God is Calling
Exodus 3:1-10; 4:1-5, 10-16
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Harry G. Winsheimer
April 13, 2008

Our session has invited me to be your Temporary Supply Pastor.  What that means is that I will be your senior pastor until you elect your next pastor. 

I have been asked repeatedly: How do you pronounce your last name?   It is not hard.  Why I learned it as a little boy.  We split it between the ‘Wins’ and the ‘heimer’.  Think of it this way:  A ball team has so many wins and losses.  What is your favorite baseball team?   How many of you root for the Phillies?  For the Pirates?  For what other team?   When I was dating Charlotte, I told her that if I ever ran for president that I would shorten my name to “Harry Wins.”  That sounds positive and should be good for a few votes.

Charlotte and I were married almost 49 years (we were in kindergarten).   We have a son with his two teenagers in Leesburg, and a daughter with her husband and daughter in Reston, VA.  We came here instead of moving to a sunny southern climate so that we could visit them on a day trip.  Charlotte has been a very patient and dependable support in my ministry.  (Well, maybe not so patient.)  She has been a blessing to all the churches which I have served.  Here she co-led a Lenten Small Group Study, sings in the choir, and is vice moderator/moderator elect of the Women of the Presbytery.  She has served as an officer of Presbyterian Women in the presbytery, synod and denominational levels.  She is an enthusiastic Stephen Ministry Leader, participated in marriage preparation and support ministry, and is an elder.   I have to highlight this woman that God gave me. One of the nicest comments that she has said to me recently was, “I am going to miss you.  It has been nice having you around.” We are adjusting, you are adjusting, to the pastoral change.

After forty-six years of service as a pastor, I retired in July of 2006.  For the past eighteen months, I have worshiped with you.  Those of you who normally attend the 11:00 service may have noticed my follicle-challenged head in the second or third row on the aisle.  I sat there, because usually no one sat in front of me—which meant that I would sing the hymns.  Charlotte says that I have a good voice; it is just that it never is where it should be. 

Then Dan Hans announced his call to Lexington, KY.  Instantly the thought hit me, “Lord, they wouldn’t, would they?”

The decision process leading to my standing here today paralleled the experience of several biblical personalities. I and they were going about our business.  We had our plans.  Then God interrupted!  God tapped us on the shoulder, and said, “This way.” 

Moses is out on the lonely mountain side, caring for his father-in-law’s flock.  I have seen mid-eastern shepherds watching sheep.  I doubt that there is a more boring occupation on this planet than that of a biblical shepherd, or a more isolated and lonely one.  (It compares with a security guard alone on night duty.)  So, when Moses saw the bush burning and not being consumed, he was curious.  Surprise!  God spoke, ordering, “Go back to Egypt to the Pharaoh and tell him to set my people free from slavery.”  “What!  Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and make such a demand?”   Moses objected again and again, offering excuses why he could not go.  “Lord, I can’t talk.”  And God bested Moses by pointing out that Moses’ brother Aaron was on his way to see Moses, and he had a glib tongue.  He could speak for Moses.  Out argued, Moses surrendered.  

Have you been there?  That time when God called you through the church nominating committee to a service that was going to change your life.  Would you come with me to South Carolina on the mission trip?  We need a helper with the program to provide a drug-free environment; will you help?  It can be in church.  It can be in the larger society.  One of you told me that when God called you to go on a medical mission, there was no question that you would go and continue to go.  Others of us protest.  “No, I don’t want to!”  “Not me, Lord!  Somebody else!”

I had my excuses. “In case you have not noticed, Lord, I am too old.  They say in baseball that the older runner has lost a step.  Lord, I have lost several!”  “Lord, haven’t I done enough?  I did 46 years.  It is time for the younger ministers to take over.”  “And, as you know, Lord, I have a respiratory problem that sometimes makes me feel like I have a nasty case of jet lag.  I have disk pain if I sit too long at the desk or in a meeting.”  “And further, Lord, I have lost some of my hearing.  I can’t hear people with higher pitched voices.  I can’t understand some mushy voices. That frustrates them and me.” “Lord, I don’t want to follow Dan Hans!  I don’t want to be compared with him!”   “And, by the way, Lord, have you looked at my calendar?  I have plans, some of them I have been waiting years to do in retirement. We won’t be free to baby sit.  Lord, there has to be someone else out there.” 

Have you had the experience?  You had plans, and discovered that God had plans for you.  And you had to choose.  Maybe you are there now.  You debate; you resist.  You don’t feel up to it; you think that you will give up too much if you go with God’s call.  You offer excuses. You argue. 

And, bargain.

Bargaining. The big IF…..   Ahh, we love to bargain.  Seems just to come naturally.  This is how it went for me. It took days to process the situation internally, and this is the deal that I offered God (just a little megalomania---I offered God a deal---actually I was giving God conditions):  “Lord, I can’t reject this pastorate outright, and live with a free conscience; I would always wonder if you had called and I failed to listen.  But, I will not apply.  I will not put my hat into the ring.  You will have to take the initiative.  However, if the elders contact me, I will at least talk.  And I will tell them all the reasons why I should not be asked to do it.  Then, if they still ask, I will take it as your will that I am to do it.”

Do you remember a time when you did some bargaining?

Are you being called today?  God could be asking you to do something with church, with the family, something at work, something in society.  Do you hear an inner voice?

So, how do you know if that inner voice is God calling you?

