Ordinary Time 
Pause
On the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs, host Mike Rowe took on some of the most challenging jobs that vary from absolutely disgusting to humanly impossible. While we watch, we wonder, how can a person do that task day after day? We acknowledge that someone has to do it – please, just not me!
This may be the very response God hears when a mere mortal gets the call to be a prophet. Yes – someone needs to go forth and proclaim What the Lord says … God’s call is clear, commanding, and convincing. It’s a Dirty Job with little to no reward – sometimes resulting in death. Episode “The Prophet’s Call” can be seen this week on d365.org.
Listen
Jesus said to them, “Prophets are honored everywhere except in their own hometowns, among their relatives, and in their own households.” He was unable to do any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. He was appalled by their disbelief.
Then Jesus traveled through the surrounding villages teaching.
Mark 6:4-6
Think
In Help, Thanks, Wow, author Anne Lamott reminds us that there are three things in life we cannot change: the past, the truth, and other people. It appears that Jesus has embraced all three of these obstacles in his hometown of Nazareth.
The people only saw Jesus as the son of a carpenter — a local Nazarene. To them Jesus was only a man like them. He could not change the past.
Although Jesus wowed the listeners in the synagogue with words of truth and prophecy, the message he delivered from God was rejected. He could not change the truth.
And Jesus sadly admits he was appalled by the people’s disbelief. In this case, even the Son of God could not change the people’s hearts and minds.
This reminds me of the abbreviated “Serenity Prayer”:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Natalie Nicholas Adams
Pray
The entire “Serenity Prayer” by Reinhold Niebuhr:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Go
We are people of habits and routines. Our comfort zones include safe places, kind people, good food, and ready-made excuses. And in our comfort zones we often find our rhythms of grace.
But … what if today God is calling you to a new place, a new face, or a never tried skill?! There may never be a thank you or any applause, but God will supply all you need to do what is being asked of you.
As you go, remember that God does not call the prepared – God prepares the called.
