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Exodus 4: 10-17; I Corinthians 12: 1-11 When I was a child in Sunday School, if someone were to ask, “Who is the minister of this church?” everybody knew where to point. The minister is the guy standing up there in the bathrobe. Every once in a while, someone might ask us, "Is there anyone here who wants to be a minister when you grow up?" I had a friend who always raised his hand, and then later would explain, “Hey, if I gotta go to church anyways, I might as well be the one who gets to stand up front and yell.”
When I took my first church assignment and started yelling up front some 29 years ago, people still were in the mode of calling me the “minister”; and most of you still resonate with that definition. But a revolution has taken place in the church in the last twenty years or so, and it turns around that question, “Who is the minister of this church?” And we've arrived at a time when if someone asks that question, I get to point back at you. Somebody realized along the way that when the Bible talks about ministers, it is not talking about people who have been ordained into a preaching or pastoring profession. It is talking about anybody who follows Jesus. A “minister”, in the simplest and purest form, is a “servant”, and every one of us - lay or clergy -- is called to serve. You and I are ministers together this morning.
This is the belief behind the slogan for our stewardship emphasis this month: Every Member a Minister. And the sermons build on that idea. Last Sunday I talked about how all of us are called by God for a special purpose. This week I want to talk about how all of us are then given the gifts to fulfill our callings. God does not cruelly raise a vision of what we are called to do, and then not give us the gifts we need to succeed in that vision.
This is the crisis that Moses was experiencing in our Old Testament story today. God has just called Moses to do something amazing, unthinkable - maybe even crazy. All Moses is asked to do is to confront the most powerful man in the world, and tell him that God is upset with him, and plans to take away from him the backbone of his economic success - the Hebrew people that he, the Pharaoh of Egypt, is using as slaves.
Moses was not afraid to step up boldly and do what God asked him to do - he was terrified. And Exodus, chapter 4, is the story of Moses trying to get out of the job. First he says that Pharaoh will never believe him; why would Pharaoh think that any of this is true? And then God conducts miraculous signs that Moses can show Pharaoh, and convince him that this is truly God's speaking that Moses is delivering.
But next we get the real concern - Moses argues that he is not gifted for this job. He ~ says, “Oh my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” I can't imagine there is anyone here who can't identify with Moses there. We all have been in situations where we were asked to do something for which we didn't feel qualified. And I suppose it's smart to know your limitations, and to have a realistic understanding of some places where you just shouldn't go. I think I do a good John Wayne impersonation; but everybody who's heard it has told me to keep my day job.
But when God calls you to do something, as he did Moses, there are other things to consider. Moses said, “I am slow of speech.” And God said, “Wait a minute. Who invented speech? Who gives vocal chords to human beings? Don't you think I, the creator of all humankind and everything else can give you speech fast enough to do what I have called you to do?” Okay, so they weren't God's exact words, but something like that. And suddenly Moses is not dealing with his limitations; he's dealing with a God without limitations, and that's something very different. If God calls you to do something, God will gift you to do it.
So now we get to the heart of the matter for Moses. All of his arguments have been taken away, and now we get to the last appeal. In Exodus 4: 13, Moses says, "O my Lord, please send someone else." And then God gets angry at Moses. There comes a time when you stop arguing with God, and step out to do the ministry God calls you to do, even when it's uncomfortable. Even when it's not what you pictured. Even when you'd rather do something else. Moses came to that point, when he got over his objections and arguments, and entered into a ministry that changed the course of history.
It's not likely that anyone of us here is going to be called to ministry that is as frightening, as challenging, as dangerous, or as historically dramatic as Moses. (You never know, but it's not likely). But all of us are called to step out for God. All of us are part of a great vision that God planted through his great apostle Paul- it's a phrase we use in our Church Mission Statement: “Cicero United Methodist Church is a caring Body of Christ...” That phrase 'Body of Christ' is the one Paul coined for what is probably the most powerful image ever for how the Church is to operate. One time, 2000 years ago, Christ was on earth, with a flesh and blood body. But that body was broken and hung on a cross. And while Easter declares that Jesus rose in bodily form, he ascended to heaven, and that flesh and blood body - the one that blessed the children, the one that healed by a single touch, the one that reached out and spoke of love and grace - that body is no longer with us.
And what a shame it would be if that meant that his voice could no longer be heard; that his touch can no longer be felt; that his arms can no longer reach out. But what Paul wants us to know is that that is not true. The Body of Christ is still with us - it is in the gathering of men and women who carry forward the heart and mind of Christ. It is in those who feel a calling to serve God as ministers in this world, and find that by coming together with their God-given gifts, then Jesus lives in that gathering. He speaks, he heals, he teaches, he blesses through the Church that bears his name.
Right away we have to confess something. Many people would listen to such an ideal vision of the Church, and say, cynically, “That's nothing like the Church I know.” You don't have to look very far to see the sinful Church - the one that judges and abuses and justifies violence and bows to the powerful and perpetuates injustice. That is the Church that evolves when human beings forget Who the Church is meant to serve.
But that's all the more reason to remind ourselves again of Paul's vision - that Christ can still be on earth, and that His Spirit and love can be made known by a Church that truly does represent who He is - a Church that shares Good News instead of judgment; a Church that upholds everything that Jesus taught and stood for.
In Paul's vision, the Body of Christ will be like our bodies - made up of diverse parts, each realizing a gift that contributes to the success of the Body. In the physical sense, we call those parts ears, and eyes, and legs, and hands, and voices, and so on. In the Body of Christ, the Church, we might call them preachers; we might call them Sunday School teachers; we might call them caregivers; we might call them carpenters, like the ones who built a handicap ramp for a home here yesterday; we might call them coffee servers, or seamstresses, or greeters, or musicians - this list could go on and on. In fact, when the stewardship team sat down to list the many parts that make up this Body of Christ - Cicero United Methodist Church - we found almost 200 different categories of the ways people use their God-given gifts in our Church. Most, if not all of you, will see this list in the days ahead, and we're going to ask you to step forward and identify the ways that you are being called and gifted to be a minister here in our Church.
Last week, I said that the most powerful thing in our lives is when our calling, our passion, and our opportunity to serve all come together. Our gifts are a part of that formula as well, and if God has truly called us to a task, He will surely give us the gifts to do it. We may be like Moses; we may not see what God sees in us. Others may not see it. But our limitations don't stop the limitless power of God.
I read a story about a Hollywood actor in the 1950s. He had enjoyed some success, and so he tried out for a major role - the role of the President of the United States in a movie called The Best Man. He wanted the role badly, and he thought he had a great audition. But, to his disappointment, the role went to somebody else. He called his agent, and he called the producer, and complained that he thought he had done fairly well in the auditions. They agreed that indeed he had, but he just didn't look right for the part. He just didn't look presidential enough, they said. And so, in the end, Ronald Reagan had to accept the fact that he didn't get the role.
Maybe God saw something in Ronald Reagan that nobody else could. He certainly saw something in Moses. What does he see in you? What does he see in me? I believe he sees ministers in the Body of Christ. If we are ready to step forward, God will provide the gifts. He will use us mightily. And what power will be unleashed for good in this world.
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