Standing Firm
Sermon
Living In Hope
Cycle C Sermons for Lent and Easter Based on the Second Lessons
The call of Paul in this letter is to stand firm in the Lord, to not falter, to not align our minds on our earthly life but focus on the eternal life to come. Sounds like a big task, doesn’t it?
I woke up hearing the words sung by Sidewalk Prophets, but I was remembering the first words of the refrain as “stand firm in the Lord.” You should look up the beautiful lyrics online. As I had been thinking about the title I had given for this message, I wondered about the emotions Paul was feeling in this letter to the church at Philippi.
Paul is calling the people to focus on what is promised, rather than what is ― the current trials and benefits of this human life. Paul is calling us to know that our home is not here in this place. We are called not to live the letter of the law, not the human interpretation of the word, but to live in the spirit.
Standing firm in the Lord is difficult. It was difficult for Jesus and it is even more difficult for us. Responding to the call of God on our lives isn’t always easy. It upsets our plans and changes everything.
I argued with God about my call to the ministry for more than five years. I had completed a BA and a MA degree in organization and human resource development. I was respected in my workplace and in my field. I was seen as a skilled leader and even began teaching. I was teaching at the college from which I received my MA degree. I was active in church life and firm in my faith. Yet, I couldn’t see myself as giving all that up, as shifting my focus from the work I loved and was good at to the call God had placed on my heart. Every time I felt this call, I would volunteer to do another job at the church: serving on the program and outreach committee, teaching Sunday school and confirmation, serving on the governing board, first as vice-chair and then as chair. I just kept sidestepping that call. Arguing with God that he must be making a mistake in calling me. I was in my forties, a woman separated from her husband; I was a mother and grandmother. Answering a call to the ministry just wasn’t possible.
Yet, God holds us firmly, challenges us to be who we are called to be, and then ensures we are equipped to perform the tasks, the ministry laid before us. I attended a workshop on a Saturday with my pastor. The focus was engaging youth in worship ― funny how after more than twenty years I remember this so clearly. As I was driving us back to the parsonage, I, still feeling this distinct call, asked my pastor about the Lay Education Program. You see, I had another compromise for God. I would become a lay minister, able to lead worship but not becoming an ordained pastor ― although that was where God was calling me to journey.
As I pulled into the drive, my pastor laid his hand on my shoulder and asked the question, “Why are you limiting yourself to the Lay Leadership program?” That question opened the floodgates. I was able to share my battle with this call. I was able to explain my fear ― going back to school, becoming a pastor, what if I did it badly? What if I wasn’t capable? What if, as a pastor, I hurt someone? Besides, I had a job, a house, a life! Did God really want me to change all that? We talked for more than two hours. My pastor sent me home to pray and continue to discern.
As I arrived home, I realized I was simply exhausted from the day. I thought I would relax a little, explore some television, and then get down to prayer. I turned on the TV and clicked through the channels again and again, unable to concentrate. I thought I would read. After looking at the same page for more than half an hour, I gave that up too. I almost yelled out to God, “Okay, I will think about this now!” I began to list all the things that would have to happen for me to go to seminary, to pursue this call:
As I was listing all these problems to be overcome, my phone rang. It was my friend and supervisor at work, someone who never called me on Saturday. She was looking for a phone number that I gave her. Then I asked what she had been doing on her day off. She said to me, in these exact words, “I felt called to write some worship music, so that’s what I have been doing today.”
I related to her the conversation with my pastor, the dilemma of only being able to work part time, my concerns. I could hear the support and joy in her voice as she said, “Bonnie, you could work for us part-time forever. Don’t let that stand in your way.” I don’t remember much of the rest of the conversation, but I had affirmed I could have a job if I decided to do this.
As I prayed that afternoon, I asked God to make a way through the rest of the stumbling blocks I had identified. It was a bargain; God, you clear the way and I’ll go. Sunday morning, I went to worship and as I walked in my pastor took one look at me and said, “You’ve decided to do this, haven’t you?” I could only nod my head yes. I would explore it, I thought.
That Sunday after worship, a young woman, new to the church, asked if I knew of a small house for sale. Her mother was moving to the area and was looking. I indicated I was thinking of selling my house. She and her husband came on Monday. I named my price. They said yes and God brought me one step closer. I looked online at the seminary schedule and saw that I was within the limit for starting in the fall. I filled out the application and scheduled an appointment with admissions. I prepared my documentation in a notebook and went in to meet with them.
