If you have taken some time to reflect on the nature of your call that has led to this position of service to the larger church, you will find strength in taking a second step. The musings of our minds are important but they become more powerful when they result in some public testimony. We have never been a faith of individuals. From the beginning, whether in the creation story when God declared that it was not good for a human to be alone, or whether it was at the base of Mt. Sinai, when God took a “no people” and made them into “God’s people,” or when Jesus called disciples or the Spirit visited at Pentecost, we have always been called into relationship. So here is the next step that I suggest for you.
Find a colleague, preferably not one to whom you are accountable or who is accountable to you, and invite them to hear your story. This would be an excellent opportunity to take advantage of Skype to share with someone from another area. There could be value in building a relationship with someone in a similar position in another denomination. I have found it enlightening to build such a relationship with a rabbi or imam. Regardless of your choice, whether in person or through technology, you need to build a relationship before you are going to feel comfortable sharing with any depth.
Once you are ready, ask your colleague to hear your story in the explicit form of God’s involvement in your life. What I mean is, regardless of whether you are used to talking in this manner or not, this time as you tell your story, in the manner that Scripture does, anthropomorphize your story of God’s involvement in the evolution of your call. Risk verbalizing that God gave you this gift or worked with you in this experience with this result that led to God’s calling you to this position. Of course there is value in the more abstract and sophisticated form of describing your call, but I am inviting you to experiment with the concreteness of a child in telling your story. I think you will find it a powerful experience.
If your friend is willing, there would be double value in inviting him or her to have thought about God’s call in their own life as well.
