At one of the places I once worked they hired someone straight out of technical school. He was brimming with confidence. As we were upgrading hundreds of computers for a large customer, he confidently told about how little of a difference the upgrade meant, in terms that made no sense. He criticized me for my choice of parts for a device I designed and built, claiming that two letters in the parts’ names stood for “low speed,” which they did not.
When he proudly proclaimed to the owner of the business that he had a 3.0 average at the technical school, the owner pointed out that another employee had a 3.5 average at the same technical school. This person responded “What did he do wrong to end up at a place like this?”
Those were the last words he spoke as an employee.
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
You may have heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The idea, put forth by Dr. David Alan Dunning and his graduate student, now Dr. Justin Kruger, is that people who don’t know a lot about an area of knowledge are unable to know how much they don’t know.
Incidentally, most people who think they know what the Dunning-Kruger effect is have never actually read the paper.
Including me.
People who have never played a musical instrument may underestimate how much there is to know about playing a musical instrument and not realize that they could never, in their lifetimes, learn everything to know about playing the instrument.
People who have never made art may wonder why it’s such a big deal to put some paint on a canvas or to form clay, or chisel away at wood or stone.
And people on the internet are quick with their armchair knowledge of aircraft design, virology, immunology, forest management, water management, genetics…
…well, you get the idea.
Being competent at something takes time, learning, and practice.
Being confident at something can be a lot quicker.
It’s difficult to detect competence in just a few minutes, but we read confidence pretty quickly. And confidence might be based on experience and learning, or it may be based on not knowing how much one doesn’t know.
I’ve mentioned this before, but in 1957 at the age of 80 Casals was the subject of a movie short, “A Day in the Life of Pablo Casals.”
The movie’s director Robert Snyder asked Casals why he continues to practice four and five hours a day.
Casals answered:
“Because I think I am making progress.”
A bit of humility can go a long way.
Conversely, my coworker with the 3.0 average from the technical school was so sure of himself that he was unwilling to listen to others, and therefor was unable to learn.
So when we see prophets like Isaiah saying
“Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
– Isaiah 6:5, NRSVue
and apostles like Paul saying
For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
– 1 Corinthians 15:9, NRSVue
we see people who are aware that they are not beginning as self-sufficient proclaimers of the word of God, but that they still have a lot to learn.
There’s a saying in church circles that “God does not call the equipped, God equips the called.”
It’s an anti-Dunning-Kruger statement.
It’s common that someone who is called to a ministry of any kind in the church will feel unworthy. That’s okay. What people need is willingness.
Many churches have three scripture readings on Sunday:
- a Hebrew scripture, like our reading from Isaiah,
- an Epistle, like our reading from the first letter to the church in Corinth,
- and a Gospel reading, which today is from Luke, chapter 5, verses one through eleven.
It’s a familiar story, but listen to it again:
5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret
and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,
2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake;
the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
and asked him to put out a little way from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered,
“Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.
Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst.
7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying,
“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken,
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon.
Then Jesus said to Simon,
“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
– Luke 5:1-11, NRSVue
These fishers were not rich. Neither were they poor. They owned boats and nets, which were valuable. They didn’t live by their riches: they lived by their hard work.
They knew fishing. Their knowledge was likely passed down through their families.
When Jesus, who was not a fisher, tells Simon – later called Peter – to let down the nets in deep water, Simon protests that they fished all night and caught nothing. Yet he is willing to try what this carpenter’s son suggests.
If Simon is like me, he’s just doing this to show Jesus that there are no fish to be caught here.
Maybe it’s a miracle, because this is Jesus.
Maybe Jesus saw a bunch of fish while he was teaching from the boat.
Whatever the case, there are fish. Too many fish.
Simon is rattled by this. It’s a scary amount of fish. This is no ordinary teacher. So Simon fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying,
“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
– Luke 5:8
He starts out feeling unworthy.
This is not a man who says “Of course I can be a religious leader. Get me my robes!”
This is a man who says “I know little and I’m not very holy.”
This is a man with potential for growth.
This is a man Jesus can work with.
Ministry – whether pastor, deacon, musician, council member, social justice and outreach, fundraising, buildings and grounds – starts best with humility and awareness that there is room for growth, and willingness to step into something bigger than you are.
Important people have included those with unclean lips, those who have persecuted others, those who were sinful, even those who were on the margins of society.
So my challenge to each of us this week as individuals, and to all of us this week as a church, is to consider, with humility, who we are, what we have to bring to the table, and our potential for growth.
And then find a willingness to follow Jesus where he leads us, even if we’re a little uncertain as to whether we are up to the task.
God won’t call us because we’re equipped.
God will equip us because we are called.
Amen.
Let’s sing number CH 342 Tú Has Venido a la Orilla
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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