LISTENING TO GOD'S CALL
27th April 2017
What are your hopes and dreams? And how
do you know if they are part of God’s purpose? How does God get through to you?
In the month of May at our four Sunday
morning services we will be pursuing a stream of sermons and talks that explore
the subject of vocation.
The word vocation comes from the Latin
word ‘vocare’, which simply means ‘to
call’. In the biblical tradition, God is constantly calling his people to be
‘image bearers’ reflecting the character and nature of God. The diversity of
people responding to God's call through history reflects the true and wondrous beauty
of God. And you and I are part of that story.
In the bible, there are many stories of people
young and old who respond to God’s call to live a life designed and created
just for them. There is Samuel, a young son of a devoted mother, who hears
God calling him very clearly – and he is helped to listen to God by an old
priest. He becomes a faithful and courageous prophet. There is wealthy
70-year-old Abram who responds to a call to get up and go to a far away land in
pursuit of a deep promise of a future from God. His steps of trust led to the
family and nation of Israel. There is a young widow Ruth, who has suffered huge
personal losses, yet finds her vocation by remaining loyal to her
mother-in-law. Her faithfulness led her to become the grandmother of a great
king, David. The list goes on and on… there are people who run away from God’s
call (like Jonah) yet discover God’s persistent grace; there are people who
embrace God’s call while going about their ordinary work (like brothers and
fishermen Peter and Andrew); and there are others who respond out of sheer
gratitude for forgiveness (Mary Magdalene).
This week on the radio I listened to a phone in about work. The question asked was 'do you work for love or for money'? It was a fascinating listening to men and women reflecting on the tension between a sense of call to a role that brought satisfaction and growth and jobs which paid well but were not fulfilling.
One man had been a successful accountant and stockbroker but, a chance course on developing listening skills lit his fire and retrained as a counsellor; a job which gave him great satisfaction and reward (for much less pay). Another man gave up his job as head of a physics department at a big high school to work in theatre, sometimes depending upon the dole and sometimes paying bills by scavenging skips to sell stuff online! He said he had found his vocation as an actor and did not regret leaving the steady and stable income of a successful school teacher.
In the next few weeks I would like to explore what vocation means. If every human's vocation is to bear the image of God - in all God's beauty and diversity - can this mean sometime more profound than simply a 'job' or formal 'role'? And how do we listen to God? How does God get through to you? And how do you help those you love discern God's call in their lives?
Lots to get our teeth into.
Please contribute.
Can we begin with the bible - what story of God's call from the scriptures speaks to you?
I’d like to suggest 4 Bible stories.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most challenging stories of vocation for me is that of John the Baptist. HIs calling was upon his entire life, from conception to his death by beheading. God called him to be the promised herald of the Messiah, to be the voice of one crying out in the desert “prepare the way of the Lord”. His vocation was to call the people to repent. A prophet’s calling is not an easy or comfortable one. But for me John’s sense of vocation is summed up in his words “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3 v.30). All John did, said, lived and died for was to point us to Jesus. Even as an unborn baby in his mother’s womb he jumped for joy in the presence of the unborn Jesus in Mary’s womb. With John there is no room for ego, just true humility.
Then there is Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who I find a remarkable character, quietly faithful. Not only did God choose her to bear a son of such significance, but as an older, wiser woman was called to be a safe person for Mary to turn to in her own pregnancy. Elizabeth was, for several months, to be a support to a young, unmarried, pregnant girl who knew she was carrying the Son of God. Elizabeth’s vocation was to offer hospitality, protection, a safe place, and to be a confident listener, courage giver, and wise counsel. For 3 months Elizabeth had a very special vocation, lived out in her own home, simply being there for Mary. Another humble response to God’s calling.
Aaron’s vocation is one of shared leadership. While we all know about Moses, much less is said about Aaron who God called to be the spokesperson for Moses, who didn’t feel eloquent enough to go to Pharaoh and ask him to set the Hebrew people free from slavery. Aaron had the gift of speaking fluently. His gifts were very much needed. Again humility marked vocation. Not all are called to be the main upfront leaders, but we all have something to contribute in fulfilling God’s purposes. Aaron worked alongside Moses, and eventually, after Moses’ death, led the people into the promised land. He was faithfully obedient without needing the limelight.
