On a Mission with God
June 7, 2026
31st Anniversary of Ordination
Pentecost 3A Matthew 9:9-13; 18-26
Beloved People of God….
This morning we have this wonderful gospel text in which Jesus calls an unlikely person named Matthew to follow him into a ministry that involves acts of mercy and restoration that demonstrate what the Kingdom of God will be like. It’s a wonderful time to have this text this week. Yesterday, at the NEOS Synod Assembly we called a bishop to serve for the next six years. I believe the Spirit was certainly at work during this process. Many have heard that I was also nominated and was able to share some thoughts on the future direction of the NEOS. I must tell you a funny thing happened while I was speaking. My new cardiologist’s office called to set up an appointment – right in the middle of my speech. I wonder if they could hear my heart racing! This week I also celebrate the 31st Anniversary of my ordination.
On that day, I remember the Bishop, Ken Sauer, who happened to be the founding Mission Pastor of Faith Lutheran sharing: “Because all of its baptized members share in Christ’s ministry of love and service, the church equips and supports them for their ministries in the world. Within this context of ministry, the church calls some of its baptized members for specific ministries. Within the people of God and for the sake of the gospel ministry entrusted to all believers, God has instituted the office of ministry of word and sacrament. In the service of Ordination, the church entrusts this office to those who have accepted the church’s call and sends them into this ministry. Then the chair of the call committee at All Saints shared: “I present for ordination to the ministry of word and sacrament Bruce Robert Roth , who has been prepared, examined, and approved for this ministry and who has been called by the church to this ministry through All Saints.” You see, you can’t be ordained in the ELCA if you are not called – and it includes your inner call, the call and affirmation of the larger church and a call to a specific congregation.
In fact, to be ordained in the ELCA a pastoral candidate must work through a candidacy process to help discern one’s call to ministry. This includes psychological profiles, the academic work, support of your local church – you can’t just say I want to be ordained and your ordained. When you reach your 4th year or senior year you come to the culmination of what is called the candidacy process – there is a final board/panel that you must go through. I’ll never forget mine, because, as it turned out, I went to that final approval panel and from there to a call interview. The other part of that meeting I will never forget was being asked the question, “How do you define ordination?” And let me tell you, I gave them a whiz bang answer! I utilized sacramental language about how a pastor was called to be in, with and under the people of God, supporting, leading, encouraging, drawing people forward. I tell you my answer was a thing of beauty. When I was done, they all sat silently. I thought they must be in awe of the wonderful words I just shared. Pastor Terry Parker, who was on the panel, looked at me and said, “We were just looking for, ‘set apart’ for the ministry of Word and Sacrament.” I said, well, that too! When it was all done, Terry came up and put his arm around me and said, “You know it was already a done deal, right?” And off to the call interview I went.
Those words, “You know it was a done deal?” I thought, “Really?” A done deal? Hardly! If you knew me in middle school or high school, you would probably have agreed with me that being a called and ordained minister was hardly a done deal! In fact, I felt I was the least likely person to be called to be a pastor. I won’t go into all the sordid details but after much wrestling with God and what I was to do with my life I remember driving back to Ohio State and having a conversation with God and saying. “Alright God, if you want me, I’m yours.” I believe the Spirit was at work, but I didn’t really have any idea what it would mean. Somehow, I knew that whatever and wherever I ended up God would be with me on the mission. I’ve found that to be amazingly – true. On this mission with God – I look back and hear those same seven words from Pastor Parker, “You know it was a done deal?”
My first pastoral call was to All Saints as an associate pastor. My home church, where Bishop Eaton taught me confirmation as an intern and as an associate pastor. During seminary my senior year, I was working at All Saints, helping teach conformation and leading the youth group. One night I received a phone call from the Senior Pastor asking me to interview. I told him that I recalled something about how even Jesus couldn’t be a prophet in his own hometown and that it probably was true of associate pastors too! He asked me to think about it and pray about it. The next day walking down the hallway the President of the seminary came up and put his arm around me and said, “I understand some people are after you. You should think about that and pray about that.” That night the bishop Sauer called. “You should think about that and pray about that.” When I interviewed, it all connected. I felt I was on a mission with God and, to be honest, it seemed almost like a done deal.