Two days after my acceptance, I received a letter indicating I had received a President’s Scholarship paying more than half my seminary costs. I also was notified there was a one-bedroom apartment on the grounds available to me if I wanted it. God was making the path more and more clear.
Two months before I was to begin, I got a call from the Director of the Graduate program I taught in. She said she had taken another job and was recommending me to direct the graduate program. I indicated that I was going back to school full time. She assured me that with the weekend college schedules I should be able to manage both. The salary was more than I had been making and it had full benefits. I was interviewed and got the job. God had pushed another stumbling block out of the way.
Once I stood firm in God’s call for me and for my life, all the barriers, all the stumbling blocks I thought were in the way began to disappear, began to be solved. I finished seminary in three years, serving as a licensed minister my final two years. I was called to my first church during the spring of my last year. I reconciled with my husband. I was ordained, renewed my wedding vows, and moved to my first call all within a month. My new role was cemented. I had stood firm in my faith and God had stood beside me. God called me to take a bold step and once I stopped long enough to allow God to do the work in my life, I was able to identify a clearer path ahead.
I stopped focusing on what I thought I needed in my earthly life and instead began to focus on what God wanted for me, for my life. I know my call is true. I know that all the skills I gained in my secular life I brought with me into my pastoral life. It has been an amazing journey ― one I could not have imagined in all those years I was arguing with God about the direction for my life.
What God is calling you to do next? Where is your ministry? What is your ministry? How do we nurture each other, our siblings in the faith, for that ministry and move into a new day in a new way?
The answers to those questions may be unclear at this moment. Prayer and discernment will lead you to the answers God has laid before you. I know the answers are there. I know the stumbling blocks can be overcome. Has my journey been easy? No, it all took hard work. Yet, focusing on God and focusing on the journey, I was called to take has made all the difference. Standing firm in the Lord has made all the difference.
I have a friend who talks about tough and challenging times using a modified cliché, “I know God never closes a door, without God opening a window, but it can become hell in the hallway.” The uncertainty of what is to be of the call on our lives, to be faithful can seem a burden; but the questions you ask God, the study you undertake, the prayers you offer and share, these will help lead you to answers, help you make it through the hallway.
The Sidewalk Prophets ask us to stand firm and to never give up hope; that God has our lives in his control. Look up those lyrics online. They are comforting words. Amen.
I woke up hearing the words sung by Sidewalk Prophets, but I was remembering the first words of the refrain as “stand firm in the Lord.” You should look up the beautiful lyrics online. As I had been thinking about the title I had given for this message, I wondered about the emotions Paul was feeling in this letter to the church at Philippi.
Paul is calling the people to focus on what is promised, rather than what is ― the current trials and benefits of this human life. Paul is calling us to know that our home is not here in this place. We are called not to live the letter of the law, not the human interpretation of the word, but to live in the spirit.
Standing firm in the Lord is difficult. It was difficult for Jesus and it is even more difficult for us. Responding to the call of God on our lives isn’t always easy. It upsets our plans and changes everything.
I argued with God about my call to the ministry for more than five years. I had completed a BA and a MA degree in organization and human resource development. I was respected in my workplace and in my field. I was seen as a skilled leader and even began teaching. I was teaching at the college from which I received my MA degree. I was active in church life and firm in my faith. Yet, I couldn’t see myself as giving all that up, as shifting my focus from the work I loved and was good at to the call God had placed on my heart. Every time I felt this call, I would volunteer to do another job at the church: serving on the program and outreach committee, teaching Sunday school and confirmation, serving on the governing board, first as vice-chair and then as chair. I just kept sidestepping that call. Arguing with God that he must be making a mistake in calling me. I was in my forties, a woman separated from her husband; I was a mother and grandmother. Answering a call to the ministry just wasn’t possible.
Yet, God holds us firmly, challenges us to be who we are called to be, and then ensures we are equipped to perform the tasks, the ministry laid before us. I attended a workshop on a Saturday with my pastor. The focus was engaging youth in worship ― funny how after more than twenty years I remember this so clearly. As I was driving us back to the parsonage, I, still feeling this distinct call, asked my pastor about the Lay Education Program. You see, I had another compromise for God. I would become a lay minister, able to lead worship but not becoming an ordained pastor ― although that was where God was calling me to journey.