Then I turn to the early church and the story of Lydia in Philippi in Acts 16, who was the first convert to Christianity in Europe - I wonder where we would be without her. This business woman, a woman of prayer and worship, heard St. Paul preach the good news and responded both in faith and in opening her home to Paul and his companions. Her vocation for that specific short time was to offer generous hospitality, a base for St. Paul, a support to the ministry of the growing and emerging church. Her calling was to be herself, to offer what she had to God’s service, humbly and faithfully. I like to think of Lydia’s home as a place of Christian community and fellowship, founded in prayer and love for God - a noble vocation indeed.
There are three bible stories that speak to me.
ReplyDeleteFirst is the mother of Moses, the pharaoh's daughter and Miriam and possible the two Egyptian midwives who defied pharaoh's command to kill the Hebrew new born boys. Each of them was instrumental in Moses survival to become the one who led the Hebrews out of slavery, that was their calling -hugely important in Jewish history, but each one just being herself. Moses mother, determined to save the life of her baby and give him security putting him where pharaoh's daughter would find him, pharaoh's daughter finding a gorgeous little baby boy and wanting to keep him, Miriam being a big sister and the go between enabling his mother to care for him. I see his mother praying and thinking and coming up with her plan and then explaining to Miriam what she must do. Also I see pharaoh's daughter recognising exactly what is happening, but choosing to turn a blind eye, although I've always wondered how she got away with it. Women finding God's calling by being their ordinary selves in an extraordinary situation.
Secondly, the story of Joseph. His calling was to save both the Egyptians and his family from famine. He got to be in a position to do this through his father's favouritism, his own arrogance, his brothers' jealousy, Potiphar's wife's boredom, attraction to him and lies. In each situation he learns to make the most of it and do his best becoming the right hand man for Potiphar and then the jailer. In one of the early translations of the bible into English there's a verse which says, "the Lord was with Joseph, the lucky fellow." On the face of it he doesn't seem a very lucky fellow, but God was with him, changing him and using those difficulties and disappointments and the sinful people who caused them to bring him to the place where he could fulfil his calling. When his brothers finally appeared before him and he made himself known to them he can say, "you meant it for evil, God meant it for good."
The third story is Isaiah's call in the temple. I heard Paula Gooder speak about this and there are two things that struck me in what she said. First, the hem of God's garment filled the temple which makes God huge and makes that vision even more awesome than it had seemed to me before; secondly, she said that each time someone was called by God, like Isaiah was, they were given something to do that was difficult. God's calling was not just a wonderful experience, but an enormous challenge that involved difficulty and persecution and suffering.
Two seemingly contradictory things stand out, firstly God's calling is about the ordinary, everyday, mundane things that make up our lives - Teach me my God and King comes to mind, but secondly, there is the challenge and the suffering that God's call brings. Another of Paula's comments was that we need to be more willing to engage with paradox and less afraid of it.
The stories that come to my mind are those of Daniel and Esther. Both are exiles in a foreign country ruled by mad emperors.
ReplyDeleteDaniel must have been so lost wondering what plans God had for him. Did he long for the day he could return to Israel and worship God without being oppressed? I wonder what it felt like to have even his own name changed for a pagan one, Belteshazzer, meaning "Bel protects his life"; Bel being a Babylonian deity. Daniel means, " God is my judge" . The " el" in Daniel, comes from " Elohim", one of the names of God. What was it like to have to learn about sorcery, having come from a heritage that expressly forbade it. I wonder whether Daniel ever felt he was doing God's will, that he had "found" his vocation. He hadn't really found it, it was foisted on him. As I was reading about the role of eunuchs in ancient times, I came across a passage that said it was likely that Daniel and his friends were made eunuchs when they were taken captive. Eunuchs often served in high positions in the government. What must that have felt like, to have his identity robbed in every possible way. It is easy for us to see his calling, but I doubt that Daniel saw his role as his vocation. I feel certain that he longed for better times and for the chance to work for a Jewish government.
As for Esther, to be chosen to spend a single night with a mad emperor, and potentially have to live like a widow after that must have been unimaginable. ( reference- Great Lives: Esther, by Charles Swindoll). Did she wonder where God was? Did she have any choice in the matter? Did she cry out to God to spare her from this nightmare? What was it like to have to hide her identity and religion from the man she was married to? What was it like to be married to a man who was notorious for his eccentric and impulsive behaviour? I believe Esther was more fortunate in some ways than Daniel because she could see, in retrospect, how God had used her.
Were Daniel and his friends fortunate enough to see God's hand in their lives? Perhaps they did....Or did they walk by faith and not by sight?