REFLECTIONS: A Call
 

Noah was a Drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a day dreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused. Moses was a stammerer. Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair and was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David was an adulterer and murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah preached naked. Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. John the Baptist ate bugs. Peter denied his Lord. Three disciples fell asleep while praying. Martha worried about everything. Mary Magdalene was demon possessed. The Samaritan woman was divorced more than once. Zachaeus was too short. Paul was too religious. Timothy had ulcer. And Lazarus was dead . . .What else?

What do all these persons have in common? Like a gold thread that runs through a fabric, this list has one essential point. All the persons mentioned were called.

In this evening�s reading, we find St Paul reminding us that God has called us and he wants to do something in our lives this advent because he is faithful. Indeed, St Paul prays that �may the God who gives us peace make us completely his and keep our whole being, spirit, soul and body free from all fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.�

This advent, as is every advent, we prepare for the coming of our Lord. What way could be more fitting than for us to be without blemish to receive the Christmas babe? And so it is that St Paul realizing that all of us have been called, yet with one fault or the other like Noah or Gideon or Zachaeus or any other in the list just enumerated, we should however, allow God who has vouchsafed us with a call to make us completely his. This same God will give peace at the coming of Jesus Christ �so that we would be without fault before him� (Ephesians 1:4).

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let us pray this day.