As we work on discerning what our call -how we are drawn
deeper into God-might be; we realize that there is not just one path. There are
many ways to get to God, and each of them is as individual and unique as each
of us. Our individual path is built on the bricks of our past and our God's dreams for our future. Every path is rooted in God’s love. The path is grounded in God’s Love for us and
God’s Love for all of creation. Love that we are meant to share freely.
Robert Frost may have offered two paths in the woods. (The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost) Really
there are many, many more paths, and all lead home to God. At a recent retreat,
the Rev. Meg Hunn used an image from the Disney/Pixar movie Finding Dory. The little fish Dory is,
to say the least, absent minded and always getting lost. Dory’s parents make
many shell paths to their home so that she can always find her way back. Such is the love of God-always making a way
back, no matter what path we take. Like Dory, we are absent minded and
forgetful about God’s love and need many reminders and many paths to find our
way home.
The reading from Acts tells of Paul and Silas going to
Macedonia because of a vision. At Philippi, “on the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we
supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women
who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was
listening to us.” (Acts 16:12-13) Paul might have preferred to be preaching
to the men of the area. Instead, he meets some prayerful women, including Lydia, a
business woman from Thyatira (which is in what is now Turkey). She and her
household are baptized. Afterwards, “she
urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and
stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us.” (Acts 16:15)
This side trip by Paul may have seemed like an interruption
in the trip, but it was vitally important to the church. Lydia, as an important
leader, was able to share the Gospel with those she knew. Even though we don’t
hear about her further in the New Testament, the fact that she is regarded as
the patron saint of dyers means that her legacy was not forgotten.
The Pulpit Commentary on this passage quotes Chrysostom as
noting, "The opening of the heart
was God's work, the attending was hers: so that it was both God's doing and
man's." That is what calling and responding to God’s call is about. It is
about God’s acting and man’s responding.
It is about choosing a path and finding God is already there.
In John 5:1-9, we are told the story of the man by the pool
at Bethsaida. He thought his path to healing and wholeness lay in getting to
the pool when the waters moved. He complains to Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred
up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”
Jesus offers a different path. He empowers the man by ordering, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” To
the astonishment of all, and probably most to the man, “At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to
walk.” This man’s path to healing was not found in getting into the water,
but in responding to Jesus’ command.
Our path to finding our ‘call’ may not be the direction we
expect either. Some unexpected twist may change our entire, well planned out
destination. A move, a new job, a child, an illness, the reasons for a change
in direction are as many as there are people. We can be assured that God is
already waiting on the new path and has laid a trail (maybe not with seashells,
but who knows) to guide us home.
Like Paul, each of us has a calling to share that good news.
God loves each of us and God is on the path with each of us!
What path do you think you are on? What alternate way might
God be showing you?
Is God telling you to get up and walk?
How can you help someone who is struggling to
find their path?