceptions to this, but these are topics for other sermons.)
Then Philip is so excited about Jesus that he runs to find his friend Nathanael and tells him, “Hey, we
have found him, the one Moses told us about, the one we have been waiting for all these years. His
name is Jesus, and he is from Nazareth.”
And then Nathanael says, “Nazareth? You must be kidding!” (Message Bible translation) Phillip is
persistent here. He is not put off by his friend’s negative comment. Philip says, “Come and see.” In
other words, don’t count on me to tell you about him. Come and check him out for yourself. So,
Nathanael does just this. He goes looking for Jesus.
But listen to this, Jesus already has his eye on Nathanael. Jesus knows who Nathanael is. Verse 47
says, “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him,” Jesus greets Nathanael by telling him the
story of his life. “Here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” In other words, a faithful Jew who is
as honest as the day is long. Nathanael is floored. “How do you know me?” he asks. Jesus tells
him, “I saw you under the fig tree before Phillip called you.”
I want to put this story on pause for a moment. There are two astonishing things going on here:
Jesus knows Nathanael and Jesus goes to meet Nathanael where he is.
In the first verse of today’s Psalm (Psalm 139), God tells us that He knows us, “Lord, you have
searched me out and known me.” Verse 12 tells us that He knew us even before we were born:
“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” God knows each of us intimately. He loves us and He
calls us to Himself. Jesus knows Nathanael.
The next part is also really good news. God meets us wherever we are. He doesn’t expect us to
come toward him any further than we can. We must make the first gesture of acceptance, and then
He meets us wherever we are.
We may think that we find Jesus or that we bring other people to Jesus. But, what really happens is
that Jesus calls us to him. When we “find” Jesus, we realize that He has been there all along and we
just didn’t know it. Jesus is there and has always been there.
Return with me to our scene from John’s gospel. When Nathanael realizes that Jesus knows him
completely and understands him, he is amazed. Then Nathanael says an astonishing thing to
Jesus, “You are the Son of God.” Remember, this is very early in Jesus’ ministry, even before it is
recorded that Jesus preaches in the synagogues or teaches the people on the hill sides or heals
people of all kinds of sicknesses. What a revelation!
There are several other times in the gospels where Jesus is recognized for who he really is. Both of
these happen well into the accounts of Jesus’ ministry. Two of them come to mind. Simon Peter,
who we often see putting his foot in his mouth, answers Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I
am?” In a similar way to Nathanael, Peter says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Way to go, Peter. (Mt 16:15-16)
Martha also recognized Jesus as the Lord. Martha sent a message to Jesus letting Him know that
her brother was sick, but Lazarus was already dead when Jesus arrived. Before Jesus raised
Lazurus from the dead, Martha recognized Him as the Lord. “She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe
that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ ” (John 11:27)
Nathanael recognizes just who Jesus is early in Jesus’ ministry. The way Jesus responds to
Nathanael gives a foreshadowing of what His ministry will be like. According to The Message Bible,
Jesus says to Nathanael, “You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over, you’re going to see
heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.” Jesus
connects his ministry to Jacob’s encounter with God. Jacob dreams of God’s angels ascending and
descending a ladder into heaven. (Gen 28:12) In essence, Jesus is saying that He, Jesus will be
the ladder to heaven for all who follow Him.
Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael into relationship with Him. Jesus also calls them into ministry with
Him and they are obedient. Jesus’ interaction with Nathanael sets the stage for His ministry—Jesus
is the Son of God and Jesus is the access to God in heaven for all who follow His call.
APPLICATION Bear with me here, I think you will see where I’m going.
This beautiful worship space, this entire beautiful church building is MORE than the vision any one
of us have had for Hope in the Desert Episcopal Church. It is more beautiful, more stunning, and
more awe inspiring than anybody here would have thought possible. We knew it would be
wonderful, but THIS WONDERFUL?
How could a small band of diverse folks, really a motley crew of people from all over the place,
create this? The answer is simple. We could not do it. We could not do THIS. It is only God that
can do such a work.
