Commencement speakers and Sunday preachers tend to dramatize “The Call.”   They excite the crowd with lofty visions of great missions.  They jab their finger at the assembled, and intone, “It’s up to YOU!”  They portray The Call as a demand to change our work and very lives.

No wonder so many of us feel like Jonah after he gets his call from God: let’s just escape all this drama.

Martin Luther offered different counsel on The Call.  He ratcheted down the drama, and insisted that we can find Christ’s call within our present work and life.  “How is it possible that you are not called? You have always been in some state or station; you have always been a husband or wife, or boy or girl, or servant.  Picture before you the humblest estate. . .in that sphere, lead your husband or wife, children or servants, even your property, so that all may be obedient to God!”

In this week’s sermon, we’ll consider our current “state or station” – the limits imposed by our Pandemic.   What kind of call can we have within the confines of our homes?  We’re avoiding meetings, marches, public forums – and, unlike Jonah, we definitely don’t want to get on a boat!

Yet, as Luther said, “How is it possible that you are not called?”  We’ll explore the possibilities for our Christian calling in our COVID-era.