Not so long ago, I found myself sitting in a hospital waiting room with a friend and her young foster daughter. We were there to have blood work done in preparation for the little girl's upcoming surgery. I began listening to the receptionist as she took information for the patient's lab work. Invariably the conversation ended with: "Do you know how to get there?" Many people just nodded yes, and went off. Others were not so sure and for them the receptionist rattled off directions with the practiced ease of someone who had given the directions hundreds of times before. Go down the hall, turn left, make sure that you take the bend in the hall, make a quick right and go through the double doors. The person would take off quickly, hoping that the directions wouldn't fade in their memory and they'd make it to their destination. You could see that rarely did the person have a clue where they were going, but none of them would let on to the receptionist. Rather than admitting they didn't understand or needed help, they preferred to set off, not really sure where they were going.

This morning we continue looking at the intersection of faith and life in our Epiphany series. While I was away, this week's news people met and picked out my sermon topic. I admit to some fear and trepidation knowing that my sermon topic would be chosen while I was not present! What they asked me to address this morning is the issue of ethics in government. Always, it seems, an issue … but one that has been prevalent in our local news with the indictments of many Monmouth County executives; and also in U.S. news as our elected officials deal with campaign funding and ethics in lobbying. As I thought about the issue, I realized also that the lectionary texts spoke well to the topic. They are all familiar. From the Hebrew scriptures we read of Jeremiah's sending out to preach to the perils facing the Israelites for the corruption of their ways. In Luke we read of Jesus boldly proclaiming: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Imagine if someone in our midst stood up and claimed that.

We also read the very familiar words from I Corinthians 13: love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or rude. We most often apply these words to a wedding service. But we do this text a great disservice if that is where we keep its message. These are words given not to describe a romantic love, but rather to a church that is struggling mightily about how to be the church. The city of Corinth was set on a narrow strip of land. It was a rich and populous city, with a great commercial shipping trade passing through it. Corinth could also be a very evil place. So evil, that the Greeks had coined a phrase based on the town's name to indicate someone full of immorality … literally translated it meant: "to live like a Corinthian." The chaos and strife of the city was reflected in the church there. Paul wrote the words describing love in this text as words of direction … written not to a group of people who were in love with each other, but to a group of people who weren't sure they wanted to be in the same room with each other.

As God's people today, we are sent out in the example of Jeremiah and Paul to raise a different voice. We are sent to people like those in the hospital waiting room, who don't really want to listen to the directions we have to offer. We are called to raise the prophetic voice to those who will not always want to hear what we have to say. There is not much to elaborate on when it comes to this morning's topic. There is nothing to debate about wanting our elected officials to be ethical in the tasks to which they have been elected. We can be consistent in our presence as voters, and as those active in our community and country in calling people to task. However, it is not a grey area – we want ethical people as our leaders.

What we can focus on is the role of power and on our own behavior. As the people of God, we must find our voices. We have to be Sunday people on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In Corinthians, Paul gave strong words to the church – in effect he asked them, "How can you be a voice for the world if how you behave is no example?" So, we too start there … what example are we setting? At our church council retreat yesterday we remembered the red dots we gave out about a year ago. Reminders of how we were to treat others – by asking the question, "How is what I am about to say going to affect both my discipleship and the discipleship of the person to whom I am speaking?" We who claim the name of Jesus must be the presence of Jesus in the world. How we want the world to behave must be modeled in the way we behave as the church.

In his book Wishful Thinking, Frederick Buechner writes about vocation: "There are all kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-Interest … the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." (Wishful Thinking, page 95) I believe it is there that faith and real life intersect, reminding us that there is a deep connection between our life here and our life out there. Here we know our deepest gladness– the cross of Jesus Christ and the example he has set for us in his living and in his dying. As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to find expression for that deep gladness. It is from that place we are sent out to the world's deepest hungers. We dare to proclaim in the example of Jesus the fulfillment of scriptures … we go forth with the audacity of Jeremiah … and we listen to the words of Paul calling the church to task for its behavior.

Help us God, to seek directions and to listen carefully … for we have been charge with the care of your world … to make a difference and to bring about nothing less than the kingdom of God on earth.