I have served as an ordained pastor for 31years, sharing the ministry of Word and Sacrament. And what a different world it is today than when I began ministry. Through it all I’ve been blessed to discover significance and joy beyond anything I could have ever imagined. When I started I never thought I would have to navigate through a pandemic or at a time when so many people do not have an inkling what the gospel or Jesus is about.
I know, the reality is, not everyone is called to be ordained for the ministry of Word and Sacrament. But, notice how the Ordination Service begins, “Because all of its baptized members share in Christ’s ministry of love and service, the church equips and supports them for their ministries in the world.” We all share in the ministry – we are all called, in some way for a mission with God.
God calls all! My wife Kelly felt called to be a dentist from the 3rd grade. When she was young, her teeth were misaligned. After she got her braces off, she smiled and with that beautiful smile felt that she wanted others to be able to smile like that! Looking back, it seems as if like it was a done deal! God calls all. You all have a vocation, perhaps a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a businessperson, engineer, nurse, even in retirement you are on mission with God. In fact, turn to the person next to you and tell them they have been called on a mission with God! Say, “You are on a mission with God.” To what has God called you?
Now, I also know I’m not alone in thinking that I’d be the least likely person God would call. How many would share that sentiment? But, I’m guessing, those first followers of Christ, didn’t really consider themselves likely to be called by God either.
Just look at the makeup of the twelve: the "first" apostle Peter will deny the Lord three times and the last apostle Judas will betray him to death, while two apostles in between held opposite positions on the Roman occupation (tax collector Matthew worked for them, while Simon the Cananaean or "zealot" worked against them). Yet, in their candidacy process, it is as if Jesus comes and puts his arm around them and says, “You know this was a done deal?” And these assorted apostles were entrusted with Jesus' work of proclamation (10:7) and healing (10:8).
It’s like it was a done deal. And the litany of powers designating the apostles in 10:8 could double for Jesus' own resume: "cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." Jesus not only sends them out with power to authenticate the kingdom's nearness but to announce it by using the very same words as their teacher: "The kingdom of heaven has come near" (10:7; Jesus in 4:17; John in 3:2). In Matthew, Jesus' followers include the original audience as well as us. We are expected to resemble him in word and deed. To be sent by Jesus is, in some sense, to be sent as Jesus. These faithful followers of Jesus would discover a significance and joy beyond anything they could have ever imagined. And they would know sacrifices that were deeper than they could have anticipated. But the call made it all worth it.
Again, I know not everyone is called to ordained ministry, I think more are then may realize it, but everyone has a call. When you were baptized and when you affirmed your baptism you promised to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people , following the example of Jesus and, get this, to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Who here has been baptized? If you have been baptized, that is your call! You are on a mission with God! It’s a done deal! If you don’t feel worthy that calling, there is something important to remember, God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called. And the good news is God promises to go with you – remember at the end of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus shares the Great Commission with them and reminds them of a precious promise, “Lo I am with you till the end of the age.”
Now, and this may be the understatement of the year, ministry today is very different than it was even 30 years ago. It’s different than it was three months ago for me! And what’s ahead of us will be different than what was. Never would I have thought I would have to minister during a pandemic and, while I heard stories about the turmoil and pains of the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s, never would I have thought that we still have so much further to move and that I would have to speak even more boldly about the sin of racism or hate centered on sexuality, and have to help people understand that when God said that he so loved the world, God meant all the world. But I am mindful of the words of L.R. Knost who wrote, “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness in the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So, go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” God is at work through people like you and me, reconciling the world.
I invite you to continue to listen to the call of God, ask yourself, how might God use you and join me on this mission with God as we continue our mission at Faith, to worship God, grow in faith and offer hope. I promise, if you do, you will discover a significance and joy beyond anything you could have ever imagined. I know this to be true. As we continue on this mission with God I look forward to the day when we can hear the words, “It’s a done deal!” Now, I’m done! Amen?