Isaiah 49:1-7                                              “TRYING TO UNDERSTAND DIVINE LOGIC” Well, here it is Rally day once again or The Great Fall gathering or even as a Church in Los Angeles calls it, report for duty Sunday. It is not a liturgical date but it is practical date because it signifies the beginning of the Churches full-scale activities after the summer period. This year, this day takes on special significance because shortly, you will be voting on the search committee’s recommendation to call a clergy person to this Church. Let me pause here for a moment of explanation. A congregation, such as this one, calls a minister to a position; you do not hire him. A minister’s standing is within the conference in which the Pastoral Charge exists. For us that is the B.C. Conference. If, you ratify the search committee’s recommendation and call the candidate, his credentials will be transferred to and held by the British Columbia conference office in their facility in Burnaby. Once a minister is settled in a church, the oversight of the ministry in that Church is done b y the Presbytery in which the Church exists-for us that is The Vancouver Burrard Presbytery. Thus, you see, a minister is never a member of the congregation that he or she serves or even attends. I am not and cannot be a member of this Church where I am now Interim nor the Church where I worship when I am retired. The membership of the clergy is with the conference and the oversight of the work of the local Church with the Presbytery-. Are you still with me? What makes this day so important in the life of congregations is the recognition that the governance of a congregation and the serving work is the role of the Churches participants. You do not call a clergyperson to do work for you; you call him or her to advise, lead, counsel, teach and provide the spiritual foundation so that the churches participants do the work of ministry. That is the reason why I have been pushing so hard for volunteers to sign up. The Church needs to know of your interests, abilities and willingness to serve in certain activities. In the 13 months that I have been here, I have found there is a great reticence to volunteering or signing up to do certain things. In my mind it is essential that we have a reservoir of people who are willing to perform tasks in the name of Christ and this Church. To be sure there are tasks that can be done quietly and alone, but in general, a minister needs to know who is willing to serve, who is serving and who will consider serving at a later date. In that sense, the sign up sheets at the rear of the sanctuary are an essential part of the life of this congregation. Well, enough of that, you get the point. On this matter of service, the prophet Isaiah has a brilliant passage that is appropriate for us to visit on this day in our Church. There is a dialogue-taking place between a servant and his Lord. It is deliberately constructed so that we can listen in but more, because we do not know who the specific servant is, let us fill in our own name and see how the passage works. Let me rewrite this passage from the 49th chapter of Isaiah, with you and me as the recipients and with Canada as the nation involved. “ Listen to me O coastlands, pay attention you people from far off in the prairies and the Maritimes! The Lord chose me before I was born to be a servant of his. He made my mouth to utter words as sharp as a two edged sword. He protected me with his own hand and like an arrow he made me ready for use. But I said, I have labored in vain, I have used up my strength and have accomplished nothing. Yet, I can trust the Lord to defend my cause because he will reward me for what I do. Before I was born the Lord appointed me as his servant to bring back the scattered people of Canada. I am honoured by the Lord who is the source of my strength and who said to me, I have a greater task for you to do. Not only will you restore the greatness of the people of Squamish, but I will make you a light to the whole nation so that the people will be saved.” Does that sound like what has happened to you? I mean, from the moment you and I were baptized we were called to be special people: God’s people. So in one way or another we set out to do our best. You know how it goes, be kinder, be more forgiving, no more squeezing in front of people in a line up, no more racing through the light when it is yellow and you try to attend Church regularly whether it is because you believe or you hope to believe. You go because you know that God can change lives and somewhere, in the dark recesses of our minds you remember someone telling you that God expects us to be different from other people, so you try. You work and study, you burn the candle at both ends, you strive and volunteer until you wonder why you are doing this. You find ourselves snapping at those who are doing less or not interested at all and you get discouraged because the kids you taught in Sunday School are no where to be seen and you say, if only to yourself, I have failed-I have laboured in vain, there is little to see from all my efforts. That, I suspect is exactly how this servant of Isaiah’s reference felt. I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. There is every indication that he is saying all of this so God will say, you gave it a good try so we’ll replace you with so and so. But, God does not accept his resignation! God, who seems to have a different concept of success or failure, says so, you failed at this one, I will give you a bigger task. I will