Consider this your sign

This post was contributed by Micah Intern Ben Whaley. It is a sermon he gave on Thursday, January 14 at The Crossing worship community in downtown Boston.

So… I have a ritual of doing holy reading each week. And I do it on Saturday nights, just before I go to bed. And you might be thinking that I do this reading then to prepare myself spiritually for church on Sunday mornings, but no.. I do this reading then because that’s when Post Secret updates.

Post secret is a community art project that allows folks to mail in post-card sized secrets and confessions to this artist who posts them on his blog on Saturday nights. Sometimes the secrets are funny, sometimes they are intimate and painful. But this week I was especially moved by a post card that wasn’t a secret at all. It simply said “This is whatever sign that you need it to be. Good luck.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I often find myself looking for a sign. I remember a year ago now I had just graduated from college with a degree in theatre and no idea what to do with it. I loved the kids I worked with as a youth minister, but that wasn’t a full time job and I really had nothing else to do with myself. I was standing around with my hands in my pockets, constantly praying, “What next?” and waiting for God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit to give me the answer. Little did I know the answer would come from my friend Clay. He suggested I do this thing called the Micah Project. And here I am in this internship, living in an intentional community and serving the young people of St. Peter’s/San Pedro in Salem. I’m finding myself really filled by the work I’m doing – mentoring, advocacy, community organizing. But I also know it’s temporary. I’ve got about six months left in the program, and then I have no idea what’s next. I am exactly where I was a year ago today, asking for a sign.

And as I started working on this reflection, that question wouldn’t let me go. And I heard that question echoed in Jesus’ voice as he sits at the table arguing with his mother about his future.

Woman, it’s not my time yet, Jesus says. I’m not ready. What is Jesus waiting for I wonder? Is he hoping to have a little more time to prepare before he has to go to work? Does he have a plan all set for his entry into ministry? Is he waiting for a sign? And why does he change his mind and decide to take his first step here?

Here he is a guest at his friends’ wedding - two people who are in serious danger of being shamed. To run out of wine at their wedding celebration would be a serious embarrassment. But, like Jesus says, why should that matter to him? Remember, this is the first miracle we’re dealing with. Up until this moment, Jesus hasn’t done anything crazy. He hasn’t said anything radical. Sitting at that table with his friends, he’s just an ordinary guy and he could very easily choose to continue living a normal life, according to his plan. He could go back to Nazareth and be a carpenter. He could wait for a moment when the properly applied miracle would gain him hundreds or thousands of followers in a single moment.

And so Jesus has a choice to make – is he going to follow the plan that he has and wait for the opportune moment. Or is he going to use the power that he has to help the people that need him?

I think about the way we choose to respond to the needs of those around us.

I think of the pain of our brothers and sisters in Haiti as they wrestle with the aftermath of this earthquake and I am moved by how quickly we as a diocese are mobilizing ourselves to support them. But it seems like in times like these there can hardly be a question – what we can give, we do.

I don’t think the choices are always that clear in our day to day lives. You don’t always get a phone call from a friend saying “Go to Boston!” Sometimes, like Jesus, you just have to take the first step. Even when the calling seems inconvenient or ill-timed.

What call have you been putting off?

What’s holding you back?

Are you looking for a sign?

Well, consider this whatever sign that you need it to be.