We know that God’s hand is in every part of this place, in every grand expanse and in every small
detail. We know that we are seeing God at work because it is so much more than we could have
ever done on our own. God has used our architect. and all those who contributed to the design and
construction as instruments of His love and grace. This prayer found in the Book of Common Prayer
from Ephesians says it all. “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we
can ask or imagine.” AMEN to that. (Morning Prayer II )
AND YET—it is not this beautiful, magnificent building that is the church. WE ARE GOD’S Church—
WE, God’s people are HIS Church. Many of you were able to be here yesterday for our incredible
consecration service. Bishop Frey reminded us that WE are the church, not the building. He also
confirmed, however, that it’s a whole lot easier when we do have a building.
God has provided us with this beautiful worship space and these wonderful facilities so that we can
worship Him. But that is not all. He has provided this place so that we can have a wonderful place
to conduct all of the ministry and mission He has called us to do—to have a place for people to
come and meet Jesus, to have a place for us to reach out into the surrounding community to bring
people to know Jesus through us and what we do. God has called us into this place to bring people
into a relationship with Jesus.
Hope’s Mission Statement was written over nine and a half years ago when the vision of Hope in the
Desert Church was newly received. God has called us to this mission: To bring those who do not
have church homes into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ through vibrant worship, relevant
teaching, lively children’s programming, and many opportunities to serve others in a loving church
family.
Just how do we do this? First, we can pray.
As we began preparing for the transition into our new church building, we prayed a special set of
prayers. Two of these prayers relate to our mission at Hope. I invite us to continue these prayers:
For God to send individuals and families of all ages to Hope, for God to equip us to welcome them,
and for God’s guidance as to how we can go out into our community and meet people where they
are.
Second, we can look for opportunities to interact with others. Sometimes, talking about going out
into the community can seem pretty intimidating, but take heart. There are things that we can do,
that we already do everyday, that we are comfortable with.
We can invite folks, (friends, neighbors, co-workers or acquaintances) to be part of our fellowship.
As Philip invited Nathanael to “Come and See Jesus,” we can invite people to “Come and See Jesus”
through our fellowship with others. Let them see Jesus through us, where the love of Jesus is part of
our interaction with each other.
Third, we can tell the story of what having a relationship with Jesus means to us. How do we share
this with others? We can tell them—“before I knew Jesus I was .. (fill in the blank).., I came to know
Jesus by .. (fill in the blank).., Now that I know Jesus my life is .. (fill in the blank)..” Invite others to
“Come and See Jesus” through the story of what Jesus means to us personally.
What is so great about Jesus calling us to be in relationship with him? To name just a few possible
answers to this question: we recieve the free gift of salvation from God, not based on what we have
done or what we would ever be able to do, but based on God’s grace and our faith in Jesus Christ.
We receive forgiveness of our sins, love, joy, and peace. When we go to bed with abundant
worries, we can give them to Jesus to carry on His shoulders. We can let other people know from
our experience what it means to be in relationship with Jesus. God does the rest.
God is calling us at Hope in the Desert. He wants us to be in relationship with Jesus and He wants us
to follow His will for our lives. Are we listening? Are we, like Samuel, Philip, and Nathanael ready to
respond to His call?
Let us pray: “Glory to God whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or
imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and
ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.
Sometimes in the evening when our phone rings, my husband Ron will say, I’m gonna see who it’s
from before I answer it. I do this too, but I’m perfectly content to let him get up out of his comfy easy
chair while I stay put in mine. If the caller ID shows “Unknown caller” or a number we don’t
recognize, Ron will say, “I’m gonna let it go into the message machine to see if I want to talk to
them.” Everybody gets strange phone calls in the evening, so I’m sure that many of you do
something like this.
I wonder what would happen if it was God calling? Would we recognize him? OR would Ron and I
totally miss out on the chance of a lifetime to speak with God because we are so cavalier about who
we choose to talk to on the phone at night?
I’ve been thinking about this with respect to the Old Testament lesson. When God called Samuel,
just a young boy who was serving the priest Eli in the temple, Samuel reacted quickly. He didn’t get it
right about who was calling the first time. He ran to Eli three times before Eli realized that it was the
Lord calling Samuel. Then Eli coached Samuel about what to do. The fourth time Samuel
recognized God’s voice. “Speak, for your servant is listening,” he said.
Are we listening for God? Would we recognize God’s voice? Would we be like Samuel and act
promptly when we hear the Lord calling us? Or would we respond like we do in my household and
avoid unrecognized callers at all cost. Samuel is quick to listen and obey. He follows God’s
summons to do His work.
