Today’s readings focus on God’s call. We tend to think of that in an initial sense of coming to know Christ, but it includes the ongoing, continuous call to follow Christ wherever he leads, and thereby grow into the people he is calling us to be.

We don’t really know what we can do until we’re pushed and pressed beyond our limits. That’s true for each of us individually and it’s true for us as a church. We didn’t know what we could do until we had to do it.

Ten months ago we had a challenge, a big challenge. Bishop Brewer closed us down and suddenly we didn’t know how to worship under those conditions. But within just a few days we figured out how to live stream worship, thanks to Spencer Carter with a big assist from Shawn Perkins. As we worked at it, there were a steady stream of obstacles to overcome and problems to solve. Our Wi-Fi wasn’t strong enough in the church and especially up in the altar area. The sound wasn’t good enough. The altar area was like a stage; we had to move into and out of camera range. It felt odd to talk to a camera instead of to you. I saw a meme of Forest Gump that said, “And just like that my pastor became a televangelist.”

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A little over three years ago we had a new development our family. Our son Philip had gotten engaged. His fiancée, Rachel, was to begin a master’s program in voice – she is an opera singer – and it made sense to invite her to live with us to save her rent, utilities, food etc. (Our son was in Melbourne at the time.)

Now there are always adjustments with that kind of thing. Early on we had to get used to her a bit and she had to get used to us. She was a new person in a new place. It just takes a little time to get used to living out of someone else’s refrigerator. When do you get to hold the TV remote?

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Any of us can look into the night sky and with very little training find the Big Dipper. Once we’ve found the Big Dipper, you follow the far edge of the open side and it will point you to the Little Dipper. Once you have found the Little Dipper, at the very end of the handle is a bright star, among the brightest in the night sky.

This bright star is special. Most of the stars rise and fall in the night sky as the earth turns on its axis. But not this one, because from our perspective, it is straight above the very top of the world. It’s always up there. During the day it isn’t visible because of the light of the sun, but it is still there. At night, as long as there are no clouds and you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you can see it. It is always due north, and so we also call it the North Star.

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