What Are You Seeking? Reflecting on Our Spiritual Longing

Foreign.

Thank you for engaging with the homily by Pastor Chill Will from

Chapel Hill.

I hope this message encourages you, challenges you and moves you

to go deeper in your faith and enrich how you love God and love

your neighbor in your day to day life.

Just a reminder.

Like the Scriptures and Gospels themselves, this homily was

written for a particular community in a particular, particular

context, time in history and yet, like our sacred texts, I hope

that these words hold timeless truths about God's unconditional

love and grace.

We hope these words speak to you in a meaningful way.

The Holy Gospel According to John the next day he saw Jesus coming

toward him and declared, here is the Lamb of God who takes away

the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks ahead

of me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but I came.

But I came baptizing with water for this reason that he might

be revealed to Israel.

John testified, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like

a dove, and it remained on him.

I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with

water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descending and

remain is the one who baptized with the Holy Spirit.

And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen.

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,

and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, look, here is the

Lamb of God.

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following him, he said to them, what

are you looking for?

Said to him, rabbi, which translated means teacher, where are

you staying?

He said to them, come and see.

They came and saw where he was staying and they remained with him

that day.

It was about 4 o' clock in the afternoon.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew

Simon, Peter's brother.

He first found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found

the Messiah, which is translated anointed.

He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, you are Simon,

son of John.

You are to be called the which is translated Peter.

This is the Gospel of the Lord, the name of the Father and

the Son of the Holy Spirit.

He's back.

By by he I mean John the Baptist.

This time he's back, not situated in the season of Advent.

He's not shouting in the wilderness, causing a scene and yelling

at the onlookers to prepare the way of the Lord.

And this week he's not even baptizing Anyone?

This time we see what could be compared in college sports as a transfer

portal.

Dumb disciples switching teams there any nil money involved?

I don't know.

Probably not so far.

In the season of epiphany, we began traveling with foreigners,

following a star that leads to the Christ child going by another

road.

We are then led to a body of water.

As God speaks and the spirit descends and hovers, the identity

of beloved is formed.

New life emerges out of that new life.

This morning we get some call stories.

The calling of the first disciples.

The Gospel of John is different from the other synoptic

gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

John does tell some similar stories and he never loses the plot

thread of who Jesus is and the overall climactic build to Holy Week

and the cross into Easter morning.

But he does use a lot of creative images, imagery when he

shapes his Christology.

It's a fancy word of who we understand the Christ to be.

And that is why we read from the Gospel of John here in Epiphany,

situated right here today, the Gospel of John is filled with references

to light and awakening, seeing, looking, revelation.

John's gospel doesn't have a traditional Christmas story.

Rather he chooses to go further back and starts with this

cosmic call back to Genesis by starting with in the beginning was

the Word and with him all things came into being.

In him was life and light to the people.

The light shines in the darkness and it did not overcome

it.

This word became flesh bided among us.

In the Gospel of John, we don't see John the Baptist baptizing

anyone.

Rather we hear from him describing Jesus's baptism and what

he witnessed and experienced.

He's witnessing and testifying the epiphany he had when he baptized

Jesus.

And then we get this.

I yeah, it's a strange and mysterious story of John and his

disciples just kind of hanging out together in town where they are,

I don't know.

And they see Jesus in the wild twice.

They are hanging out and I assume minding their own business

and Jesus comes walking by.

John the Baptist is like, you see that guy right there?

Remember the one that I was talking about, who I baptized?

And there was this voice and dove and yeah, well, that's him.

That's the chosen one.

What?

You serious?

John?

I'm sure they had lots and lots of questions.

The next day the same thing happens again.

Jesus walks by, he's like, there he is.

That's the guy that John was talking about.

John is like, yep, that's him.

The Lamb of God.

The Lamb of God.

The two of John's disciples start following Jesus.

John's disciples switching teams seems kind of abrupt and maybe

like they betrayed or left him or broke up with him or whatever.

Yet if John's students are paying attention in class, John has

been talking about and calling for people to get ready for the chosen

One.

Why wouldn't they start following Jesus?

There are a lot of titles and labels and Christology attached to

Jesus just in these verses that we see today in our Gospel reading.

We hear of the Lamb of God, the chosen one, rabbi, anointed Messiah

teacher.

