The Rev. Calvon T.Jones, Assistant Minister, the Memorial Church of Harvard University. Videos by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications
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By the Rev. Calvon T. Jones
Assistant Minister
Memorial Church of Harvard University
(The following is a transcript of the service audio)
Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, my rock and my redeemer. Could you give this amazing choir directed by Ed Jones and David von Behren a hand. For the few minutes that I have with you, I promise you I won't keep you long, I would like to place a tag upon the text that you have heard for it constitutes the context from which we will attempt to teach and preach. It's time to tell God yes. It's time to respond with yes to God.
Beloved, there is a special assignment for each of you in this sanctuary. God has anointed and called each of you. In a world where there are over 7 billion people, you, yes, Reverend Jones said, you have been called with purpose, called to change the world, called to transform society, called to make an impact, called with a unique and distinct calling. Called with an assignment from God, called with a great mission. Yes, you and you and you and you and you and you have been called. And if you do not answer that calling, if you do not fulfill your God-given task, if you do not say yes to God, you will go a lifetime attempting to fill the voids of your heart. You will go a lifetime attempting to live in the shadows of others. You will go a lifetime attempting to be drunken by the pleasures of false gratifications of this world. Will you say yes to God?
Beloved, there is a task that only you can do. And I know that may sound like a cliche, but I can hear God saying to you that there is a task that only you can do. God is calling you and you and you. God is inviting you during this season of Lent to search the chambers of your heart and say, "God, what is it that you would have me to do? What is my divine purpose?" In the words of Howard Thurman, "There is in every one of you that waits, listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself, and if you cannot hear it, you will find whatever it is for what you are searching for and if you hear it and then do not follow it, it was better that you were never born. The sound of the genuine is flowing through each of you."
Do not ignore the call. Do not be deceived and thrown off by all the noises that are around you. Do you hear that pull this morning? Do you hear the pull? Do you feel the pull, that gut-wrenching uneasiness that you have been feeling, the troubling of your soul, the yearning, that wanting more? Am I talking to anybody here today? God is calling you higher. Maybe God is just waiting on you to say, "Yes, I will do it." No matter who you are, no matter where you are from, no matter how young you are, no matter how old you are, no matter where you are in life, God is calling for you to say yes. When we say yes to God, there is fear of the unknown. There is fear of the journey ahead. There is fear of the warfare that may come with it. There is fear of the trials that may come.
Will people like me if I say yes? Will I lose friends if people say yes? I'm sure that some of you all in here know that it is difficult sometimes to say yes to God. You may say, "Maybe I'm going to wait until another year." Y'all don't want to be real. Maybe I will wait, Suzanne, until another time. Maybe I've said the other day, "Doren, I'm going to wait until the weather is clear. No one will hear me. No one will accept me. I do not have the money or the accolades or the accomplishments of others," but God is calling on you and he's saying you are the right one for the job.
And as we are in this season of Lent, a time of repentance, prayer, fasting, reflection, and inward changing, God is calling us to say yes. Yes to some things we don't want to say yes to, yes to some actions that we don't want to perform, but God is calling you now to a great place. And as we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, we look to Jesus who was in the midst of uncertainty, but he says yes to God's mission and assignment.
Last week we encountered the mountaintop experiences for you all who were here. Jesus came to us in the writings on a mountain, on a high place. He met the prophets of the Hebrew Bible showing us that Jesus reigns as king on mountaintops coming with power to heal a broken and a hurting world. This glorious, reigning, conquering Jesus last week was on a mountain. But sometimes in church we love to praise this type of Jesus. Can I be real? We love some theologies to praise a God that only has the gold and the glamor, especially in prosperity gospel preaching.
But how many of y'all know that sometimes when you say yes to God, there are going to be challenges in your life that you never asked for. When you stand up for who God has called you to be, there's going to be hell in your life. Well, I wish I had a talk back church this morning. When you say yes to God, sometimes it's going to be lonely. When you say yes to God, sometimes it's going to feel like you are all by yourself. Y'all don't want to hear me preach.
However, maybe, just maybe God is calling you to walk a lonely walk. However, in this text, we find the exemplar of what it means to say yes. This week we find a Jesus who after 30 years of preparation in ministry arrives at his ordination service. Yes, he has a new robe. Y'all want to talk back. Jesus is excited. He has reached the greatest day of his life. This is the official beginning of his public ministry. Jesus' cousin is baptizing him. And the balcony of heaven responds and says, "Behold, beloved, this is my beloved son who I am well pleased." And in the Greek it says the heavens literally were ripped upon, hallelujah, and heaven, it made an announcement that this is the Son of God.
But however, as I try to wrap this thing up, as Jesus begins, hallelujah, to be baptized, immediately the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. Now, this is one reason why sometimes I have a conversation, a heated conversation with God. You mean to tell me after I say yes, after I stand for justice, after I try to love folks who don't like me, after I try to hug people in the church and you know they talking about you, after I try to stand up for those who are on the margins, you are going to send me in the wilderness? Yet Jesus is led, hallelujah, by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested, tested by the enemy, brought into the wilderness by the Spirit. But sometimes, don't get it twisted, the enemy and the forces of life are coming to tempt you, but Jesus is not going to tempt you. Jesus may lead you in the wilderness, but remember, if Jesus, hallelujah, is led by God into the wilderness, God will take you through.
I leave you with these three points and I go to my seat. Saying yes to God requires three things. One, a hunger that goes beyond the tangible. In the words of William Sloane Coffin, "We have to make false material wellbeing not our own, but we have to have a hunger for love, peace, justice, and transformation." The enemy comes and says, "I know you're hungry, but if you would just turn these stones into bread." But Jesus responds and says, "I'm not hungry for that type of bread. For man shall not live by bread alone, but I'm hungry for justice. I'm hungry for a church that one day will look like heaven. I'm hungry for love. I'm hungry for peace. I'm hungry for the Holy Spirit." Is there anybody here that says, "I long for a day when we all can stand together as one people." When you say yes to God, it requires a different kind of hunger.
Number two is when you say yes to God, you have to make up in your mind that you're not going to die in your wilderness. Yes, the tempter comes and says, "Throw yourself off of this high temple." But Jesus responds and says, "I'm not going to die here. I may be going through, I may be facing some trials and some tests, but I'm not going to die in the wilderness."
Number three is that you must not surrender your identity in the wilderness. The enemy says, "If you would just worship me, bow down and worship me." But Jesus did not bow down because if Jesus would have bowed down to the enemy, that means he would've surrendered his identity. But I talk to you today, do not surrender your identity. When you say yes to God, you have to know who you are and who you've been called to. In the wilderness Jesus holds fast to his yes. Like the children of Israel who went through the wilderness, like Hagar, who went through the wilderness, like Moses, who went through the wilderness, like Elijah, who went through the wilderness, like Joshua, who went through the wilderness, like Esther, who went through the wilderness, like Jesus, who went through the wilderness, I have a word for you today. You will not die in your wilderness. You will be able to say yes to God.
God will be able to use you. And if it's preaching, say yes. If it's writing that song, say yes. If it's loving your neighbor, say yes. If it's God restoring that marriage, say yes. If it's standing up for justice, say yes. If it's loving those who are on the margins, say yes. If it's writing that book, say yes. If it's saying a kind word, say yes. If it's chasing your dreams, answering your call, going back to school, changing your life, whatever it is, I prophesy to everybody in this room that God in this season is going to give you the power to say yes.
The Rev. Calvon Jones and the Harvard University Choir sing "Yes"