We have several examples of how God calls people in the readings today. In addition to the story
about Samuel, we have the gospel reading.
We meet Jesus making his way to Galilee. A few days earlier Jesus was baptized by John in the
Jordan River. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him and John the Baptizer recognized Jesus as the
Son of God. Now we see Jesus as he begins to call his disciples.
I looked up “CALL” in Webster’s. Some of the meanings are: to announce; to summon, as to a
specific duty; to awaken, give a signal to. Jesus did all these things when He called His disciples,
and He does all these things when He calls us today.
It’s a beautiful scene with Jesus and the two men he is calling, Philip and Nathanael. Jesus is not
just randomly choosing any guys he runs across. He knows these men. Jesus finds Philip and says
to him, “Follow me.” Phillip drops everything and follows Jesus. He doesn’t ask his boss for time off
or go home and pack a suitcase. No, Philip follows Jesus’ call right away. From the stories in the
New Testament, it appears that a call from Jesus “Follow me” is pretty much irresistible. (There are
a few exceptions to this, but these are topics for other sermons.)
Then Philip is so excited about Jesus that he runs to find his friend Nathanael and tells him, “Hey, we
have found him, the one Moses told us about, the one we have been waiting for all these years. His
name is Jesus, and he is from Nazareth.”
And then Nathanael says, “Nazareth? You must be kidding!” (Message Bible translation) Phillip is
persistent here. He is not put off by his friend’s negative comment. Philip says, “Come and see.” In
other words, don’t count on me to tell you about him. Come and check him out for yourself. So,
Nathanael does just this. He goes looking for Jesus.
But listen to this, Jesus already has his eye on Nathanael. Jesus knows who Nathanael is. Verse 47
says, “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him,” Jesus greets Nathanael by telling him the
story of his life. “Here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” In other words, a faithful Jew who is
as honest as the day is long. Nathanael is floored. “How do you know me?” he asks. Jesus tells
him, “I saw you under the fig tree before Phillip called you.”
I want to put this story on pause for a moment. There are two astonishing things going on here:
Jesus knows Nathanael and Jesus goes to meet Nathanael where he is.
In the first verse of today’s Psalm (Psalm 139), God tells us that He knows us, “Lord, you have
searched me out and known me.” Verse 12 tells us that He knew us even before we were born:
“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” God knows each of us intimately. He loves us and He
calls us to Himself. Jesus knows Nathanael.
The next part is also really good news. God meets us wherever we are. He doesn’t expect us to
come toward him any further than we can. We must make the first gesture of acceptance, and then
He meets us wherever we are.
We may think that we find Jesus or that we bring other people to Jesus. But, what really happens is
that Jesus calls us to him. When we “find” Jesus, we realize that He has been there all along and we
just didn’t know it. Jesus is there and has always been there.
Return with me to our scene from John’s gospel. When Nathanael realizes that Jesus knows him
completely and understands him, he is amazed. Then Nathanael says an astonishing thing to
Jesus, “You are the Son of God.” Remember, this is very early in Jesus’ ministry, even before it is
recorded that Jesus preaches in the synagogues or teaches the people on the hill sides or heals
people of all kinds of sicknesses. What a revelation!
There are several other times in the gospels where Jesus is recognized for who he really is. Both of
these happen well into the accounts of Jesus’ ministry. Two of them come to mind. Simon Peter,
who we often see putting his foot in his mouth, answers Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I
am?” In a similar way to Nathanael, Peter says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Way to go, Peter. (Mt 16:15-16)
Martha also recognized Jesus as the Lord. Martha sent a message to Jesus letting Him know that
her brother was sick, but Lazarus was already dead when Jesus arrived. Before Jesus raised
Lazurus from the dead, Martha recognized Him as the Lord. “She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe
that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ ” (John 11:27)
Nathanael recognizes just who Jesus is early in Jesus’ ministry. The way Jesus responds to
Nathanael gives a foreshadowing of what His ministry will be like. According to The Message Bible,
Jesus says to Nathanael, “You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over, you’re going to see
heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.” Jesus
connects his ministry to Jacob’s encounter with God. Jacob dreams of God’s angels ascending and
descending a ladder into heaven. (Gen 28:12) In essence, Jesus is saying that He, Jesus will be
the ladder to heaven for all who follow Him.
Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael into relationship with Him. Jesus also calls them into ministry with
Him and they are obedient. Jesus’ interaction with Nathanael sets the stage for His ministry—Jesus
is the Son of God and Jesus is the access to God in heaven for all who follow His call.
APPLICATION Bear with me here, I think you will see where I’m going.
This beautiful worship space, this entire beautiful church building is MORE than the vision any one
of us have had for Hope in the Desert Episcopal Church. It is more beautiful, more stunning, and
more awe inspiring than anybody here would have thought possible. We knew it would be
wonderful, but THIS WONDERFUL?
How could a small band of diverse folks, really a motley crew of people from all over the place,
create this? The answer is simple. We could not do it. We could not do THIS. It is only God that
can do such a work.
We know that God’s hand is in every part of this place, in every grand expanse and in every small
detail. We know that we are seeing God at work because it is so much more than we could have
ever done on our own. God has used our architect. and all those who contributed to the design and
construction as instruments of His love and grace. This prayer found in the Book of Common Prayer
from Ephesians says it all. “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we
can ask or imagine.” AMEN to that. (Morning Prayer II )
AND YET—it is not this beautiful, magnificent building that is the church. WE ARE GOD’S Church—
WE, God’s people are HIS Church. Many of you were able to be here yesterday for our incredible
consecration service. Bishop Frey reminded us that WE are the church, not the building. He also
confirmed, however, that it’s a whole lot easier when we do have a building.
God has provided us with this beautiful worship space and these wonderful facilities so that we can
worship Him. But that is not all. He has provided this place so that we can have a wonderful place
to conduct all of the ministry and mission He has called us to do—to have a place for people to
come and meet Jesus, to have a place for us to reach out into the surrounding community to bring
people to know Jesus through us and what we do. God has called us into this place to bring people
into a relationship with Jesus.
Hope’s Mission Statement was written over nine and a half years ago when the vision of Hope in the
Desert Church was newly received. God has called us to this mission: To bring those who do not
have church homes into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ through vibrant worship, relevant
teaching, lively children’s programming, and many opportunities to serve others in a loving church
family.
Just how do we do this? First, we can pray.
As we began preparing for the transition into our new church building, we prayed a special set of
prayers. Two of these prayers relate to our mission at Hope. I invite us to continue these prayers:
For God to send individuals and families of all ages to Hope, for God to equip us to welcome them,
and for God’s guidance as to how we can go out into our community and meet people where they
are.
Second, we can look for opportunities to interact with others. Sometimes, talking about going out
into the community can seem pretty intimidating, but take heart. There are things that we can do,
that we already do everyday, that we are comfortable with.
We can invite folks, (friends, neighbors, co-workers or acquaintances) to be part of our fellowship.
As Philip invited Nathanael to “Come and See Jesus,” we can invite people to “Come and See Jesus”
through our fellowship with others. Let them see Jesus through us, where the love of Jesus is part of
our interaction with each other.
Third, we can tell the story of what having a relationship with Jesus means to us. How do we share
this with others? We can tell them—“before I knew Jesus I was .. (fill in the blank).., I came to know
Jesus by .. (fill in the blank).., Now that I know Jesus my life is .. (fill in the blank)..” Invite others to
“Come and See Jesus” through the story of what Jesus means to us personally.
What is so great about Jesus calling us to be in relationship with him? To name just a few possible
answers to this question: we recieve the free gift of salvation from God, not based on what we have
done or what we would ever be able to do, but based on God’s grace and our faith in Jesus Christ.
We receive forgiveness of our sins, love, joy, and peace. When we go to bed with abundant
worries, we can give them to Jesus to carry on His shoulders. We can let other people know from
our experience what it means to be in relationship with Jesus. God does the rest.
God is calling us at Hope in the Desert. He wants us to be in relationship with Jesus and He wants us
to follow His will for our lives. Are we listening? Are we, like Samuel, Philip, and Nathanael ready to
respond to His call?
Let us pray: “Glory to God whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or
imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and
ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
God is Calling, Are we Listening
1 Samuel 3:1-10; Ps. 139:1-5, 12-17: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20: John 1:43-51
1 Samuel 3:1-10; Ps. 139:1-5, 12-17: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20: John 1:43-51
January 18, 2009
Rev. Deacon Jane Ross
Rev. Deacon Jane Ross
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