A little before noon on the 7th of April, 1865, Commander-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant rode into Farmville, which is a small village on the south side of the Appomattox River. Grant drew up in front of the village hotel, dismounted, and established headquarters on its broad piazza. Little known Farmville, Virginia, which was not much larger than the village that surrounds us today, became the site where the northern general opened politically-charged correspondence with Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

After the surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, Lee begged the southern states to join the Union. Johnson finally surrendered to Sherman, leaving only one major Confederate general to surrender, which he eventually did. Lincoln was assassinated five days after these two indelible generals met in that Virginia courthouse. The fatal shot fired at our sixteenth president left the nation to wonder who would lead the reconstruction effort, and, just as importantly, how the reconstruction effort would come about. The "how" question was answered on May 2 of that year at St. Paul's Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

Here's what happened on that Sunday morning service. Near the conclusion of worship, communion was to be served. People came to the altar to pray and receive communion. Blacks, who sat at the back in their own section, could not participate. With the war over, however, an elderly black man stood from his distant pew, walked down the aisle to kneel at the altar, and prayed. This was just not done, and everyone, including the minister, had no idea what to do. After a minute of awkward silence and confusion, a white man with flowing white hair and a white beard rose. The gentleman made his way to the altar, knelt right next to the black man, and prayed with him. The older white man was none other than Robert E Lee.

If the reconstruction effort began at this moment, then a construction effort—our deliberate attempts to build a relationship with God—can happen today, and here's how. In the next few minutes, we'll unfold three ways that will enable us to build on a relationship with God. We will take three steps that enable us, no matter where we are seated in this church, to hear the call of God and come forward.

Here is the first step.  Know that God is talking to you. That's right. Know that God is talking to you.

Today we recognize and celebrate our county-wide emergency firefighters and EMS personnel. These people, busy like all of us, stop in the middle of their day or night—they walk away from their jobs or their dinner tables, their family event or their sleep—and come forward. They hear the call.  Now my challenge to them and to all of us here is to recognize that God's call is just as deliberate; it is just as clear to hear as a pager or a siren. That's right. God is talking to you. Like those two in that Virginia church, he is calling you forward.

Well, some here today could be thinking, how's God doing that? How is God, master of the moon and stars, calling me?

There are different ways to answer a question about our mysterious and merciful, powerful and ever-present God. There are different ways to answer just as there are different people here today. We here today are a collective of different backgrounds and experiences, viewpoints, biases, and perceptions. As a proud and passionate minister in the United Church of Christ, in this place where the six teenage confirmands joining the church will tell you that this denomination recognizes the rich mosaic of diversity in each and every individual, let me speak for them and say what you know: one size does not fit all. One answer does not reach all. But it doesn't need to reach all; it needs to reach you.

In a world polluted with injustice and illness, malice and 'me first' thinking, there is a God, and that God, the one that set this world in motion, that God, who hears your prayers and your praise, that God, who enables us to question, doubt, and struggle, that God, who waits while you're off doing your own thing is the one talking to you.

That's the first step. Recognize God is talking to you. Here's the second.  Know that God provides direction for you.  God provides direction for you.

Be it an elected official here today, a volunteer stuffed into a fire truck or ambulance on the run, or the second grade class line leader on the way to the cafeteria for lunch, this is for all of us who respond to those in need. This is from US soldier who tells the following story from his military experience: "As an infantry commander in Vietnam in 1967, I saw Viet Cong soldiers surrender many times. Most captives hung their heads in shame, but some stood erect, staring defiantly at those around them. They had surrendered physically but not mentally. On one occasion after the enemy had withdrawn, I came upon several soldiers surrounding a wounded Viet Cong. Shot through the lower leg, he was hostile and frightened, yet helpless. He threw mud and kicked with his one good leg when anyone came near him. When I joined the circle around the wounded enemy, one soldier asked me, 'Sir, what do we do? He's losing blood fast and needs medical attention.' I looked down at the struggling Viet Cong and saw the face of a 16- or 17-year-old boy.

I unbuckled my pistol belt and hand grenades so he could not grab them. Then, speaking gently, I moved toward him. He stared fearfully at me as I knelt down, but he allowed me to slide my arms under him and pick him up. As I walked with him toward a waiting helicopter, he began to cry. He kept looking at me and squeezing me tighter. We climbed into the helicopter and took off. During the ride, our young captive sat on the floor, clinging to my leg. Never having ridden in a helicopter, he looked out with panic as we gained altitude and flew over the trees. After landing, I picked him up and walked toward the medical tent. As we crossed the field, I felt the tenseness leave his body and his tight grasp loosen. His eyes softened, and his head leaned against my chest."

Whether you agree or disagree to violence and the spoils of war is not our debate today. Instead, hear God. Hear God as you consider the direction this US soldier felt when handling this situation.  He was guided through his actions as an emergency medical technician is guided. He was directed. Call that direction self-guided, but anyone here who has felt the hand of God through smoke or a seemingly impossible medical rescue knows that it's not just 'self' that guides or directs, it's God. And God, to whom we can surrender, cares for us. When we, like that teenager, give ourselves to God by accepting Christ, our Savior heals us as he takes us captive.

Yes, God provides direction for us. Let God carry you. That's step two.

And here is step three.  Know that God will help you.  Know that God will help you.

Let's return to the man once seated in the back of the church at St. Paul's church in Alexandria, Virginia. Ah, the immaturity of church and state at that time! I am not a politician; I will not speak further on the state, but I question and challenge church-wide issues today such as inclusiveness and social justice because we had, not so long ago, a man of color coming forward to receive communion. A man, who, at the least, came from a distinct lower class, risked so much to come forward. What? What enabled him to do it? He heard God talking, one. Two, God give him direction. And, finally, to repeat our third point here, this man of hope and of faith knew his God would help him.

Remember that man at the altar who heard the call. Remember that man at the altar when you face difficulty, adversity, or danger. Remember that child of God at the altar when in life you are cornered or want to collapse, when you are doubtful or downtrodden, when you are weary or worried, when you are just plain trapped in your own skin.

Here's a verse from our reading today. Take it to your altar, your classroom, your desk at work, your home, and your heart. It's Isaiah 50, verse 5: The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away. I have not pumped up tunes on my ipod to decibels so loud that I cannot hear the inner voice inside; I have not crammed my schedule so full that I cannot breathe and then use that schedule as a shield that blocks me from caring, really caring, for others; I have not taken the easy route and denied the presence of the holy in my life; I have not made denying easy because faith is hard; I have not been deaf to the needs of the world around me. I have not one single excuse why I can't come to God now and every Sunday and say, yes, God, I need you. Yes, God, I want you. Yes, God, I want to know where I am going. Like our author in Isaiah, like the man who came forward to communion, and the man who followed and knelt beside him at the altar, I hear the call.

As we just spoke of verse five from scripture, here now is verse ten. If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.

Hear the call.