Doing it leads to fulfillment
7th MAY 2017
This afternoon we visited a stunning bluebell wood in the Lickey Hills.
The scent of the hillside was intoxicating in the warmth of the afternoon. It was a sight to behold as well. The fresh green of the beech wood, the carpet of distinctive mauve-blue and the cloudless sky were a breathtakingly beautiful combination.
We had heard about the place through friends. A little oasis hidden in
the hills. It seemed too good to be true. And yet it turned out to be just as they had said. Their description was fulfilled in reality.
Fulfillment is an interesting word when it comes to this topic of vocation.
It seems that as we talk together about what it is we feel we are 'called by God to do and be' we are discovering some shared experiences.
Vocation is a process of fulfillment, is what I want to say today.
For some people, it is by doing what brings fulfillment that they discover their vocation. They did not way for someone and/or God to give them the green light. They just got on and did what they enjoyed/were good at/found fulfillment in. And then, as they looked back on their experiences they were able to sense who God had called that vocation into being.
At the same time, fulfillment itself can be illusive. It is a byproduct of an action of service. But it is not the main thing. It is a kind of gift, sometimes a very unexpected gift.
Just like our hour among the bluebells. Unexpected. It needed to be experienced to be appreciated. Doing it brought its own fulfillment.
My thoughts today are about seeing my vocation as part of the vocation of the body of Christ in this place. We as the church have as much a vocation as I have one.
ReplyDeleteTwo things I see as important:-
1. Eating together. For some time I've had an image of Jesus saying to the Father/Mother and the Holy Spirit, with a Jewish shrug, "I give them a perfectly good meal and look what they do with it!" The formal symbolic sharing of bread and wine is important. Two thoughts; it has a long tradition and the power of the prayers and experience of many people over many years and as the congregation move to the altar it helps us to be aware of each other. At the Lent meals I was only really aware of the people sitting at the same table.
The simple shared meals at the vicarage, both the Good Conversation and now the Pilgrim Course are giving a safe, secure space to explore complicated issues and to bounce ideas, experience and understanding off each other and hear and acknowledge challenges that God is giving us.
2. Recently I heard two people speak about mental health. There was a lot said in a short time, but what stands out to me is the need to listen and the need for a safe, accepting and non labelling place/relationship in which to speak. The cultural effect of the way issues are expressed was also brought out. In our society there are issues that are still as likely to be joked obout as they are to be treated with acceptance and respect for the person expressing them. To feel safe to talk about our own brokenness and to accept someon else's with respect and recognition of the way they are coping with their problems is part of our calling as members of the body of Christ. One sign that we are fulfilling that calling that people listen, people pray and healing happens.
Ed Sheeran was the guest on yesterday’s Desert Island Discs. He has an incredibly successful career in music and was asked what he finds most fulfilling. His reply was that fulfilment comes when someone else writes a song because they’ve heard a song of his. Encouraging and releasing the gifts in others is both extremely fulfilling, and for some their vocation.
ReplyDeleteThe programme made me wonder what our choice of music would be on our desert island. What music has either shaped our lives, or is significant because of the memories it holds or the people we associate it with? I wonder if, for any bloggers, there are particular pieces of music which may have played a part in our vocations.
One song I would choose is Streets of London by Ralph McTell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiWomXklfv8
As a teenager I was a member of St. Hilda’s youth group which we called The Ammonites (linked with a tradition about St. Hilda). We met twice a week for years and went on holidays together. And we would spend a great deal of our time singing together, strumming our guitars, even doing dance routines!! The one song we sang repeatedly was Streets of London, and we were allowed and encouraged to sing it on several occasions at Parade services, with its theme of compassion for the homeless and lonely, the suffering ones on our streets. I still know it, and the guitar chords, off by heart. It was so important that as young people in church we were encouraged to do what we enjoyed doing. It kept us going to church, made us know we belonged just as much as anyone else. That in turn inspires me to want the same for others. Helping others feel they belong, either at church, at work, at social events, motivates me. I hate the thought of anyone feeling left out or rejected. As we were reminded in yesterday’s sermon, Jesus calls us to life giving places, and this life is not just for us but for all. The vocation may be to give people a sense of belonging, the fulfilment might be when someone reflects that sense of belonging by what they say or regular commitment to a group. We don’t always get to see or know the impact or fulfilment of our vocation, but we cannot help but continue with it because it enlivens us.
The main blog also writes about not always having to wait for God to show the green light. I’m not sure that God is as controlling as that, and rather see amber lights, with some uncertainty as to what to do, the way in which we learn to trust God more and deepen our relationship with him. The one thing we can always be certain of is that Jesus is present with us. When Jesus called the 12 apostles ( Mark 3v.14) he called them “to be with him”. That is our primary calling.
I’d like to also ask about how we respond to red lights, when as the preacher said yesterday we sometimes face the sign saying “road ahead closed”. That can be very challenging especially when we think God was leading us along one particular way. I found it helpful to hear that our core calling can remain the same but how we live it out changes as we travel down different, sometimes unexpected, paths.
When red lights, I have found another path opens up. Leaving the path we are already following is difficult, but following the alternative path brings experiences and fulfilment in the long term. Many times, that can only be said in retrospect. It can't be denied that facing red lights can be very painful. St Paul faced a change in what he thought was his vocation when he saw the light. As he says about himself:
ReplyDelete2Cor :4 8,9
8 We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair;9 there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed.