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  I saw a little piece recently about telephone etiquette. 

How We Respond - Mark 1: 14-21 - January 25, 2009 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            I saw a little piece recently about telephone etiquette. One of the specific questions was, 'If someone leaves a message on your answering machine to call them, and you don't really want to, how long can you wait before you can hope that they lost interest? Or that they forgot why they called? Six hours? 24 hours? Two days?' The etiquette expert, kind of hard-nosed about things, said to not return the call would simply be rude.

            That little tidbit happened to catch me as I was thinking about one of our Sunday night teachings about prayer, and about this morning's sermon. So now here's the question: what if God calls, and we don't return the call. That seems far-fetched maybe, but actually it's a pretty important question. If you were here last Sunday, you may remember that the topic was how God speaks - and I lifted up three different ways - God speaks in the spectacular, in the circumstantial, and in the voice in the heart. So, you might ignore someone else's message, and say you don't want to be bothered. But are you really going to do that with God? What's the etiquette there? How long would you say to God, "Well, I'm busy right now." Or, "I need more time to get my act together - ­have a little more fun; settle a few matters. Then I'll pay attention to that religious stuff." How long, I wonder, before God gets the message loud and clear - don't bother me. So, it is important to talk about how God speaks to us; but it is just as important to talk about how we respond to God. That's today's topic. And, true to form, there are three things I'd like to share with you. And these three things rise from the story of the response of the four fishermen - Peter and Andrew, James and John - in the first chapter of Mark.

            The first has to do with the message itself. Not everyone who leaves a message on your answering machine has something worth saying. But the message of God is nothing less than the message of salvation and hope for the world. It is something worthy of our earnest attention, and our complete response. Here's what Mark says: " ... after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ... saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. ",

            We respond to the voice of God because it carries the best news we've ever heard.

The kingdom of God is here; salvation and hope are here. Good news! We know, all to well, that there is plenty of bad news out there. Spend about five minutes in the newspaper, and you'll see all of that you want. The sad fact is that most anything human beings touch can go bad - our economy stumbles, military solutions go sour, government rarely gets out of its own way, social solutions fall short, leaders let us down.

            And too often, religion doesn't do much better. There have been plenty of times when the Church, or other religious bodies, have been part of the problem instead of the solution. So, religious people get just as hung up on bad news as anybody - the church is declining, young people are turning away, we don't have enough money or space. And for some people, bad news is the message they hear from the Church - God is not happy. Turn to Jesus now, or suffer the pangs of hell and condemnation.

            How easily we forget what is so simply stated in the Bible: "Jesus came proclaiming the good news of God." The kingdom is here. God has it under control. Repent and believe the good news. And this was not some Pollyanna view that ignored reality in favor of some positive-thinking fantasy. The scripture begins with a hard shot of reality: " ... after John was arrested ... " There were no delusions about the presence of evil in the world - John the Baptist had been thrown into prison. We can pretty much take on faith that Jesus had a clear idea of the failed human systems around him, and the evil that lurked in life. He just knew that God was stronger. He knew that God's love was constant, and grace would prevail. And God's time had come.

            We lose sight of that, often turning to other things for solutions. I heard about a man who was having difficult problems -lost his job, relationships were shaky, and so on. So he went to his pastor for help. And his pastor listened and then responded by suggesting things the man might try. People he might call. Things he might say to improve things with his family. Ways his resume might be improved, and so on. The man thanked the pastor, and left, and someone asked how it went. And the man said it was pretty disappointing. And when he was asked why, he said, "Well, all he did was give me good advice. But what I needed was Good News! To know God was still there."

            And I think we goof that up a lot. We so easily turn each other toward other things ­the latest psychology or self-help theories, and latest social or justice programs, the latest self-improvement strategies; those can be important things to know, and there are good places to learn them. But when you turn to the Church, there must be something more ­because God has spoken. And God is not just speaking to us, God is speaking the message we can't hear anyplace else - the message we long to hear at the very core of our being - power and hope and healing. This good news Jesus proclaimed beyond anything else the world can offer. And God is asking us to respond - repent and believe the good news. Why would we hesitate one minute to return that call?

