Stop Fooling Around

For several years I have been trying to lead one of my favorite people into the ministry. I have been extremely sensitive to his needs, letting him work as slowly as he needs through all the obstacles and questions. I have been subtle in my prodding, very gentle. Recently, he came to tell me he has decided to enter seminary. When I asked what happened, he said he had been telling a young woman how he was struggling, and she responded, “Oh, stop fooling around.” So he did.

It made me think how often this has happened with me. When I was fretting about whether to be a college professor or a parish pastor, my wife finally had enough, “Oh, stop fooling around. You are not an academic.”

It was the same thing when Pastor Keyser and I went to Gettysburg. Some of you know Beth Chandler’s father was my partner. Thirty-five years ago we decided to form a team ministry. The plan was to minister to the poorest of the poor in inner city Philadelphia. My wife’s reaction was the same, “Oh, quit fooling around. You don’t know anything about city life. What makes you think you can save those people?”

Of course, I did not listen to her. Ed and I arranged to go to Philadelphia to meet with their bishop. On the appointed day Faith Ann and I drove the ten miles from Bloomsburg to Berwick. When we arrived at Ed and Margie’s, I discovered the radiator on my car had sprung a leap. Actually, it was more like a fountain. A steady stream of water was spurting out of the grill unto the street.

I informed Ed we would have to travel in his car, which was always an adventure. All four of us piled in and headed for Philadelphia. We were traveling through Nescopeck which is not even ten miles outside Berwick when we were startled by a loud crash ands sparks flying all over the place. “What’s going on, Foltz?” cried Ed. I looked through the back window and replied, “Your gas tank is lying on the road behind us.” We found a phone, explained the situation, and made another appointment. And then I had to go home with Faith Ann. “Why don’t you just quit fooling around. God doesn’t want you in the city.”

Of course, I did not listen to her. The next month a tremendous snow blizzard prevented travel on the appointed day. I called Philadelphia to make sure they were not expecting us. “It’s not snowing here,” the bishop reported. “I have a room full of people waiting for you.” “Honest. There is no way we can get out of Columbia County. May we make another appointment?” “How about we wait a while, so you guys can think this over.” When I put down the phone, my wife couldn’t help herself, “Oh, stop fooling around.” So I did and we ended up spending the next 35 years in Gettysburg.

My guess is most of you did not find this morning’s Gospel very relevant. I certainly did not. None of us ever beat up or killed any of God’s prophets. That is not a big problem here in Mount Joy. It is true none of us give God what we owe him, but most of us fail simply because we are fooling around. Almost all us have to hear Jesus call loud and clear, “Stop fooling around.”

That is what Jesus said to his first followers. He went down to the docks, called over his friends, and announced he was leaving his carpentry shop to start a ministry. He invited them to leave their jobs and help him. In some sense, his comment about making them fishers of men comes mighty close to “Stop fooling around. Come with me, and we’ll do something really important.”

Jesus calls each one of us to leave what is unimportant in our lives to continue what they began. And he still calls us through the common words of the ordinary people right in front of us.

Some people keep waiting for a sign, something like a gas tank falling off a car. Let me tell you, that sort of thing never really helps at all. There’s always another possible explanation such as, “Keyser never takes care of his cars.” Some wait for a voice from heaven clearly explaining what Jesus wants. I have never met one person who received such a message. Well, actually I have met a few, but the message was always nutty and self-serving.

Some excuse themselves claiming they are not good enough; they are not qualified. That’s an old one. Remember Peter dropping to his knees begging Jesus, “Depart from me for I am a sinner and have always hung around with other sinners.” Jesus responded, “Stop fooling yourself. I have come to call sinners, not righteous people.” Jesus will never ask us to do more than we are able or to be someone we are not.

But most excuse themselves claiming they don’t have enough time. When I hear that I always remember the story about the king who was so busy he was not sure what he should do. In order to find out what is the most important thing he has to do, he sought out the elderly wise man who lived in the woods. When he arrives, the sage is chopping wood. He acts as if he does not even notice that the king is calling on him. The king figures he must wait until the wise man is finished chopping his wood, but the man is very old and chops very slowly. Finally in exasperation, the king takes the axe and cuts the wood himself. “Now”, he says, “Perhaps you will have time to answer my very question. I am very busy. I have too much to do. How can I figure out what is most important for me to do?” The wise man smiles and suggests “The most important person is the person right before you at the moment and the thing you must do is to do whatever he needs, like chopping wood.”

Jesus calls us to make a better world wherever we find ourselves, in the market place, the office, the home, the school. Sadly, many many are called, but only a few are chosen. Few are chosen because most of us are constantly fooling around.

Tags: Listening For God, Stop Fooling Around