From Ben Myers Blog

http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2010/07/bonhoeffer-gandhi-and-christian.html

Calling and Vocation ...

This is very possible an act of procrastination in the highest form! However, I feel I should be doing something useful while procrastinating rather than just simply staring into space!

During the previous week I have had some fairly interesting conversations with people. In most of these conversations, I have discussed my discernment journey so far and it got me thinking about what I have overall discerned in the long time I have been "officially" discerning God's call on my life. So in a pre-preparation to my portfolio for presbytery, here are some thoughts that I have scribbled down on a note pad in regards to calling and vocation....


To me a calling to ministry does not equate to a calling to the specified ministries. Each person is called to a different way of serving God, "There are many ways of serving God, but it is the same God who is served".
So calling to ministry is recognising that God has called you to serve Him in a particular way.
Out of my thoughts on calling, come my thoughts on 'vocation', which is related. God has created each person with gifts and talents oriented toward specific purposes and a way of life. Vocation is a life calling so to speak. It is more than occupation or job or work. It is about recognising where your gifts and skills and passions are best used.
Personally I have explored various areas of my life where I could have felt a possible calling to:
-Teaching
-Politics
-Law
-Social Work
-Development and Aid

However my exploration and discernment has always led me back to the same area: the church, serving others, serving God. I have never really felt completely "whole" or "right" in work other than the church, and I feel "right" when I am in a context that involves being part of a christian community and equipping people in their faith. Since being a Mission Worker I have felt a greater sense of this.

My discernment on calling has led me to the point where I believe that God is calling me to the servant ministry of the word within the Uniting Church. What led me to this conclusion is from deep prayer and consideration of what my sense of calling meant. As part of this discernment I reflected on all three specified ministries: Minister of the Word, Deacon, and Pastor. In my exploration of Ministry of Pastor I have discovered that it is not what I am called to as it is a placement and location specific ministry and at the conclusion of a placement, the person would cease to be a Pastor. I feel that God is calling me to a life long ministry, not one that is temporary such as Pastor.
I also discerned and prayed about whether God was calling me to ministry of Deacon. While I share the passions and mission focused mind that Deacons do (and recognise that there is a lot of overlap in the duties of MoW and Deacons), I feel that my calling is to the gathered community of Christ. Hence why I believe God is calling me to the Ministry of the Word.
I first felt God has called me to this Ministry in Easter/Holy Week 2010. Before then I has discerned a call to the specified/ordained ministry but was still praying and discerning as to which it was. I do believe that the Holy Week retreat I went on and my time at the CCA led me to discern God's call on my life to MoW.
Since then I have continued to pray, journal, discern, and reflect my thoughts with others (both from within the church and outside of it).
In my own personal time I have reflected on what I believe I could bring to the Specified Ministry of the Word in the way of gifts and skills:
LITURGICAL
-Variety of Worship styles
-Passion for leading worship and worship experiences
-Holistic approach to worship and liturgy
-enjoys experimenting with different forms of liturgy
-Passionate about preaching the Gospel
-Has received good, constructive feedback on sermons and services
-I am always learning and building on my knowledge

LEADERSHIP
-Developed knowledge of the regulations, manual for meetings, and basis of union
-Pastoral and prayerful approach to meetings
-Developed Admin skills
-Ability to establish rapport in meeting and business settings

SACRAMENTAL
-Understanding of the two sacraments (baptism and Eucharist)
-Passion for the sharing of the sacraments and discussing their meaning

ECUMENICAL
-First hand experience of Ecumenism and the workings of an ecumenical organisation
-On going passion for church unity and energy for the wider ecumenical movement


.... So this has been a taste of my discernment up to now and an idea of what I will be putting into my portfolio to Presbytery.

After so long ...

