This weekend I am with many others at the Orientation to Ministry Summit and we are learning together the ordination process in the United Methodist Church. Today we are hearing call stories from several pastors and laity. As I was listening to these stories, a phrase popped into my head and I cannot get it out of my head.
“I can neither ignore or not respond.”
Then God reminded me of a passage from Jeremiah.
The Lord’s word came to me: “Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I made you a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak because I’m only a child.” The Lord responded, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’ Where I send you, you must go; what I tell you, you must say. Don’t be afraid of them, because I’m with you to rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord stretched out his hand, touched my mouth, and said to me, “I’m putting my words in your mouth. This very day I appoint you over nations and empires, to dig up and pull down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.”
The word of the Lord has come to me and I can neither ignore it or not respond.
I must respond.
So in my response Lord I will trust, for you are the one who created me and knows me.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.