"An Instrument"

 

Luke 5:1-11

 

     In his new novel Wendell Berry writes about nine year old Andy Catlett.  He is going to visit his grandfather by bus, traveling from the small town of Hargrave, Kentucky to the smaller town of Port William where his grandfather lived on a farm out in the country.  The year was 1943.  In a few years Hargrave would consume Port William but at the moment they were two different lifestyles in contention with one another.  Andy Catlett, in his innocence thought that the world of his grandfather, the world the mules were drawing him to in the country of Port William was a truer world than the world of Hargrave, and he liked it better.  He wrote "I thought it had always been and would always be pretty much as it was." 

 

     I think as children we often feel that way not only about our communities but our homes and our churches.  We expect them to stay the same.  I know that when I go home to Sussex, New Jersey I am always surprised by the changes.  It is a comforting feeling to drive up to the house at 20 Fourth Street and find my mother in the house that has not changed much over the last forty years.  But I also know that isn't forever.  Change could happen at any time. 

 

     When a family presents an infant for baptism, surrounded by their Christian family, I think we get a glimpse of the most real world of all, a world full of grace and love.  There is not one person in this room who does not want what is best for Eli Marlow.  We would like to keep Eli in that world of grace and love, and keep him from all harm.  But we don't stay in that world.  Little Eli will not stay little Eli.  He will grow and mature, he will experience ups and downs.  I doubt if we could be effective servants if we didn't go through the highs and lows.  Eli is a servant of God. 

 

     When in infant is brought forward for baptism I think a typical reaction is "Oh, how cute."  "Isn't he just adorable?"  "He's just precious."  I doubt if very many of us are thinking, here is an instrument of God. 

 

      Eli is a Biblical name.  Eli was the priest who trained Samuel after Samuel's mother, Hannah, dedicated her son to the service of the Lord.  Both Eli and Samuel were instruments of the Lord. 

 

      As Christian parents we present our children for baptism.  We want God's seal put on them, we want to know that our children are a part of God's family.  But I have never had someone come up to me and say, I want to dedicate my child to the service of God.  The truth of the matter is that our children become instruments of God whether we want them to be or not.

 

      As parents we say we will do whatever it takes for our children to become teachers or doctors or lawyers or musicians.  But do we also say we will do whatever it takes to help our children become servants of God.  The reality is that we do not have a choice, God works through our children and God works through us whether we like it or not.

 

       In our Luke reading this morning Jesus did not ask people to follow him.  He did not give them a choice.  He said "You will become fishers of people."  You are part of the net I will use to bring people to faith.  Your task is to tell people about the good news of salvation.

 

       Right now we have ten young people going through confirmation.  My guess would be that the goal for them is to become members of the church.  I suggest to you that is a goal that is too small.  Our goal should be for them to become disciples of  Jesus.  They are part of the net which brings people to faith.

 

     Little Eli is already part of the net.  This morning through Eli we learn about the grace of God.  Eli cannot take care of himself, he is dependent on Mom and Dad to give him what he needs. 

 

       Through Eli we are reminded that we cannot take care of ourselves, we are dependent on the grace of God.  We can trust God, just as Eli trusts his parents, to give us what we need. 

 

        Eli is a reminder to us that we are in God's hands, and that is not something that is temporary, that is forever.  When we are in God's hands we are in the most real world of all.