Don't we wish Jesus' call would come to us that clearly? Don't we wish we had the ability to follow that freely, or the courage to follow that quickly? Nobody drops everything like that to follow a perfect stranger - well, at least nobody with whom we would want to associate closely. If Jesus tried to call followers to himself like that in this day and age he would either be met with quizzical looks or stony silence, or be forced to use a cell phone or send an e-mail, or both.

On the face of it, this story in Matthew doesn't ring true to our experience. Our parents warned us of people who said things like this; common sense tells us we cannot trust strangers who utter mystical niceties. To ponder the Gospel lesson in this manner almost misses entirely what Matthew wants to tell us about the call to follow Jesus. For not only does Jesus continue to call in this way, but as you will see in a minute, the whole enterprise that we call the church could not continue without it. Let us look at the story and see what it wishes to tell us.

First, it tells us that Jesus calls us right where he finds us - in the middle of our day-to-day work. It is only here that we can be any bit successful in spreading the good news: that God loves us, and that we can experience that love in Jesus of Nazareth.

Second, Jesus doesn't call us to do something outside of our already God-given talents and skills. In the story, I love how Jesus even has a sense of humor about it. I can almost see him winking at Simon Peter and saying with a wry smile, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." It's a clever way of saying, "Work with me, Simon-you'll see." The things about Peter that made him good at what he did also made him good at what he would do for Jesus. Jesus calls us to follow him, using our unique God-given personalities and gifts. He doesn't want us to be Peter; he wants us to be ourselves.

Third, Jesus calls us along with others, so that we never follow him alone. To follow Jesus means to journey with other followers along the way. To journey with Jesus requires a community called the Church. This community supports and loves us, while it enables us to give the gift of support and love to others. We learn that to love God, we truly must love our neighbor as ourselves. We can fulfill these two greatest of the commandments only by being in relationship with others.

Today, we again celebrate our life together in this community of the risen Jesus, called St. James Episcopal Church, with our 97th Annual Meeting. Shortly after noon, we will gather for another meal around tables, a meal no less sacred really than the one we will share together around this table in a few minutes. Jesus regularly gathered to eat with his followers as a way of building and strengthening community. We will do that today for the very same reason. For all of us, in our own way, and in our own time and place, have already answered the call of Jesus to follow him.

This church exists solely because of those persons who answered that call to follow Jesus with the gift of their daily lives, their unique abilities, in a community. All of us gathered here today represent the current expression of people in this church community who have answered Jesus' call just as Peter, Andrew, James, and John did. We see around us those who will grow up to take our places, and we know in our hearts by faith that God will raise up many others to continue God's work here.

For seventeen months now, it has been a unique privilege for my family and me to join this community as fellow pilgrims on the journey, and for me to serve as your rector. So much has happened here in that brief amount of time. To mention all of that now would keep us here into the next hour. We will recount these things in a wonderful celebration of the past year's events at the Annual Meeting.

One of the most important accomplishments for our church in the year 2001 was our discernment of a vision and purpose statement. We then implemented that vision through our parish-wide Charting the Course luncheons, which developed seven specific goals and the strategies to attain them. Since the luncheon meeting in December, we have already seen many steps taken by various individuals and groups to implement these strategies.

It is my goal this year, shared by the Vestry and the Rev'd Sally Parrott (who also has come to us in the past year- thanks be to God!), it is our goal to constantly monitor our progress on these strategies, because by working to bring these goals to pass we assure ourselves of fulfilling the priorities that we feel God has called us to at this time. These are exciting and attainable goals, and their fulfillment rests on all of us doing our part.

Remember, Jesus calls each one of us, right where we are, with something for us to do with our own God-given abilities. This year you will see a concerted effort to help each member of St. James find their ministry here. We will be publicizing ministry opportunities in a variety of places, with clear job descriptions, skills needed, and time expectations for each task. I truly believe-given the people and skills we have in this place-that if everyone took the time to find one ministry to get involved in, we not only would meet our seven goals, but also would discern other specific needs for even newer goals and strategies.

Remember, Jesus calls each one of us to follow him in a community. It pleases me that we continue to offer Name Tag Sunday on the first Sunday of each month, and for special occasions (such as today!) but it pleases me more that you participate in it so well. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. For years my wife has heard me say that one of the best contemporary descriptions of the Church you could ever hope to find was the theme song from the hit television series "Cheers." I especially liked the ending bit of it:

Yes, we do want to be with others who know us. And those who visit us come looking for a place where others will know them by name, too. Do I want you to learn the names of all 490-and-counting people who call St. James their home? That would be nearly impossible; I don't even think I could do that, and you know how hard I work on learning your names! But I do want you to learn twelve names, and no, it's not those of the twelve apostles. (Nice try.) No, it's far simpler than that.

Look around the room at the next parish function you attend, or at church on Sunday morning, and look for someone you don't know. Then, go up and introduce yourself to that person, and learn their name. Learn who they are, tell them who you are, and introduce them to one other person. If you do that, you'll have a good chance of actually remembering that person's name, and they'll probably know yours, as well.

I want to challenge you to do this once a month. That's all. Once a month, learn the name of someone new to you at St. James. This simple act, done faithfully, will absolutely energize and fill this church with people. Because people will so arrange their lives, and even travel miles and miles, to be part of a community that knows and accepts them for who they are. The church truly ought to be like a bar "where everybody knows your name." (And only an Episcopalian can get away with such an analogy.)

We approach one hundred years of ministry here at St. James. August 2004 will be here before we know it. We certainly want to begin this year to plan for a long and joyous celebration of 100 years of mission, outreach, and worship in Christ's name. As I said last year, we have such a rich history of varied ministry, with a legacy of excellent leaders, both clergy and lay, who have brought us to this point. Our care in remembering and honoring the past will shape the care we take in planning and laying the groundwork for the future. A successful future comes from living faithfully day by day and from doing the little things prayerfully, one day at a time. That was all that Jesus expected of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, our holy patron, and his brother, John - to live faithfully, one day at a time.

That is what Jesus calls us to do here in this parish family. With God's help, and each other for support, we can do it, too. It remains my prayer that God will continue to bless and lead us as we move forward into the areas of ministry and service to which we feel called. May we continue always to reach out to include someone new on the journey with us, to learn their name and their story. And may mutual love, trust, forgiveness, and good humor accompany us as we continue on this pilgrim journey together for many years to come.

Thank you, again, for inviting my family and me into this journey with you; may God continue to richly bless us as we go forward together.

The Rev'd Timothy M. Dombek
ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
301 Piney Mountain Road
Greenville, SC 29609-3035
(864) 244-6358
stjamesrector@mindspring.com

Copyright © 2002 Timothy M. Dombek All Rights Reserved.