Embracing the Call

sermon by Torin Eikler
Final Sunday in Passionate Spirituality Series
Matthew 5:13-16 Psalm 42

For nine weeks now, we have been talking about passionate spirituality and some of the practices that can help revive our relationship with the author of our faith when we find ourselves feeling stagnate or cut off from God. In the process, we have explored discernment, healing, living and dying well, saying yes and saying no, prayer, child-likeness, forgiveness, and hospitality in keeping with the interests you all shared with Carrie and me in June. And, while I know from the comments that we have received that many of you have found some aspect or another of our tour helpful or maybe even inspiring for your own spiritual journeys. But, I wonder if we have left something important unsaid. I wonder if, for all the time we have spent with particulars, we have missed the bigger picture. What, after all, is passionate spirituality? And, why should we worry about pursuing it?

If we hear those questions and feel like we don’t even know where to begin the answers (which may be the case from the looks on some of your faces), I have to admit that I’m not really surprised. Passionate Spirituality is a vague, amorphous term that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. And, when I began our journey together two months ago, I chose not to delve into what it might mean because I wanted you all to be able to discover it for yourselves, and I hope that you have. Yet, it may be good for us to step back and look at the bigger picture. And, though we may not be able to define passionate spirituality, we all know it when we see it – or at least the fruits of it because the lives of those who have found it are marked by power and an unmistakable sense of connection with God that stands our self-satisfied lives on end.

If you take a moment to think about it, I’m sure you can identity a few people who embody this life. Some are so well known that they have become a part of our communal identity: Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and any number of others. Yet, as easy as it is to name those famous figures as examples, they have become almost unreal – clichés that have lost a good deal of their meaning in the process of becoming short-hand references dropped in passing. There are others in our traditions whose stories are fresher and can offer us more illumination.

One of these is Sister Anna Mow. Now, don’t let the name throw you. Sister Anna was not a nun. She was a plain woman of the Church of the Brethren in an age when we still called each other brother and sister as recognition that we are all adopted into the family of Christ.

Sister Anna was, as I said, a plain woman. She wore the plain dress of the old Brethren, and she sought to follow the example of Christ by opening her heart to all that she met. She had little for herself because she chose to give most (if not all) of what she could spare to those in need, and she spent much of her time working with young people in the church.

She was dedicated in her devotion to God and ardent in her prayers for the church as a whole and the individual people she knew. Those whose lives she touched found her to be inspirational. They honored and loved her with all her quirks because she was an example of the faith and selfless-ness they felt was at the heart of Christianity. And she, in turn, accepted them for who they were and pushed them to become all that they could be. Yet, no one resented her because it was clear to everyone that her love was not conditional and her guidance came from the dreams she had for others. As one folk song said it, “[she] had a hole in her stocking and a pocket full of dreams…. And a heart so big, that it could cure your soul.”

If you want to know more about Sister Anna, you can just ask Sue Overman. She knows a lot of the stories about her and I bet she would happy to share them with you.
Another example from the history of the Church of the Brethren is that of Sarah Rider Major. Sister Sarah was born in the early part of the twentieth century and lived most of her life on the farmland of Ohio. One day, during her prayer time, she felt the call of the Spirit to preach the good news of Christ. That might not seem like such a big deal to us now, but at that time, women were not allowed to be in leadership of the church – let alone preach the gospel.

Sister Sarah did not let that stop her. After a time of more prayer and discernment (on her own and with others), she decided that she had to obey God’s call. So, during the time in worship when the ministers shared the message, she rose to speak. Though the leaders of her congregation responded by asking her to stop, she continued to obey the calling she felt every time she went to prayer by traveling to other congregations.

As news of the woman preacher spread, many people expressed concern about this breach of the Church’s teaching. Eventually, it came up as a part of the business at Annual Conference where the elder body of the church directed her to stop. Once again, Sarah spent time in prayer and reflection and found that she simply could not go against the will of the Spirit in whose presence she sought to dwell. And, though the annual meeting sent a delegation of elders to discipline her, after listening to her preach they found that they could not bring themselves to silence a voice that spoke the gospel with such power. So, Sister Sarah continued to preach, paving the way for other women to become preachers and leaders in the church.


Two women of extraordinary conviction and vibrant faith …. Both of them longed for a closer, deeper relationship with the God. Both of them thirsted for the presence of the Spirit filling them with the water of life, bringing dreams of what could be, and opening their eyes to the activity of the divine all around them at all times. And, both of them found themselves propelled into the world to follow Christ in lives of discipleship that were rich and juicy with the fruits of their passionate spirituality … whatever it led them and whatever the cost.


In the end, there is really no way that I can tell you what passionate spirituality is because each person experiences it differently and is uniquely affected by the touch of the Spirit. What I can say, is that the remarkable thing about people who have found it is that they live vibrant lives that call to us, resonating with that part of each of us that longs to know God more deeply. What each person’s response to that calling is cannot be known in advance. But, if we can say anything with certainty, we can say that passionate spirituality is marked by deep faith and a commitment to feed that hunger for God which gives it birth and which it, in turn, feeds and nurtures. And we can go one step further and say that passionate spirituality is evidenced by vibrant discipleship, by lives committed to seeking out the will of God and doing what needs to be done in order bring the Realm of God more fully into being here and now.

When you find the key that unlocks that kind of spirituality within your own soul, you will know it. It will come over you with a power and a sweetness that you never thought possible. Or, it will sneak up on you, growing stronger and stronger, reshaping your heart and your life until, one day, you will get a glimpse of yourself and wonder who, exactly, you are. And, a little voice inside you will tell you that you are a chosen one, a beloved child of God who has answered the call to walk closely with the One who is at the heart of all life.

As we come to the end of this series, I pray that at least one of the practices we have explored has inspired you – has helped you find your way closer to your own passionate spirituality. Whether it is a new type of prayer, the reawakening of the child-like nature within you, a recognition of the freeing power of forgiveness, the pursuit of healing and wholeness, a sense of being drawn to welcome others with Christian hospitality, or a commitment to discerning the Spirit’s guidance for how you say yes and no as you seek to live and, ultimately, to die well, or some combination of all of these, I hope that it has awakened for you a thirst for a deeper relationship with God. And that, as we leave this time of worship together, you will not simply leave behind all that has been said or the possibilities for a deeper, more vibrant faith. But, that you will take something with you, putting at least one of these practices in your spiritual backpack to carry with you as you continue walking with Christ on your journey of discipleship.