Our Vocation of Presence
Pentecost 2 – Summer Series “Faith and Film”
June 3, 2018
Grace, Mankato, MN
Genesis 1.26-31

Note: This summer, we are exploring theological themes found in popular movies in a series called, “Faith and Film.” Today’s movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” shows forth the theme of vocation. Each week, a video clip from the movie highlighting the theme is shown.

For those of you who haven’t seen “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or it’s been a while since you have seen it, here’s a brief recap:

George Bailey spends his entire life giving up his big dreams for the good of his town, friends and family.  But now, on Christmas Eve, he is broken and suicidal over the misplacing of an $8000 loan and the scheming of the evil millionaire Mr. Potter, whom George has been battling his adult life. George’s guardian angel, Clarence, falls to Earth, literally, and shows him how his town, family, and friends would have turned out if he had never been born. Here’s the end of the angel’s revelation as George realizes how much he has meant to others.

(The video clip shows George anguished because his brother, whom he saved from drowning at an early age, wouldn’t in turn have saved the lives of soldiers he served with in the war.)

George is given the rare chance to see and hear from family and friends the difference he makes in their lives and in the world. Perhaps without realizing and theologians would say that George answered God’s call to serve God and neighbor in his vocation. All of us—not just pastors—have a similar call to vocation in daily life, rooted in the creation story. When God gives women and men dominion over creation, God has instilled in us a purpose. That purpose doesn’t stop at creation. Our vocations are part of the ongoing unfolding of God’s continual work of creating in the world. We are, as Gary Simpson says, “co-creating creatures.”

Yet, vocation and calling involves far more than our doing in the world; our doing flows out of our being. Theologians talk about a ministry of presence, how being with people outshines doing anything. We are first and foremost human beings. Though George Bailey certainly does a lot of things for his town, it was his presence that matters the most.

I learned the importance of presence (again) two years ago when I attended a quiet retreat at was then the Holy Spirit Retreat Center north of Janesville. Though we were to be silent most of the time, we were permitted to talk at proscribed times, if we chose. Near the end of the retreat, which included mostly nuns and me, the only male, several nuns told me how much it meant to them that I was there. I was stunned by their comments because it was I who was blessed by them.  My spiritual director was not surprised when I told her this; it was about my presence.

In Genesis, the writer insists we have been made in God’s image. There’s a lot of speculation about just what that means, but there has to be something about being given stewardship of creation. But, we take our lead from the One who best reflects God, who has been made perfectly in God’s image, Jesus. It is in Jesus we see that the one who rules is the one who serves.

Each summer, I ask our Confirmands to write a faith statement paper. They can write on anything, but I give them a series of questions to get them started. If they write two or three sentences on each question, the paper writes itself. To help our then understand the importance of vocation, call and presence, I ask them when writing their faith statements to answer, “At this point in your life, what do you think God is calling you to be?” Then I ask the follow up question, “How would you be serving God and neighbor in this vocation?” Hopefully, they will see their lives rooted in God’s call to serve God and neighbor.

The question of who we are and what we do is not only for individuals, but also for us as a community of faith at Grace. Last fall we declared a sabbatical on starting any new projects so we could discern what God is calling us to do in the coming years. The church council has taken the “Hope slips” filled out last December and has used them to start with the important prior question of who we are. They are doing this because our doing as a community of faith comes from our being, from who God created us to be.

One way to answer the question of who we are is to ask the George Bailey question: what would Mankato be like if Grace didn’t exist? What would this community lose if Grace wasn’t here? God put here for a reason; what is it? May you discern your vocation and God’s call on you, both here and in your daily life. Amen.