Calendar convergence alert: Today is not only the observance of Veterans’ Day. In the church calendar, today we observe the feast of St. Martin of Tours, soldier and saint from the 4th century. We give thanks for veterans on this day. I invite you to use the prayer for heroic service printed in the column on the left as a way to honor them.

I also invite you to consider the witness of Martin. I was introduced to his story in my first church, which bore his name. Legend has it that one winter day as he was riding on his horse, making military rounds, he came across a beggar, freezing in the snow. Martin took his sword, sliced his own cloak in half and gave it to the beggar. In a dream that night, Christ appeared to Martin. Christ was wearing that cloak, thanking him for it, demonstrating the truth that Christ is present in all persons, even when Christ comes well disguised.

The symbol for Martin is a goose. Why, you reasonably ask? After his military service, Martin became a priest in the south of France. He was apparently good at it. So good, in fact, that the people of that region elected him bishop. Martin, clearly a person of wisdom, heard the news of his election and ran in the opposite direction. He hid in a barn. As people were searching for him, the geese in the barn began honking, giving away his hiding place. Next thing you know, Martin is wearing a miter.

The story of Martin has become important to me, for a few reasons. Maybe you’ll find it helpful too. His call began with service. He met Jesus in a simple act of grace, service without expectation of reward. As I travel around the church and ask folks what helped them grow spiritually, what may have jump started their own spiritual journey, I often hear that it had something to do with a simple act of service.

If we are ever wondering how to move forward in faith, if an encounter with Christ seems remote, perhaps starting with service is the way to go. Lord knows there are no shortage of opportunities. I have found in my own life, when church work and priesthood seems overly weighted with meetings and administration, when ego invades sermon preparation, when reasons I pursued ordained ministry seem obscured in the past, an intentional act of service, often offered with a degree of anonymity, can help get me back on track.

There’s a wonderful aspect of surprise in all of this, reflected in the reading from Matthew’s gospel often associated with the feast of St. Martin. (See excerpt above.) Those who stand before the king are commended for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner. Much to their surprise, they are told that they met the King in those expressions of love.

Martin’s story also says something to me about call, with that rather goofy symbol of the goose. Couldn’t a soldier saint have merited a more noble symbol? The goose says that a frequent sign of the authenticity of a call is the sense that God must have the wrong number. Throughout the Bible, call story after call story repeats this theme: You can’t mean me. There’s a dose of healthy humility in there. There is also a sense that by God’s grace, we can all be useful in God’s work in the world. What’s the saying? God doesn’t call the qualified. God qualifies those God calls.

Spend some time today (especially if you have the day off) giving thanks for  veterans who have ventured much for the liberties we enjoy. In a season when liberties seem increasingly in jeopardy in many parts of the world, we remember struggles that have safeguarded the dignity of every human being. And while you’re at it, give thanks for St. Martin, soldier and saint, who shows that any one of us can meet Jesus any old time.