The story is told of how the young camel was talking to his mother one day, asking, “Mother, why do we have such big feet?” The mother replied, “So that when we walk across the desert we won’t sink down into the sand.” Then the young camel asked, “And why do we have such long eye lashes?” Mother said, “So that when the wind whips up the desert sands, our eyes will be protected.” Still full of questions, the young camel asked, “Well, then, mother, why do we have these humps on our backs?” Mother sighed and said, “So that when we make the long journey across the desert, we can survive without need of water.” The young camel thought for a bit, and then asked, “So, mother, let me understand all of this; our feet keep us on top of the sand, and our eye lashes protect our eyes from the sand, and our humps enable us to make long journeys across the desert?” Mother smiled and replied, “Yes, son, that is correct.” Then the young camel asked, “But, then, mother, what are we DOING here in the San Diego Zoo?”

You and I are not so different from that young camel, are we? We often take a look at our particular gifts, talents and interests, and even our own personalities, and we wonder, “What am I doing here?” or “How did I end up here and doing what I am doing?” We often play that game of “woulda — coulda — shoulda — if only;” if the times and the circumstances could have been different, then I could have been there; then I would have done this; then I should have been able to accomplish that. When it looks to us like all our self-evaluations seem to be pointing us to being over there, out there, then we are puzzled and we ask, “So, what am I doing here; why am I in this place?”

Such questions are not only asked by us as individuals, but also by us as congregations. As congregations we ask, “So, Father/God, what are we doing in this place?” Many of our congregations in this area go back over a hundred years, and some nearly 150 years. Long ago, the Holy Spirit was at work planting those seeds of congregations and faithful people, gifting them, equipping them with all that was needed for mission and ministry right here. That gifting and equipping has gone on through the generations and into the present, providing all that is needed to do God’s work in this context – this time and place – here and now. This is not the desert, though at times it may seem like a wilderness. This is not San Diego, though at times it may seem like a zoo. But this is where God has placed you and me as persons, and also as congregations – as faith communities – to do that work of ministry that God would have us do.

So, here we are, at the beginning of a fresh, New Year, a year that is truly pregnant with all kinds of marvelous opportunities to be and do what God would have us be and do. As we look to this New Year, our thought should never be, “We could do these things, if only….” Is not our time best spent looking to what we do have and then building upon and making the best use of all these, and thus seeking to fulfill the ministry that God has placed before us?

In his letter to the Corinthians, chapter nine, the Apostle Paul reminds us that, because of God’s gift of salvation to us, both personally and corporately as the Church, the Body of Christ, we are truly free to be the true children of God, heirs in hope of eternal life, and thus free to live that law of love, and free to share this good news of God’s grace and love with all peoole everywhere. Under that law, that guideline of God’s kind of selfless love, we, like Paul, are free to become all things to all people, so that we might save some; that is, bring them in and under that same grace-filled love of God in Christ Jesus. Paul reminds us that we need to do all that we do for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that we might share in all of its glorious blessings.

And we do have a place to do this ministry. It is the place where you live and work and play; it is the place where you join with others in Christian worship and fellowship; it is the place you call home and community. This is God’s gift of place for you, and there, by the grace of God, enjoy the doing.