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
The voice said to me: Human one, stand on your feet, and I’ll speak to you. As he spoke to me, a wind came to me and stood me on my feet, and I heard someone addressing me. He said to me: Human one, I’m sending you to the Israelites, a traitorous and rebellious people. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. I’m sending you to their hardheaded and hard-hearted descendants, and you will say to them: The Lord God proclaims. Whether they listen or whether they refuse, since they are a household of rebels, they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Think
The prophet Ezekiel was being held in captivity. The call he received to become God’s prophet is both bold and scary. The Spirit of God whooshes Ezekiel from the ground to his feet. Then God calls him “Human one” or “a mere mortal” (a total of 94 times throughout the book) and commands Ezekiel to go to the Israelites to warn them of the soon-to-be destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Words of hope and redemption are not given until all is lost and destroyed. And if this wasn’t hard enough to hear, God then tells Ezekiel – by the way, they aren’t going to listen to you anyway!
We are reminded throughout Ezekiel’s call that it’s never about the messenger. It’s about God’s message. The heart of God is shared by the prophet’s words of woe, warning, or deliverance. A prophet’s responsibility is to tell the people of God what God has to say. And whether or not the people respond to God, they would know, God has spoken! A prophet’s task is hard.
Natalie Nicholas Adams
Pray
Soften my heart, I pray, gracious God. Help me to turn my life toward you. May your words be at home in my heart. 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.
