The final category of our grid of clergy care is the area of vocation. It comes in a variety of fashions ranging from a transforming moment to a gradual growing awareness but somewhere in a pastor’s journey there comes a moment when s/he makes a decision to respond to God’s call to the ordained ministry. In good Reformed fashion, I believe that all of us have a call from God but I want to focus on that which leads to pastoral ministry. As Abraham discovered in his ministry, so most of us experience many twists and turns in responding to the call, but the central reality is our relation with the one who has called us.
My concern is that I think we can easily get so caught up in the demands of the ministry or even the cacaphony of conflicting voices around us that we lose touch with our sense of call. When we do, it is easy to fall into cynicism or even a sense of victimhood in living out what can become just a job. It is in reminding ourselves of God’s call in our lives that we gain the courage and fortitude to not allow the conditions to defeat us.
Let me suggest a simple exercise by which you might reflect on that original call and any new directions of that call in your life. What I want to suggest is that you examine one of several calls in Scripture and note any dynamic parallelism with your own call. For example, read the story of the call of Moses in Exodus chapters 4-5.
As you read the call, take note of several features of the call. First, what was the occasion that prompted God’s all to Moses? As you read almost any of the calls in the Bible, you will notice that the occasion did not have so much to do with the person called as what was happening in the world around them. In this case, it was the cry of the people in slavery. While it may not have been a cry from bondage that prompted God’s call in your life, it is worth considering whose needs beyond your own that may have prompted God’s call in your life. There is a purpose for which God has called you that is greater than your own personal needs. When you can maintain an awareness of the greater purpose, it makes the challenges to your call much more manageable.
You might also consider all the various excuses that Moses made in resisting God’s call. As I listen to candidates for the ministry speak of their call before presbytery, I’m struck with how many of them speak of their early resistance to that call in their lives. What were some of your excuses or feelings of inadequacy as you considered God’s call? Are some of them still playing a role in your life?
Notice God’s response to the several excuses that Moses made. How has God responded to your excuses? Are there still some lingering questions that you need to pursue with God? Notice also that the overriding response that God gave to Moses was the promise of God’s presence wherever the journey took him. It is the same promise that Jesus gave to his disciples right before his ascension. It is the promise that makes all the difference in our lives. As it is said in Romans, if God is for us, who then can be against us?
Take some time for yourself and reflect on your own journey that is in response to God’s call. It can be energizing.
