The Queen has said many memorable things in her long reign, but among the words that come to mind particularly today, the 70th anniversary of her Accession, are some that she spoke while she was still Princess Elizabeth, in 1947:
“I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service... But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do... God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.”
The Queen’s sense of calling and duty are something that come through clearly in her life. Illuminated by her Christian faith, she conceives of her role as one of service to the Nation and the Commonwealth. And all that is bound up in prayer and dependence on God. She believes that God called her to her role, and in her Coronation she was consecrated to it for life.
This morning’s readings are all in one way or another about people being called by God, to the particular task or vocation that God gives them. In all three readings, we encounter someone who is called by God but who feels inadequate for the task. Isaiah feels overwhelmed by a sense of uncleanness at the vision he has seen. Paul protests that he is unfit to be called an apostle, because he persecuted the Church of God. And Simon Peter, realising the divine power that is at work in Jesus, cries out, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’
Nevertheless, all three were called by God, all had a specific task to do. And, by the grace of God, they carried out their task. Speaking God’s word to God’s people, making disciples of the nations. Isaiah and Peter and Paul protested their unworthiness, but worthiness had nothing to do with it. It was all grace. God’s calling is God’s gift. And it was undertaken not in their own strength but in the power and strength that God gave for the task.
The calling to be an apostle or a prophet is rare. As St Paul himself says in 1 Corinthians, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets?”. Likewise, the calling to be a Christian monarch or national leader is rare. But we all do have a particular call from God. Christian discipleship, for every follower of Jesus, is in one way or another about hearing his call in our lives and responding.
For most of us this will be discerned and lived out in the ordinary circumstances of daily life. Being a parent or a carer or a partner. In our work which one way or another serves other people’s needs and helps to build up community. In hidden lives of prayer in which we lift to God all those in need, known and unknown. The everyday-ness of these things does not make our lives any less a response to God’s call, and does not mean that we are any less dependent on God’s grace. St Paul says in Colossians, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.
God’s call to us is God’s gift, and with it the strength and the grace needed to follow that call. God’s call assures us that we are loved and valued for who we are. Jesus said to the disciples, “you did not choose me, but I chose you”.
It is all grace. Worthiness has nothing to do with it. We do not need to earn God’s favour or approval. God’s call came to us first as God’s gift. Our response also is God’s gift. It is Simon Peter, who knows how sinful he is, who is called by Jesus to be a leader of his Church. Simon Peter, who will fail and deny Jesus, is called, anyway, and given grace to respond to his calling. Paul, unworthy to be called an apostle, became by God’s grace the one whom we often just call The Apostle, the messenger of Christ to the nations.
Whatever our particular vocation may be, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus gives joy and thankfulness to our lives. It makes daily life in a way sacramental, a breaking through of grace in the daily round and common task undertaken for God’s sake.
Cardinal Newman summed this sense of being called in the ordinary things of life:
“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
“He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.
“Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.”
Jesus calls us, every one of us, “follow me”. He has chosen us. We are loved and valued as we are. His calling is his gift. Our response is his gift. The strengths and graces we need to follow are his gift. We do not need to see the outcome. His call in our lives is his gift, and the outcome will be, too. And as we follow along the path he calls us, we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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