How do we know if the request from the church nominating committee, the invitation from the friend to accompany her to South Carolina to put on a roof, is from God?  How do we know if it is God who speaks through the stranger sitting in the pew in front of us who turns at the end of the service and says, “You have a good voice.  You ought to sing in the choir.”?  (That has not happened to me.)  How do we know?

Now I will suggest four questions that we may ask.  There are more, but these four always need to be asked.

1.  Is what I sense that God is asking of me consistent with New Testament teaching?

For the past two weeks, we have heard about the polygamy sect in Texas.  Sounds awful.  How can that happen today in the U.S.A.?  Apparently in the name of God, they kept people on the ranch by fear.  And, men beat and raped teens---that was God’s way?  Is retention of loyalty by fear taught in the New Testament?  Is beating and rape approved by God in the New Testament?  No!  Love that redeems sinners, that builds up and strengthens people, comes from God.  God’s call will be to bless without coercion.

Always ask, “Is this that I am asked to be, is this that I am asked to do, consistent with New Testament teaching?

2.  Am I being asked to give up myself to God?

Inevitably God calls us to surrender, to give up some of our present lives.  We built our present lives.  I had my plans.  You have your plans.  When God calls, God asks us to leave some of the present life behind.  That is hard to do.  We are asked to have faith in God and in the work to which God calls us.  Moses had the faith and what a grand work God did using him!

3.  Am I being asked to give myself away to bless someone?

If the call is from God, ninety per cent of the time the answer will be what?  Yes!

In the New Testament it is named agape love, love for the well-being of someone else.  When God called Moses, did God call Moses to bless Moses?  I am going to employ a verb deliberately: God used Moses to go into the hornets’ nest of Egypt and free God’s people.  God wants us to release control of our lives, so that God may use us to bless someone.

4.  Do mature Christians confirm God’s call of me?

I have visited patients in mental health units who were certain that God had called them to save the world; a couple of them were sure that they were Jesus sent by God on a mission.  That they were in the locked hospital ward suggests that not everyone was convinced.  My inner call must be confirmed by mature Christians.

In the Presbyterian Church, we have a formal process for screening people who feel the inner call to the professional ministry.  I went through this.  Lou and Candace were tested.  Dennis Dillman of our church is going through it as a seminarian.  The church accesses our sense of call by having us pass through the examination of several bodies.  First, the session must agree that we are called.  Then a committee of presbytery composed of elders and ministers must concur, a church must call us to be a pastor, and finally the whole presbytery must agree. 

I used this method.  Actually I perverted it.  I bargained with God that the elders had to come to me.  Eventually, I met with the elders and they voted to invite me to be the temporary pastor.  The confirmation process was used by both me and the elders.  Always check out your sense of call with mature Christians.

These four questions are helpful in accessing our sense of call. 

So, in conclusion, what am I called to do as your temporary supply pastor?

The morning after I accepted the session’s invitation, at 4:30, I burst awake, heart racing, sweating, thinking, “Oh, Lord, what did I do! To what did I commit myself?  Ohhh!” 

To what did I commit myself?  Generally I will be doing what Dan Hans did.  However, I am not Dan Hans!  I will be different.  That is good!  My being different will help prepare  you to accept the next pastor who will be different.

I am not here to change everything and institute my ideas.  You are a great church!  We are a great church—I think of myself as one of you. Neither the session, the presbytery, nor I see a need to overhaul this congregation.  We are a faithful, sound, vigorous church.  I am certain that the Holy Spirit intends to build strength upon strength!

I am here to support you in being faithful to Christ.  I am here to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in moving the church forward until your future pastor is elected.  And, (this is very important) I hope to help with your separation emotions from the Hans. I want you to treasure your memories while limiting their power to the past; we are not called to be the church of yesterday; we cannot relive yesterday. We are called to be the church of today, preparing for tomorrow.  I will work toward getting you emotionally ready to accept a different personality with his/her unique gifts.  I will encourage you to commit yourselves to support the future senior pastor.

Just as God does not call us to live yesterday, God does not call us to put our lives on hold until the future pastor arrives.  We are called to continue serving.  Lou and Candace continue their pastoral work.  So do all the other dedicated and capable staff.   I am impressed with how many elders and other volunteers have adjusted their schedules to take on extra work over the past weeks.  We are called to support these people who serve us, and together continue serving the Lord. 

How shall we approach this pastoral change?  How will we interpret and use this pastoral change?  How will we talk about it?  What will we try to make of it?    If we choose to try to repeat the past in the present and the future, Gettysburg Presbyterian will stagnate and probably wilt.  If we choose to treasure the past, live abundantly in the present and pray for discernment of possibilities, then the potential for Gettysburg Presbyterian is dramatic. 

Let’s treasure our past.
Let’s give ourselves to God for carrying on the work.
Let’s open ourselves to God’s possibilities.

It is a common practice to conclude sermons with a prayer offered by the preacher.  Instead, I invite you to join me in singing the prayer.  We often sing it as a response. 

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me;
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

God calls us as individuals.  God calls us as church!  We are in this together!  One of you sent me a note, a portion of which I quote: I Corinthians 3:9, “For we are laborers together with God… .”  We trust that we can be as loving and helpful to you as you will be to us---that our support will be two-way.”  Amen!  God calls us as church family to be God’s people and do God’s work.  Therefore, let us sing this prayer again using the plural “us”, “Fall afresh on us. Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us.”  (stand)

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