Streams of Mercy

We read passages about two “call” stories at Jackson Springs Presbyterian yesterday. God comes close and calls each of us as he called those first disciples so long ago- sometimes in mystery, with visions of angels in the holy of holies, like Isaiah in the temple; sometimes in the common and ordinary of daily life- like Peter going about his work as a fisherman. Jesus challenged them with a call that broke into their routines, and helped them to see beyond their little worlds and catch a glimpse of something new.

God calls to each of us in the midst of our daily routines – teaching or going to class; clerking in a store, working construction; caring for toddlers; baking, cleaning and making a home; or riding a tractor and bailing hay …

Wherever we are, Jesus meets us and call us to go back out – out into the deeper waters. We’re called to go back out yet again- to launch out into the deep of God’s Word, where the Spirit can open up to us the wonders of God’s love. We’re called to launch out into the deeper waters of grace, and to grow in our understanding of all the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. We are called to launch out into deeper understandings of our call to be a servant people in a world so needing to hear the good news.

The English navigator and seaman, Sir Frances Drake is known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580. While on his voyage around the world, he wrote this prayer:

Disturb us, Lord

when we are too well pleased with ourselves,

when our dreams have come true,

because we dreamed too little

when we arrived safely

because we sailed too close to the shore.

Let us make this the prayer of our hearts today, and see where God takes us! May God disturb us – we who dream too little and sail to close to the shore - so that we might dream bigger dreams and sail out into deeper waters.

Elizabeth