make you a light to the entire nation in fact to all nations so that my salvation will go to the ends of the earth. Go figure, but that my friends is divine logic. Fail at one task and you are given a bigger one. You work and produce a spark in your home Church and God asks you to light up the whole planet. It is either a case of a total difference of understandings or God has a different idea of failure. Maybe just maybe, our success does not depend on those of us who are chosen but on the one who has chosen us. In fact, it seems like the only way we can fail is to remove ourselves from the hand of God and cease from even trying to serve. Who do we think we are to suggest that our efforts are not good enough, that our grades are not high enough  or that what we do has failed simply because it did not measure up to our expectations? You know how it goes in Church work- your munching on a cookie with a cup of coffee in the other hand when Laura comes along and says, can I sign you up to teach for one month: four Sundays? You mumble and try to figure out something smart to say but finally, you say, Well, I’m not much good but I’ll try four Sundays with the toddlers. So, you work at it. You delve into stories and you read the Biblical stories and you meet with the kids and you try. Then the month is over and you finish and feel like a failure. Then Philip Harness comes along, when you are munching on a cookie and holding a cup of coffee, and says, I heard some good things about you, how about leading the older kids in a seven-week session just prior to Easter? You stammer and fret until finally you say, OK, I’ll try. You think you failed at one task, you get a bigger one. The reward for some work is more work. That’s the way Churches work. There is no retirement program for Church participants where you can ease out by saying I’ve done my share. Divine logic doesn’t work that way! Just think for a moment of how many great things were accomplished in the Bible by elderly people: Abraham and Sarah and the beginning of an entire race of people: Moses, Samuel, Elijah and the list goes on. Those of you who have taught in Sunday school, for example, probably have had the great joy of having an adult come to you and say, “you influenced my life when you were my teacher.” I know those of you who are educators have had that experience. Then you think, that kid nearly drove me nuts. I was ready to quit because of him or her and now, its pay back time, God is using you even when you can’t see it. That’s divine logic. In Grace Community Church in Yreka California, where Mike Yaconneli, author of the book, “Messy Spirituality” is Pastor, there Is an elderly lady of seventy-six years of age volunteered to help with the Youth Group because she was concerned about the youth of her village. Gertie wasn’t a speaker, she felt too old to play games and she didn’t want to lead a Bible study. Gertie did however, have a camera and she began taking pictures of all the members of the youth group and putting a little biography on the back of the pictures. Each ttme they met, Gertie would be at the door and would welcome them b y name. At the end of the session she would say goodbye to them and promises to pray for them. The youth began to realize that Gertie had an amazing knowledge of the Bible and privately they began to come to her with some of their questions. After ten years, Gertie suffered three strokes. The possibility of her death distressed member of the group. They wanted to help her. Finally, one afternoon, after reading ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’, a youth came to Gertie and said, I want to do your funeral. Gertie said, I want you to do my funeral but I am not dead yet. I know, the youth responded, I want to do your funeral while you are still alive so you can know how much you mean to the people of this Church.   Gertie loved the idea so a funereal was planned. Many were contacted-10 years of youth members. Some were in College; others were now married and parents. They came and they shared their stories. Some others gathered in the back room to prepare a surprise. Gertie loved perfume; good perfume scents like Estee Lauder’s beautiful. The youth came down the aisle as a group hiding something and when they got to the front of the Church, they broke the bottle open and the poured it on Gertie’s feet, anointing her in gratitude. Like the widow of Jesus story who gave what she had, Gertie shared what talent she had and her gift will live long after she is gone. That’s divine logic. God takes what you have and when you give it to help others, it is made far greater than you or anyone else can logically believe. It’s Rally day. Some of you are feeling old and burned out. Some of you are scared to try because you are afraid of failure or the kids won’t like me. Some of you have never been interested in serving the cause of Christ in any capacity. Well, today is an opportunity for you to sign up and try. Put God to the test, volunteer your time and effort and allow divine logic to work. Maybe, like Isaiah’s servant when you cry I have failed, God will reject your desire to quit by giving you a greater task. What is important to remember is, our success is not dependent on who is chosen but on the one who chooses us. The only way we can truly fail is to remove ourselves and quit our relationship with the one who chooses. May we respond and light up, combust burn and shine with the glory of the God who has chosen us. Dr. Doug. Lobb.

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