"Discovering Your Mission" - 2nd Sunday Homily by Deacon Ted

So if I could be so bold as to paraphrase the second reading.

To you.

The second reading says, Deacon Ted, that's not what it says, I'm paraphrasing, called to be a deacon of the Church of Jesus Christ and the will of God to the Church of God that is

in Darnstown.

to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.

With all those everywhere who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

You, us, are called to be holy.

And you are holy.

He asked, but Deacon, I'm just me.

I'm just a person.

I'm a mother, I'm a father, I'm a daughter, I'm a son.

I'm not special, I'm not holy.

I beg to differ.

I wouldn't say you're holy if you weren't.

That would be lying and that would put me in a confessional.

You are holy and I'll tell you how.

You're all baptized and when you were baptized you were washed clean of sins.

You were prayed over and the Spirit came down upon you and it was sealed in you and the sign of the cross calling you to serve God.

with the holy oil.

From that moment on, you became God's servant.

Just like Isaiah in the first reading was God's servant.

And you say, okay, but I'm still a mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter.

And Jesus was just a kid until the day came when he was called to go into his public ministry.

And so today, as a reminder,

I ask you to think about being called to advance your ministry from what you're doing now to what you could be doing and should be doing for God.

So you think about it and say, okay, I'm all in.

What is it that I'm supposed to be doing?

What's my mission?

John was very clear.

He had his mission.

He knew his mission.

Prepare the way of the Lord.

I baptize with water to make known the one who is coming after me who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

His whole life he knew exactly what his mission was and followed it.

So what's our mission.

First off, will remind you, just a minute ago, you sang the psalm, the responsoial psalm.

Here I am, Lord.

I come to do your will.

I heard you.

I was sitting right there.

Each and every one you.

I could see your mouth move.

You were saying it.

So what is the will of God for you?

And I'm sure he's got a very specific mission.

But let me tell you a general one that we should all be participating in each and every day.

When you were baptized, you were gifted with three different characters.

You were called to be priest, prophet, and king.

You remember that when the priest told you that?

No.

Priest, prophet, and king is what baptism brought you.

priest.

Your mission as a priest is to offer worship to God.

That's your mission as a priest.

As a prophet, your mission is to speak the Word of God to others.

As a king, your mission is to serve the people of God.

Priest, prophet, and king.

No, you don't have one mission, you have three!

And you say, okay.

How do I go about doing that?

uh

And I'll tell you, simple way is, one, you're doing the first one right now.

You come to church, you pray, you participate, you say the prayers, you sing the songs, you are worshipping God, you have checked the block, first mission complete.

Second mission, prophet.

This one's a little trickier.

How often do we speak about God to others?

And I don't mean here in the church.

I mean at work, in the neighborhood, family members, friends.

How often do you bring up God in your discussions?

Because part of our mission is just that.

To preach the Word of God to others.

Not to put them down, not to sound like me standing here.

I'm sure you all do it much better, much gentler, much kinder, and much more loving.

But that's your mission.

And the third mission as king is to serve the people of God.

That takes many forms.

The deacon who was my mentor who got me to be a deacon and I were having a conversation one day and I said, Tim, what's your ministry of charity which were all given by the

bishop?

and he looks at me and says, right now, Ted, my mission is to cure for my wife who's dying.

And that was like expecting, I'm assigned to the local hospital or I go to the prison or I work the food kitchen.

No, he said, doesn't matter what I did before.

My mission from God is to care for her.

So when I ask you to serve the people of God, you have to decide what form that's taking and whether you're doing it for God or for somebody else.

Priest, prophet, and king, you come to do His will.

And if we do it properly, we'll be just like John the Baptist.

We'll be preparing the way of the Lord for His second coming.

Your mission would be just like John the Baptist.

Do whatever it takes to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus Christ the second time.

It's a big mission.

By faith and confidence in your training, in God's grace, and in your love for God, that you are capable of it.

And so to end not sounding like I'm mean and angry and nasty, I say Amen.

And the church says Amen.

At least I do it with a little more energy.

And the church says Amen.

In the name of Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.