During the season of Epiphany and the Sundays that follow, we will

build on this and we will see how Jesus fulfills these titles and

how he lives and how he loves.

But notice Jesus doesn't say, yep, I'm him, and then explain once

and for all the mystery, all the mysteries of God and what magic

prayers to pray to reach enlightenment.

Rather the first words out of Jesus's mouth in the Gospel of John.

Question, what are you looking for?

What a question, huh?

This is a question we should ask and ponder and meditate and pray

on each every day.

What are you looking for?

Are you searching for?

Are you hungry for?

Are you longing for?

I love it that the disciples also don't give an answer right away,

like duh, the Messiah.

That's why we're following you either they ask a question back.

Remember, they are students of John the Baptist.

Most likely they've learned that there isn't a quick and easy

answer to the important things of life.

And so they ask, where are you staying?

Where are you abiding?

How about Jesus?

In order to have a thoughtful answer of what you're looking for,

they know that they need to spend some time with Jesus, who Jesus

extends to them an invitation on thee.

So this morning I hope that you'll hear that question and take

it to heart.

What are you looking for then?

How are you spending time with Jesus, Abiding with him and looking

and seeing where he abides, where he is staying?

Then where is Jesus asking you to come see?

On this Sunday in this season of epiphany, we begin to see some

call stories of how God calls people to come and learn, to come

and see, to come and follow and and to learn from Rabbi Jesus,

Teacher Jesus have a calling or to search for.

A calling is a pretty religious and spiritual and churchy

word and yet that is where we get our word vocation from.

Voco in Latin means call or a call in your work and life and vocation

where Is God calling you?

Where do you feel called?

And the hope and prayer is that your gifts meet up with the

world's needs.

I don't have time this morning to go in depth of my own personal

call story.

I'd be happy to share a coffee or meal with you, to share with you

my call story to seminary and what I'm doing with my life and how

I've grown over the years.

But there have been lots of people in my life who invited me,

come see to come and see the love and grace and mercy of God discovered

in the person.

Life, death, the resurrection of Jesus and youth directors and

Sunday school teachers and pastors and friends and family who

brought me to church, who are patient with me when I was a rowdy,

couldn't sit still, Little William.

And along the way, seminary professors and other colleagues and

friends and people who I work with who have invited me over and

over and over again to come and see who this Jesus is and how

we can learn from him together.

And there are so many call stories among us here and around

us in our lives.

When I think of call stories, I think of Mandy, our new church

council vice president, who is hearing a call to go to seminary.

I think of my friend Joshua, a member here at Holy Trinity, who

mostly worships online, who is also wrestling with the call to go

to seminary or not.

And there are call stories all around us that are not just wrestling

whether to go to seminary or not.

Perhaps God is calling you to into the sciences to help make the

world a better place, to understand it deeper.

Perhaps God is calling you into social work to help our neighbors

who are in our midst.

Perhaps God is calling you into finance who seek economic prosperity

and justice.

Perhaps God is calling you to advocate, to advocate work, to help

speak up for those whose voices are silenced or drowned out

amidst the noise of this world.

And although these call stories and experience and discernments

through them, God is calling our community of faith to discern

and use our gifts for a world hungry and longing for belonging,

for safety, for grace.

Indeed, there is a lot going on in our world right now, along

with you.

I feel overwhelmed and scared and sometimes frozen by it all.

And yet, as Isaiah calls us to, as we pay attention, we listen.

There are still people in our midst and beyond these walls who

invite us to come and and see what God is up to in our world.

At this table, at that font, and within our collective voices,

I hope and pray that we can still love up close and have real

and honest conversations and the relationships that are entrusted

to us as we walk together as a community of faith.

There are so many call stories around us.

I hope that we can pay attention.

I hope that we can listen.

I hope that we can continue to share these with one another and

our show and tell of what God is doing in our lives and where we

see Jesus abiding today.

Taking our lead from John and from those first disciples, let us

continue to ask, what are you looking for where we see Jesus?

To invite people to come and see body and blood waters of grace.

God's unconditional love and grace for all.

Amen.

Foreign.

Thank you for listening.

If there is anything that stood out for you, or if you have

a question or you just want to have a conversation, you are always

free to reach out and contact us.

And remember you are not alone and.

That you are loved with a love stronger than death.