September 24, 2020
What scripture passages
reach out and grab you?
Jesus heard his call to ministry through holy scripture. Remember the passage in Luke where, early on, he goes home to Galilee and is reading scripture in a synagogue? The passage he reads is from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Instead of offering some kind of reflection as was the custom in Jewish worship, he rolls up the scroll, sits down and says: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He is essentially saying to those assembled, This is me in those holy words I just read.

That passage from scripture reached out and grabbed Jesus. It told him something about himself and what God was calling him to do. I wonder what scripture passages have reached out and grabbed you?

One that reached out and grabbed me twenty years ago is from Paul’s letter to the Philippians (3:12-14). I was sitting in church and I heard these words: “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but this one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” The first thing I heard was that I was beloved. Smack dab in the middle of discerning a call to the priesthood, I was foggy and fearful, feeling unworthy and resistant. These words that morning somehow penetrated the fog. They made me sit up, they helped to clarify, to propel me in some way. And it was those holy words ringing in the ears of my heart that afternoon, when, for the first time, I was able to say, out loud, I am feeling called to the Episcopal priesthood. I have other passages throughout the years that have somehow stood out and said Pay attention, Ann! They each have given me some insight into a struggle or the courage to keep going.

So I ask again, what scripture passages have reached out and grabbed you? Make a list of them! Sit with them for a while and listen. What might those words have to tell you about you? To what God is calling you?

–The Rev. Ann Gillespie