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Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God.  So your experience of God may become your experience of life.  It is wonderful what God can do!

JANUARY 2, 2005

FINDING YOUR CALLING FOR 2005

    ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19TH, I SHARED A SERMON ABOUT GETTING DISTRACTED. THE IDEA WAS THAT CHRISTMAS AND THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS OFTEN A TIME OF GETTING DISTRACTED AND SOMETIMES STARING OFF INTO SPACE FOR NO APPARENT REASON. IT CAN BE HARD TO CONCENTRATE TO GET OUR REGULAR TASKS DONE.
YET, CONSIDERING THE FIRST CHRISTMAS IT WAS ALL ABOUT GETTING DISTRACTED. THE SHEPHERDS HAD BEEN DISTRACTED BY THE BRIGHT LIGHT, AN ANGEL SPEAKING TO THEM AND THE HEAVENLY CHORUS. MARY AND JOSEPH HAD BEEN DISTRACTED TOO FROM THE FUTURE THEY HAD EXPECTED BY ANGELS VISITING THEM AND SUGGESTING ANOTHER COURSE FOR THEIR LIVES. WE EVEN NOTED THAT EVEN LONGER AGO MOSES HAD BEEN DISTRACTED BY THE BURNING BUSH THAT WOULD NOT BURN.

    SO THE POINT WAS, THAT GETTING DISTRACTED CAN SOMETIMES BE A GOOD THING. FOR THE ONE DOING THE DISTRACTING COULD BE GOD TRYING TO GET A MESSAGE TO US ABOUT A NEW ASSIGNMENT HE WOULD LIKE US TO FULFILL, A NEW DIRECTION THAT WE MAY NOT AT FIRST HAD REALIZED OURSELVES OR THOUGHT NOT TO BE POSSIBLE.  YET, SOMETIMES, WHAT AT FIRST MAY SEEM LIKE A DISTRACTION, HAS A WAY OF COMING BACK INTO OUR CONSCIOUSNESS. IT IS LIKE IF WE DIDN'T GET IT THE FIRST TIME, GOD HAS A WAY OF CONTINUING TO TRY TO GET OUR ATTENTION FOR SOMETHING HE WOULD LIKE US TO DO.  AS A WAY TO GAIN PERSPECTIVE, I HAVE SHARED ABOUT THREE LEVELS OF LIVING. ON THIS FIRST SUNDAY OF A NEW YEAR, IT IS APPROPRIATE TO SEEK TO GAIN AGAIN PERSPECTIVE AND GUIDANCE FROM GOD BEFORE WE HEAD OUT INTO THE NEW YEAR.

    THUS, PERSPECTIVE COMES FROM A CHAPTER OF A WORKBOOK I HAVE WRITTEN.  A SECTION OF THE CHAPTER, WHICH CAN NOW BE FOUND AT OUR CHURCH WEB SITE, GOES LIKE THIS.

    Louis Sherill in his book The Struggle of the Soul indicates that there are three levels of living. Those three levels include living life on a treadmill level, a saga level, and/or a pilgrimage level.
An example of the treadmill level of living comes from the illustration of a French naturalist who placed a certain kind of caterpillar on the top of a glass. This particular type hooks its head to the back end of the caterpillar in front of it. The French naturalist wanted to see if the caterpillars who hooked to one another walking around the top of a glass, who would sooner or later, figure out what was going on and break loose. Unfortunately, the caterpillars couldn't figure out their situation and walked around the top of the glass until they died.

    Of course, the routines we establish in our lives aren't usually
that catastrophic or blind in their effects, but routines or a treadmill level of living only bind us to just a lower level of living.
The saga level of living has to do with what I call the "Are we
having fun yet?" level of living. I traveled with some church youth on a
whitewater rafting trip. as the waves lifted us high into the air, the
youth would yell in excitement, "Are we having fun yet?"
Many things qualify as sagas or adventures in life: going to Disney
World, seeing a Broadway show, going skiing, etc. Yet, as fun as these may be are they "all there is"?  Sherrill calls the third level the pilgrimage level of living. I have renamed it the "calling" level. Being "called" implies that there is something beyond the treadmill and saga levels of living, as necessary and fun as they can be. The pilgrimage or calling level of living has to do with the kinds of experiences that Abram, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus and Paul felt compelled to pursue.
    You have probably heard the story of Albert Schweitzer. In his
book, Out of My Life and Thought, he describes enrolling in a conservatory of music, because he had the talent and thought he could become a great organist. Eventually he discerned that traveling all over Europe performing organ concerts would have been successful but not satisfying to him. So Schweitzer went to theological seminary. Yet attending seminary and learning about theology were not enough for him either. Next he went to medical school and became a doctor.    Yet even that wasn't enough.  Then he read about Lambarene, Africa, where there was a need for a medical outpost. This is it! he realized. The rest is history. Schweitzer used his organ-playing ability to raise money for the Lambarene medical outpost. His theological endeavors, including his focus on the quest for the historical Jesus, have been an important part of theological discussions for decades. Most importantly for our discussion, he stayed with his struggle to discern his calling.