As I pulled into the drive, my pastor laid his hand on my shoulder and asked the question, “Why are you limiting yourself to the Lay Leadership program?” That question opened the floodgates. I was able to share my battle with this call. I was able to explain my fear ― going back to school, becoming a pastor, what if I did it badly? What if I wasn’t capable? What if, as a pastor, I hurt someone? Besides, I had a job, a house, a life! Did God really want me to change all that? We talked for more than two hours. My pastor sent me home to pray and continue to discern.
As I arrived home, I realized I was simply exhausted from the day. I thought I would relax a little, explore some television, and then get down to prayer. I turned on the TV and clicked through the channels again and again, unable to concentrate. I thought I would read. After looking at the same page for more than half an hour, I gave that up too. I almost yelled out to God, “Okay, I will think about this now!” I began to list all the things that would have to happen for me to go to seminary, to pursue this call:
- Work part-time
- Sell my house
- Figure out how to pay for school
As I was listing all these problems to be overcome, my phone rang. It was my friend and supervisor at work, someone who never called me on Saturday. She was looking for a phone number that I gave her. Then I asked what she had been doing on her day off. She said to me, in these exact words, “I felt called to write some worship music, so that’s what I have been doing today.”
I related to her the conversation with my pastor, the dilemma of only being able to work part time, my concerns. I could hear the support and joy in her voice as she said, “Bonnie, you could work for us part-time forever. Don’t let that stand in your way.” I don’t remember much of the rest of the conversation, but I had affirmed I could have a job if I decided to do this.
As I prayed that afternoon, I asked God to make a way through the rest of the stumbling blocks I had identified. It was a bargain; God, you clear the way and I’ll go. Sunday morning, I went to worship and as I walked in my pastor took one look at me and said, “You’ve decided to do this, haven’t you?” I could only nod my head yes. I would explore it, I thought.
That Sunday after worship, a young woman, new to the church, asked if I knew of a small house for sale. Her mother was moving to the area and was looking. I indicated I was thinking of selling my house. She and her husband came on Monday. I named my price. They said yes and God brought me one step closer. I looked online at the seminary schedule and saw that I was within the limit for starting in the fall. I filled out the application and scheduled an appointment with admissions. I prepared my documentation in a notebook and went in to meet with them.
Two days after my acceptance, I received a letter indicating I had received a President’s Scholarship paying more than half my seminary costs. I also was notified there was a one-bedroom apartment on the grounds available to me if I wanted it. God was making the path more and more clear.
Two months before I was to begin, I got a call from the Director of the Graduate program I taught in. She said she had taken another job and was recommending me to direct the graduate program. I indicated that I was going back to school full time. She assured me that with the weekend college schedules I should be able to manage both. The salary was more than I had been making and it had full benefits. I was interviewed and got the job. God had pushed another stumbling block out of the way.
Once I stood firm in God’s call for me and for my life, all the barriers, all the stumbling blocks I thought were in the way began to disappear, began to be solved. I finished seminary in three years, serving as a licensed minister my final two years. I was called to my first church during the spring of my last year. I reconciled with my husband. I was ordained, renewed my wedding vows, and moved to my first call all within a month. My new role was cemented. I had stood firm in my faith and God had stood beside me. God called me to take a bold step and once I stopped long enough to allow God to do the work in my life, I was able to identify a clearer path ahead.
I stopped focusing on what I thought I needed in my earthly life and instead began to focus on what God wanted for me, for my life. I know my call is true. I know that all the skills I gained in my secular life I brought with me into my pastoral life. It has been an amazing journey ― one I could not have imagined in all those years I was arguing with God about the direction for my life.
What God is calling you to do next? Where is your ministry? What is your ministry? How do we nurture each other, our siblings in the faith, for that ministry and move into a new day in a new way?
The answers to those questions may be unclear at this moment. Prayer and discernment will lead you to the answers God has laid before you. I know the answers are there. I know the stumbling blocks can be overcome. Has my journey been easy? No, it all took hard work. Yet, focusing on God and focusing on the journey, I was called to take has made all the difference. Standing firm in the Lord has made all the difference.
I have a friend who talks about tough and challenging times using a modified cliché, “I know God never closes a door, without God opening a window, but it can become hell in the hallway.” The uncertainty of what is to be of the call on our lives, to be faithful can seem a burden; but the questions you ask God, the study you undertake, the prayers you offer and share, these will help lead you to answers, help you make it through the hallway.
The Sidewalk Prophets ask us to stand firm and to never give up hope; that God has our lives in his control. Look up those lyrics online. They are comforting words. Amen.
