Round Pegs in Square Holes?
a sermon based on Romans 12:1-8
by Rev. Thomas Hall

Laurie Beth Jones, author of The Path, remembers a story that her uncle used to tell her from his WW II experience. If an unidentified soldier appeared suddenly in the dark and could not state his mission, he would be automatically shot without question. She says, "I wonder what would happen if we instituted that policy today? Confronted with a life or death need to know our personal mission would force millions of us to reexamine who we are and what we’re about."

The Scriptures have confronted us with that same question, "What is your Mission?" What is that thing that you do?

I was recently certified to teach decision-making skills to prison-clients in a federal prison. One of the first things that we try to communicate is the uniqueness of each person. What I would invite them to say, I now invite you to say. I’ll say it first, then please join me, and with each line increase the volume.

I am unique.
I am important.
I am irreplaceable.

I really believe that we are unique and important. But today’s lesson responds, how are you unique? In what specific way are you important?" That’s where Romans 12 begins. Says that you are unique and important and irreplaceable because God has entrusted you with what Paul calls "a measure of faith" (verse 3). God endows us with a spark of faith, holy boldness, you might say, to accomplish specific things in this life. That’s just another way of saying that God has given each of us spiritual gifts or enablements with which to love God and neighbor most effectively.

But how do we know that we’re making our unique contribution in life? Let me review Hall’s rule of faith: "When you are operating in your measure of faith or spiritual gift, you’ll experience maximum effectiveness and minimum weariness. The opposite is also true, of course. When we’re not doing what we’ve been called to do, we become a round peg in a square hole. We’ll usually experience minimum effectiveness and maximum weariness.

Let me apply that law to my own life. For years I had no idea of how I was unique; I felt I had nothing to offer anyone. A Christian without a mission. But then I began to see a pattern—throughout my life I’ve seen at least one service that I have been able to offer my world. Now that I think about it in light of Scripture’s teaching, I would call this a gift of hospitality. I love to invite people to my home; I love to invite people to church. I am so energized when someone I have invited comes with me to this place. I have had an encounter with God and I bold and delighted to bring folks here to have their own encounter with God.

When I lived in Denver, Colorado as a high school senior, I practically turned our house into a Christian commune. Most Friday or Saturdays, I would drive down Santa Fe Avenue in Denver past one cheap motel after another. I would stop at the notorious Hawk Hotel and make arrangements to pick runaways, kids away from home who were living the on the wild side of life, and folks just down on their luck. Come Sunday I would be back at the Hawk with some donuts and coffee to pick my friends up for church and then back home for Sunday lunch.

Albuquerque. Several years later. I’m living in a tiny adobe house. That house is my new half-way house for some of the strangest folks I have ever had the privilege of meeting. One painted my kitchen purple and my bathroom high-gloss green. Another absconded with my basset hound. But several of those who called my green and purple home their home, have found their mission: one went on to become a pastor of a large church in Albuquerque, another became a school teacher in Montana and a Lutheran minister of music on weekends, and yet another is a recording artist and songwriter in Tulsa.

Whenever you hear me talk about hospitality, just know that you’re hearing me talk about something that I am deeply passionate about.

Fredrick Buechner once described our personal mission as "the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet." Isn’t that great! Our uniqueness will have two parts to it—a deep satisfaction when we’re doing our measure of faith gives us boldness to do and a deep knowing that what we’re doing actually is meeting real needs in life.

But we have a problem.

Four words on the flipchart described the problem last week—can anybody recall what the first word on the flipchart was? Structure. We discovered last week that most congregations have moved away from giftedness and toward institution and structure.

Ben and Jerry faced the same kind of problem that we churchlings face. When people wanted big chunks of chocolate in their ice cream, Ben and Jerry’s decided to create the ultimate "Supersonic Colossal Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream." But they had a problem. The supersonic colossal chunks kept getting gummed up in their machine. It just wasn’t made to handle large pieces of chocolate. So they had to make a choice: downsize the chunks to fit their machine or modify their system to accommodate the chunks. They got their research and development team together—Ben and Jerry—and modified a cottage cheese maker. The end of the story: whenever you’re in Vermont, go over to Ben and Jerry’s and try their Supersonic Colossal Chocolate Chunk ice cream. It is the best.

Sometimes our unique callings just don’t always fit into the system. I’ve asked a special guest to share both the frustration and joy of offering her uniqueness to God and neighbor.

Ever felt like a round peg in a square hole? "I have," Gretchen Streuli says. She first discovered her "gift" while caring for her terminally ill father. "Right then and there, I knew that offering comfort and healing care would be my lifelong mission." So she has carried this lifelong passion to heal and comfort the ill into her profession—nursing.

But when she offered her gift to her church family, she was met with cool skepticism: "Go ahead, but that’s not really where we’re at," their attitude seemed to say. Without support, few came up following the worship service one morning to have their blood pressure checked or even to get more information about parish nurse ministry. Gretchen was clearly frustrated. She felt she had something to contribute to her church, but it just wasn’t "where they were at."

She eventually found another church that valued her gift of health and healing. They actually created an entire ministry around the ministry of healing. It wasn’t long before her gift began to grow and flourish. She now offers a "learning moment" on health and healing during worship service, has organized a community-wide "health fair" attended by surgeons and nurses and persons seeking health information, and offered the numerous blood-sugar screenings and flu shots.

Now when the pastor goes to visit the ill, he invites Gretchen to join him. "When they open the door," the pastor says, "they greet me with respect and dignity, but when they see Gretchen with me their eyes light up and they throw caution to the wind and immediately begin to talk shop about medicine, health care, physicians, and aches and pains. So I just stand around waiting for my turn to pray and read the Scriptures. It’s fantastic!"

I want you to come to this church with a new expectation of how you are—through God’s grace—unique and important and irreplaceable. Scripture says you have a gift. That gift shapes your mission in life. How are you doing? Will you use your "measure of faith" to love God and neighbor? During this year we will do our best to provide opportunities for you to discover, develop and use your gifts in this place. The power is in your hands: use it wisely, but for God’s sake—and the world’s, use it. Amen.