    TO SAY IT ANOTHER WAY, ALBERT SCHWEITZER HAD TO LET HIMSELF STAY DISTRACTED UNTIL HE DISCOVERED HOW HIS CALLING WAS MEANT TO COME TOGETHER.  

A COUPLE OF TIPS ABOUT FINDING YOUR CALLING.
    

    FIRST, YOU MAY ALREADY BE DOING YOUR CALLING BUT HADN'T THOUGHT ABOUT IT THAT WAY BEFORE.  WE WERE SHARING IN OUR SUNDAY MORNING DISCIPLE I GROUP THE OTHER MORNING. WE HAPPENED TO BE CONSIDERING THE TOPIC OF CALLING BECAUSE WE WERE STUDYING HOW THE BOY SAMUEL WAS DISTRACTED BY SOMEONE CALLING IN THE NIGHT, WHO TURNED OUT TO BE THE LORD, AND SAMUEL RECEIVING HIS CALL.  YET, ONE OF THE PERSONS IN THE GROUP DID NOT THINK THAT THEY HAPPENED TO HAVE A CALL FROM GOD. YET, THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GROUP KNEW THIS PERSON WELL ENOUGH AND WHAT SHE DID WHAT THEY RECOGNIZED SOMETHING THAT SHE WAS DOING IN HER LIFE WAS ACTUALLY A CALLING, SHE JUST HADN'T VIEWED IT THAT WAY BEFORE.  SO YOUR CALLING COULD BE SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE ALREADY DOING. 

    SECOND, A CALLING IS OFTEN SPECIFIC AND CAUSES YOU TO REACH OUT BEYOND YOURSELF WHICH CAN BE BOTH SCARY AND VERY FULFILLING.  A CALLING IS NOT USUALLY HELPING THE WORLD IN GENERAL BUT IN SOME  SPECIFIC WAY. AND WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT SPECIFIC WAY, YOUR REALIZATION CAN BE SCARY AND VERY FULFILLING.  IT SEEMS THAT LATELY IN OUR COMMUNITY A NUMBER OF PERSONS HAVE ADOPTED INFANTS OR CHILDREN FROM OTHER PLACES IN THE WORLD. WHEN A PERSON OR COUPLE HAS THAT THOUGHT, IT CAN BE BOTH SCARY AND LATER FULFILLING. A CALLING OFTEN CALLS YOU TO BE WHO YOU AREN'T YET. YET, WHEN YOU GET THERE, WITH GOD'S HELP, YOU ARE VERY GLAD THAT YOU DECIDED TO TAKE THE RISK.

    THIRD, I INVITE YOU TO VIEW YOUR CALLING IN A HOLISTIC WAY.  IN  OTHER WORDS, I BELIEVE GOD DESIRES FOR YOU TO DISCOVER BLESSING IN ALL AREAS OF YOU LIFE, IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS, IN YOUR CALLING AND SERVING OTHERS, IN YOUR WORK, AND IN YOUR SELF-CARE. IT IS ALL A PART OF A WHOLE AND A MATTER OF BALANCE.

    FINALLY, IT SEEMS TOO THAT NOT EVERYONE HAS A CALLING. YET, IF THAT IS THE CASE, JESUS REMINDS US TO ALWAYS FIND WAYS TO BE IN SERVICE TO OTHERS, EVEN IF THAT IS NOT ALWAYS EASY. JESUS HAS IN FACT CALLED US ALL TO WILLING TO BE SUFFERING SERVANTS, EVEN AS HE WAS.  FOR JESUS KNOWS TOO THAT THERE IS SPIRITUAL COMPENSATION THAT LASTS FOR ETERNITY.

    SO, AS YOU LOOK OUT INTO THE NEW YEAR, LET YOURSELF BE DISTRACTED, LET YOURSELF BE DISTRACTED BY GOD UNTIL YOU FIND NOT ONLY THE NECESSARY ROUTINES IN LIFE THAT WILL SUSTAIN YOU, THE FUN ADVENTURES THAT WE ALL NEED, BUT THAT YOU SEEK AND STRUGGLE UNTIL YOU FIND AND FULFILL A CALLING THAT GOD MAY HAVE FOR YOU THIS YEAR.

LET US PRAY.
DEAR GOD,
YOUR CALLING PERSONS NOT ONLY HAPPENED TO PERSONS IN THE
BIBLE BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE A LIVING AND PRESENT GOD CONTINUE TO HAPPEN TODAY.
HELP US TO ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE DISTRACTED BY YOU SO THAT
WE MAY BE READY TO HEAR YOUR CALLING IN OUR LIVES FOR 2005.
AMEN.