...Joy's gift
9th MAY 2017
This evening I spent in the company of some inspiring young men and women who are exploring vocation to the priesthood.
Eight faithful followers - pilgrims - of Jesus, from a range of backgrounds and traditions with the Anglican church in Birmingham, had gathered for the second of four sessions specifically laid on to create a forum of shared exploration.
It was an utter privilege to hear their stories and the stories of fellow ministers who commit themselves to the 'cure of souls' in parishes across our diverse and extraordinary diocese.
It never ceases to amaze me what God is doing in the lives of so many and how patient God must be with us.
A common theme which emerged was the sense of resistance many had to the nudge and tug (being pushed and dragged) that would not go away. And how patiently our pilgrim Lord persists with us.
I was a boy of ten or eleven when (looking back) I first had an inkling of a call to being a priest. But I only now know this as I look back over my life. I would not have articulated it quite that way at that age. But the hint came from an unusual choice of reading matter. My family were travelling on an overnight train journey - always a great adventure in itself - from Karachi to Quetta in Pakistan. We were heading to the cool of the hills to escaped the oppressive heat of June in the port city. I was reading the bible (not something I did a lot of then), and, more specifically, was reading the Letter to the Hebrews. My father asked me what I was reading, and I told him. I remember him just looking at me a little oddly. Dad was an Anglican priest and missionary with CMS. He just stored it up in his heart.
Years later, aged 36, I had begun responding to test out whether ordination was right. I finally owned up to my father (I had always resisted because, out of pride, I did not want to follow in his footsteps) and he emailed me back, somewhat cryptically, the simple words - Kumbya, my Lord (Someone's calling).
My father died before I was accepted for training. Yet I know, he prayed for me throughout his life and somewhere in his prayers was the carefully watching over an emerging vocation to the priesthood. I wear his robes - the same ones he was ordained wearing in 1958.
On the first day of theological adventure at Queen's Foundation, we were asked to write down a word or phrase that summed up our expectations of training. God gave me one word. Joy.
Through all the pain and challenges, the highs and lows, the utter lost-for-words sadness and the profound questions that are unanswerable (and will only resolved in Christ) - throughout it all, joy has remained. God's patience and joy's gift are marks of vocation's long road.
Ive spent this evening in the company of women of courage and strength, from different countries and both Christian and Moslem. It has been an evening of sharing, of listening to each other, of respect and friendship and towards the end of the evening I gave a bit of help with a project one of them is doing and she and I prayed together before we parted.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I came to Morning Prayer, as I do most Tuesdays. It is noticeable how many Tuesdays include good conversations, often with someone a little unexpected. Although the conversations often include sadness and difficulties there is joy in getting to know another person better, in being trusted and in feeling that God is letting me be part of and understand better his/her/their love and compassion and care for every single person.
I see friendship and worship as two important parts of my calling and of the calling of the church.
I spent yesterday evening sharing a meal with one of my goddaughters, and her parents, to celebrate her birthday. It was a lovely relaxed time of conversation and laughter, and a time to listen to and be with my goddaughter and to tell her I love her.
ReplyDeleteBeing a faithful godmother, friend, wife and especially being a mother is my vocation but a calling I, too, know I sometimes resist out of pride and the desire for status. How can a feminist be content with a calling to be “just a mother”? It seems so unamazing. Surely an intelligent and able woman should be doing more, especially in the workplace? But whatever I have tried, God keeps patiently and persistently bringing me back to my core purpose in life: to be a faithful presence and support, bringing to birth gifts in others and nurturing flourishing lives. When I accept that, and stop struggling and resisting, then the mark of vocation for me is the gift of peace as well as joy.
A middle aged man I knew passed away. His mother is a remarkable woman. She has suffered immensely in her life. Personal problems riddled her in her youth. She spent most of her young adult life caring for aged in laws. Her middle age was marred by the death of her ten year old son who had been severely disabled and bed ridden since the age of two. She had found joy in caring for him. He was never a burden to her even though he was vegetative for most of his life, being unable even to communicate. And now in her eighties, she bears the terrible grief of the loss of a second son who predeceases her. Despite everything she endures she always smiles. Her sorrow is never in the forefront; her faith shines through. Her vocation has been to care for others. She is a truly great mother.
ReplyDeleteMay she trust these words from Hosea 13:
I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
In my Bible readings this week the emphasis has been on community and that has come particularly from I Peter 2 v1-9 with it's central thought of Jesus as the one who holds the church together and is the foundation of the church.
ReplyDeleteWE are being built up together into "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people." In talks and sermons I've heard on this particular passage the corner stone has been seen as the key stone of an arch - the central stone that defies gravity, gives the arch stability, strength and holds the arch together. The arch depends on the key stone; we depend on Jesus, not just as individuals, but even more importantly together. We are held together by Jesus to give us strength and security. Part of our calling is to be together and work together, but, perhaps more difficultly, but more importantly, to support each other, and this is the real thought from this morning, allow ourselves to be supported, in other words recognise when we need help and support and be willing to accept it. Humility again.
Another day the reading was Acts 13 1-12 about Barnabas and Saul with John Mark having their callling recognised and being commissioned and sent out by the church with prayer and laying on of hands. What struck me is the importance of the church recognising and authorising a calling. It would be interesting to know how the church at Antioch recognised the calling of someone who lived a life of faithful and loving service to their family and community in an ordinary low key way. I think we do value the many, many ways in which people at Saint Hilda's serve family, friends, community and it is recognised publically in the thanks that people are given regularly in the notices, at the APCM and when people give up a ministry, but I'm wondering if that is enough.