            The second thing I want to lift up is the personal nature of the message. Yes, Jesus came preaching, and many came to hear him, and the message was for everybody who would listen. And I could picture those four fishermen sitting around mending their nets and talking about it - 'Did you hear about that preacher from Nazareth - Jesus? He's causing quite a stir. Wonder what that's all about?" All that was part of reflecting on the message. But suddenly it went further; suddenly Jesus was walking right down to the boats and saying to Peter and Andrew, James and John - "Follow me." That's the heart of things for you and me. Sure, the Christian message is out there; it's been there for a couple thousand years now. And it's quite possible to describe it in very general, abstract terms. This is what Christians stand for; this is what the Bible says; this is the theology  of the Trinity, and so on. You can even say you believe it, and try to live by it.

            But there's something far deeper than that. There's the moment that Jesus walks up to you and says, "Now I need you. You've been watching from the sidelines; now it's time to get into the game. Follow me." It turns out that when God speaks it is not idle chatter or random words. It is to call you and me to a higher place. It's to place a vision before us of what could be possible. Jesus said it like this: "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." It's as if he's saying, "You know how to find fish in this water and get them into your boat. I'll show you how to find people who are hurting and hungry and lost, and how to bring them into the arms of God." Now, that image wouldn't work as well for me, because as some of you know, I go fishing, but I don't bring many fish into the boat. Jesus would speak to me differently, and that's the point. This was the perfect language for those four fishermen; it might be different language for you. It might be the picture of the refugee child in the magazine; it might be an image of caring, or an imaging of you bringing a meal and a smile to someone who can use it; it might be a song that calls you, or a neighbor in need, or a chance to volunteer at the homeless shelter. At the spiritual gifts workshop this weekend, we saw how each person has a unique combination of gifts and spiritual strengths and task styles, and God knows all of that! And God speaks that language to you: My people are hurting. I have made you just so

so you can do something about that. Follow me. There is no more important message, I'm convinced, that you will receive on your earthly journey. Listen for that voice.

            Those four disciples heard it, and they followed Jesus. That's the third part - they heard the good news of God; they heard the personal call of what they could be in God's hands; and then they took the step of faith. There were several elements to that step. First of all, there was the risk. As I said, all this happened after John the Baptist was thrown into prison. These four fishermen would surely be very aware of the danger they were taking on - indeed, at least three of the four died violent deaths.

            Secondly, there was the letting go. This is the real faith-issue, I believe. This is why so many of us don't return God's message - the letting go. What we'd like to do is to set up our lives the way we want it, and then throw a little faith in, mainly to cover eternity. But, it turns out, faith won't be cheapened that way. God is not side-dressing in our lives. God is either at the center of our lives, or we have settled for some lesser god that can't do us any good. And when you put God at the center, step out in faith, you're letting go of something else. For those fishermen, it was leaving their boats, and the way of life they had known. For you and me it might be something different - a long-held habit; a financial commitment; a dream or a desire. Who knows? If you are going to faithfully follow the call of Jesus in your life, choices will be made. I almost typed 'hard choices will be made,' but I think that's misleading, because they only seem hard at the time.  The payback of following Jesus makes everything else pale by comparison.

            And that's the third element of the step of faith by those fishermen - they changed the world! That combination of good news from God, a personal call from God to those four fishermen, and their response of faith is why you and I are here today. God's message was heard and God's faithful responded.

            I don't believe one bit of that has changed. I think there is still good news from God ready to break forth in this world. God's kingdom has come near. God's time has come. I also think there is a personal call from God to you and to me to follow in a glorious path. And, if we'll take the risk, if we'll let go of what is holding us back, if we'll step out in faith - God will use us to change the world. Don't accept any message that tries to sell you short; but listen to God's voice that calls you to a higher destiny than you ever thought possible.

            This past week, we heard a powerful call to be of service to our country. President Obama quoted George Washington at Valley Forge, trying to fortify his troops at the lowest point of the Revolutionary War. General Washington said, "Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that (this) city and (this) country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)." I don't want to confuse the call from God with the call from our country. They can certainly overlap, but they can also be quite different. But maybe those words from General Washington, and now repeated by President Obama, can remind us that the world needs us to step forward. And listening to God's voice is the first step - to bring good news, to answer the personal call in our lives, and to step out in faith. That's how the world will be changed. It's time to answer the call.