Leaving Nets Behind

Planning Worship

Focus texts: Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Mark 1:14-20 

This Sunday’s Old Testament and Gospel readings present us with a “Tale of Two Calls.” Jesus calls the disciples; the word of God calls Jonah. The disciples are quick to follow; Jonah needs some convincing. I can just imagine the email God sends Jonah: “Dear Jonah, Circling back to my earlier message…” We know both narratives continue beyond these call stories, spinning out the consequences of  Jonah, Simon, Andrew, James, and John’s subsequent yeses—and no’s—to God’s call. But today, the lectionary shows us the initial call and their answers, not just what they say but what they do in response to God’s call, however reluctantly in the case of Jonah.

In the ordination process of The United Methodist Church, clergy candidates are asked to narrate their call story again and again. As a denomination and inheritors of the Wesleyan tradition, we value how our potential clergy tell their stories, how they encountered and continue to encounter God calling them into ministry, and how their call might bear fruit through ordained ministry. But we often don’t stop to consider how God calls all of us into ministry through our baptism. We don’t pause to listen to all the unique and varied ways God calls laypeople to ministry in the church, yes, but also in our communities through our work, schooling, volunteer roles, and civic responsibilities. As David Teel, Director of Laity and Spiritual Leadership at Discipleship Ministries, says, “God calls us to be disciples in the marketplace.”

This week, invite a couple of people to share their stories about God calling them to minister in their lives outside the four walls of the local church. Invite congregants into a time of listening together for God’s voice. Acknowledge that many of us resist God’s call from time to time, but God never stops calling us into relationship and ministry with God, one another, and our communities. This is also an excellent time to acknowledge and pray over new and returning committee members, Sunday school teachers, youth sponsors…anyone who serves in lay leadership in your congregation! As we begin the new calendar year, we want to surround our leaders with support and prayer, trusting that God has called them and calls us all to the work of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world in unique and varied ways.

Author bio: Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts Ministries, holds a Master of Sacred Music and Master of Theological Studies from Perkins School of Theology and a PhD in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University, where she researched and wrote on the doctrine of Christ, disability, and atonement. Lisa is also the co-lead of Growing in Grace: Accessible Worship for All God’s Children.