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have made actual time to sit down and write something here. It escapes me why I am doing it now - with three assignments due this week, but that could possibly be the art of procrastination (or my break) working.
I have just come back from attending an initiative of the Queensland Synod called "Stretching Faith" which was a gathering of young adults with the aim of reflecting theologically on issues of the church and life. We had 3 very good speakers and I will take a short time describing what each spoke about.
Alistair Macrae spoke about bible reading and study and how to get the most out of it. He shared 3 Questions people should apply when reading the bible:

1. What us the behind of the text? [What has come before this]
2. What is the within of the text? [what is it saying]
   
3. What is the infront of in the text? [what is the dimension/wisdom/connection of the texts context and ours?]

When studying the bible the word conversation is critical. Group bible studies are more effective than one on one or individual study. A good method of using this conversational method, is by using a bible study that Al nicknamed the "swedish" method. This method is to go through a text (in our case, the feeding of the 5000) and mark the text (silently at first) as so:

• ! against parts in the text you said 'yes' to or agree with
• ? again parts you question, or made you think
• X again parts you didn't like or said 'no' to

In small groups we used the "swedish" method and discuss the feeding of the 5000, with placing particular emphasis on the ? parts of the text. After we shared with the wider group, we split into small groups again and did a comparison exercise with the beatitudes by comparing them with what today's culture values compared to whatis valued in the beatitudes. For example: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" could become "Blessed are the strong in wealth" or "Blessed are those who don't complain".

Ben Myers presented us with a multimedia talk on the theme Monstrous Grace in Popular Culture. We looked at a piece of fiction (Flannery O'Connor), two pieces of music (Tom Waits), and a film (Magnolia). Each piece of Pop Culture presented us with a different image of grace. Grace was not this pretty thing willingly given to everyone in happy streams of rainbows. The grace of God was shown as this liberating and freeing forced compared to what each piece of work presented us. In Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation", the main character (who is a pious and church going woman) has a revelation in a doctors office and all the people in life she despises ("white trash" and "niggers") are entering heaven before her and taking up seats of honour. In the Tom Waits songs we are presented with quite grotesque images of life - but that is how life really is. In one song, Down there By the Train, it speaks of how God's love and grace is available to everyone (including some of the worst criminals in history). In Magnolia, a quote by Jill Stauffer brilliantly sums it up - "To get the point of Magnolia is to admit that freedom is not our highest value".
Freedom is to be bound to one thing - that is the right thing.
Grace means neither that human beings can or should do something, nor that they can or should do nothing. Grace means that God does something ~ Karl Barth (Epistle to the Romans)

Michelle Cook led us through the basis of union. We looked at what we thing of when we hear the word 'church' and what we think a church is and what the purpose of church is. We looked at the Basis of Union para. 3-4 and did the same "swedish" method with it. The conversation that followed was vigorating - especially to see that the basis of union speaks of the whole church ... not just the Uniting Church in itself.
The BoU offers us a critique of how we interact as church .... that our faith journey is not an individualistic one but a communal journey together in the world.

Ministry is an Act of the Church

Summary from Willimon text...

I find it a little humorous that the first recorded act of the apostles after the ascension of the risen Christ into heaven is a meeting. It seems a little dampening on the magnificent and majestic event that has just occurred to then go straight to a business meeting of the apostles. The election of Matthias as a replacement apostle. This however serves as some sort of testimony that there is no church without leadership.

There is no doubt that ordination is gift of God. It is however a gift of God given through the church. Clergy arose because of the church's need for leaders and leadership.

The clergy are not more important than the laity. Willimon puts it this way, "The clergy as not a patrician upper crust set over the plebeian laity. The essence of priesthood is primarily relational and functional more than ontological." Quite simply: the clergy is about whom it serves and what it does, rather than what it is.

The difference between a minister who visits, preaches, and baptises, and any other skilled layperson who performs these same functions is the minister's "officialness". The minister's functioning are authorised by the whole church.

Next Post: To be a Minister is to be tied in a unique way to the church, the believing community in Christ.

Ministry is an Act of God

After reading sections in William Willimon's Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, I am going to blog what my understanding of this is and what I have drawn from it. I shall be doing it in dot point so it is somewhat understandable.

• The idea of service (which essentially is what ministry is) is one of God's - not ours.
• The Trinity is creative and communicative. Divine creativity is the basis for both the church and its leaders.
• The concept of 'Calling' can be given an example through the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. He is blinded by light, and for 3 days is isolated as someone who can neither eat or drink. People sometimes describe their calling to ministry as something they never thought they would do. Saul as someone who threatened and persecuted the first followers of Christ - he is then called by Christ to minister to them.
• The same can be seen with Ananias. Fearing to go near Saul/Paul, God reaffirms what he wants Ananias to do by saying "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and Kings".
• My interpretation of the two points above is that ministers are instruments of God's divine creativity. We are called for a reason and a specific purpose and task. In Paul's case he is called to minister to the Gentiles.

