Following our callings
Be the Church Sunday was truly an incredible day in our faith community. As I write this, it is less than 48 hours since we were commissioned and sent out. I have heard many stories via phone calls, emails, Facebook postings, and so forth about what took place. I continue to hear a similar theme – God was at work! As we focused on the last several weeks, Being the Church is about individuals who God has uniquely gifted, whom God brings together, and through whom God does extraordinary work. We saw this reflected in the stories of the last few weeks in worship – stories of the Good Samaritan, Jesus’ declaration in the temple, the mustard seed and the yeast, and in the sending of the seventy. We have seen it in the history of the church and we experienced it on Sunday.
Over the next several weeks, we will continue to focus on the stories of people who God used to accomplish God’s extraordinary purposes. We will be getting more specific in what it means to Be the Church as we seek to understand the callings that God brings into our lives. Too often, we give the impression that “calling” or “a call” is something reserved for specific people, when the reality is far different. Calling is simply the invitation from God to people to follow and to Be witnesses in the world. It may be different at different times for different people, but the underlying is the same. Come and follow.
The stories we will look at are of people not all that unlike us. While they may be people who lived thousands of years ago, their lives have strong echoes of our lives today. The story of man ashamed of his past and uncomfortable with his weaknesses. Two women who find themselves in an impossible situation. A woman with the power to make a dramatic change, but doing so opens her to great risk. A man challenged to follow to a place not in his plan at all. A woman struggling with her body and her faith. And a man whose life is turned upside down by an encounter on a road. Each of these stories are about ordinary people who have encountered an extraordinary God.
As we consider these stories, we are encouraged to consider our own callings as well. To what is God calling you in your journey today? What sacrifices is God calling you to make in your commitment to follow? What changes are necessary in order to follow where God is leading? What are the ways that you feel you are on the right path now? How is God calling you…calling me…calling us?