Ephesians 4:1-16

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: 

When he ascended on high,
He took many captives
And gave gifts to his people.

(What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Let us pray,

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer…

I love watching the summer Olympic Games. I was super sad when the games had to be postponed last year due to the pandemic. It feels extra special that they’re even able to happen at all this year with everything going on in the world. My favorite sport to watch is Women’s Gymnastics. I couldn’t wait to watch my girl Simone Biles. Arguably the greatest female gymnast of all time. Add more gold medals to her collection.

Biles had a rocky start in qualifiers. Usually confident and steady. She looked scared and unsure of herself. But I figured it was just nerves. After all, the entire world was watching her perform. There was a lot of pressure on her to do well. Especially after the year we’ve all had. 

Then on Tuesday morning, I got a breaking news text on my phone that Biles withdrew from team competition after her warm-up. I woke up on Wednesday morning to a text that she had withdrawn from individual competition as well. What makes the greatest female gymnast of all time withdrawal from the Olympics? 

Biles had come down with a case of “the twisties.” In gymnastics, the twisties are when all of the sudden you can’t do a twist that you’ve done a thousand times before in practice. Your brain loses track of where your body is in the air and you end up slamming into the ground. The twisties are really dangerous for gymnasts. A bad landing could leave a gymnast paralyzed.

When news broke that Biles had withdrawn from competition, the internet lost its mind. While many people supported her decision. Many other people were upset. What do you mean she isn’t ready to compete, it’s the Olympics, toughen up! Everyone has had a tough last year. That’s no excuse to not compete. You’re supposed to be the greatest gymnast of all time and you can’t handle the pressure! 

As I sat with Biles’ decision to withdraw from the Olympics. I realized that it’s a really good example for all of us in how discernment works in our daily lives. Discernment is how we figure out what kind of life is a fitting response to all God has done for us in Christ. There are two aspects of discernment our Scripture reading for this morning focuses on: calling and grown-up faith.

Calling is what we do with our lives in response to what God has done for us in Jesus. I like to think of calling as where our greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need. Because calling is both what we do but also who we are. As Presbyterians we believe that our relationship with God also includes our relationship with our neighbors and our community. So what we do with our lives matters because it bears witness to who we believe God to be. Because God is active in creation, God uses people to make sure that creation is fed, comforted, educated, etc.

Some of us may have more visible callings. Some of us will be called to be preachers, teachers, nurses or Olympic gymnasts. These are visible callings because it’s easy to explain to others how we use our gifts and talents in our daily lives. Others of us have less visible callings. We will be called to be babysitters, volunteer Cub Scout leaders, or the person who helps seniors register for vaccine appointments. The letter to the church in Ephesus reminds us that all callings are necessary to sustain the body of Christ. But some are more visible than others.

Grown-up faith is what we need to live out our callings. It is the maturity to act beyond gratifying our immediate needs. As children we act based on what’s popular or fun or feels right in the moment. Adults act with discernment. They’re able to put other people’s needs above their own. They are able to do hard things for the good of their families and communities. Grown up faith is when:

We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Biles withdrawing from the Olympics is an example of grown-up faith. I’m sure she really wanted to compete in this year’s Olympic games. Discernment is saying I really really want to compete. But mentally I’m struggling and I’m having trouble focusing. So I’m going to withdraw. Because at the end of the day it’s just the Olympics. It’s better to withdraw now then to be wheeled out of here in a stretcher.

Our Scripture reading for this morning invites us to consider what God is calling us to, and what discernment we need to do to live a life worthy of that calling. Not all of us are going to be called to be Olympic gymnasts. Where every news outlet in the world will have opinions about our discernment. But all of us will be called to figure out how to discern what kind of life God is calling us to live.

Let’s say, for example, you feel that God is calling you to take the lead in caring for our church building. The problem is, you aren’t sure what all is involved in caring for our church building. Or how you might prepare yourself to better care for our building. Maybe you start by going for a short walk once a day. So that you feel better about tackling the physical challenges of caring for an aging building. Maybe you ask around to see if you know anyone who is caring for an old building. To learn what worked for them, and what mistakes they made that you might avoid. Maybe you make a list of projects you’d like to tackle. Then prioritize the ones that must be done from the ones you’d like to have done. 

The temptation in church circles is to idolize calling while at the same time downplaying the continual discernment that must happen if we are to live into our callings. Just because you feel called to be an elder. Does not mean that from time to time you won’t have to reevaluate what it means for you to serve the church as an elder in this new time and place. Sometimes your discernment will lead you to places and spaces you never imagined you would go. Sometimes discernment will ask for you to be faithful to work you’ve been doing for years.

But wherever our discernment leads us we know that it is God who does the calling. We know that God has a plan and God has a purpose for our lives. We will spend our lives looking and listening for how we can get in on God’s plan for us. Sometimes that plan will ask us to withdraw from the Olympic games at the height of our careers. Sometimes that plan will ask us to chair the Building and Grounds committee at our local churches. But we know we can do these things because God calls us. Because Jesus went out ahead of us preparing the way. And because the Spirit walks alongside us always.

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name, 

Amen.