• Ministry is not a profession. It is a vocation. Ministers cannot be paid for that is generally expected of them. They must be called in order to do it.
• We all struggle with what is is that God is exactly calling us to, and what it means to be called.
• Willimon says "Time and again, amid the challenges of the pastoral ministry, this divine, more-than-subjective authorisation is a major means of pastoral perseverance. To know that our ministry is first and finally validated not by our feelings, or even by the judgments of the Bishop [Presbytery], but by God; this is great grace!"
• Acts 5:29 "We must obey God rather than any human authority"
• We are representatives of something much bigger and more significant than our denomination.

Next Post: Ministry is an Act of the Church

Continuity

Since my last post was back in December and it is now towards the end of January, I am sure most of those who read this (if any) must have realised by now how incredibly punctual I am with blogging. Maybe because since my last post I have spent Christmas in Armidale, New Years with friends in Sydney, valued time with my Mother and a little more precious time with my girlfriend before heading back to Chiang Mai.

I think that going back to Australia was a good thing for me in some way. I was able to see people I loved and cared about and have a small taste of that Australian culture I missed. I do admit, that when the time for me to go came around I wasn't as sad to leave as I thought I would be. After all, It was only 3 and a half months more and then back to Australia for good (or for the meantime :P ).

So since coming back I have been quite busy. I was pretty sick for the first five days, 2 and a half of those days were spent in hospital. I am very happy to be much better now. Work at the CCA has also been a little more busier than it was. A LOT of letter writing, getting together deadlines and paperwork, and many other assembly-related items are of course what fills most of my days. I continue to be amazed at the extent of work the CCA is involved in and how strong the Ecumenical Movement is in Asia.

Before I left, Anita suggested I get a copy of a book called "Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry" by William Willimon. Not to set any particular reading but to read at my "leisure". I haven't read the whole book, from what I have read it is very deep but very interesting. The introduction summed up Ministry in four (4) points which I found very useful. These points were:

1. Ministry is an act of God
2. Ministry is an act of the Church
3. To be a pastor/minister is to be tied in a unique way to the church, the believing community in Christ
4. Ministry is difficult

Over the next few blogs I am going to try and give my understanding and thoughts on what each of those four (4) headings mean to me and to be a Minister.

Since last time ...

It has been quite a long time since the last time I wrote.

My last entry was on why I feel a calling to Deacon. After re-reading this entry, I have evaluated that it was more why I feel a call to ministry rather than that particular ministry.
I believe I may still be at some kind of internal "conflict" within me.

I have reflected with myself, and with someone who's opinion means a lot to me, and I have discovered that I think God may be pushing me toward Ministry of the Word rather than Deacon. Here is some of the indicators my friend pointed out:

• My passion for Church Unity and Solidarity
• The way I like to "play around" with liturgy
• My passion, deep commitment and sense of importance I have for the Sacraments and them being shared

I took what was said to me and reflected. I reflected on these three points that I hadn't really thought about before. They are definitely true. If I didn't have a passion for Church Unity/Solidarity (ecumenism) then I wouldn't be offering 6 months of my life at the CCA. It is true I love taking services and being involved in them so I can experiment and test out formal, contemporary, traditional, and alternative forms of liturgy. The sacraments comment probably made the most sense to me. This friend is the person I have told most of my feelings towards the sacraments and how empowering I find them.

So having had this conversation and reflecting time, I naturally have felt more inclined to reflecting more on MoW. After all, I have spent the last 2 or so years reflecting mostly on Deacon. I possibly need to confess that I have been quite stubborn when it has come to this. Just something within me, for no apparent reason, but up a wall to thinking about MoW. Maybe this was because I knew Deacon's were a minority in the UCA and I wanted to help change that? Maybe because the Minister at Ingleburn when I left was a Deacon and she helped me grow a lot in faith? What ever it was - I really don't know why I was doing it or even kidding myself. How could I possibly have DISCERNED in this PoD without being totally honest with myself and less stubborn? Well as least I have become to realise this now.

Hopefully, I will be enrolling in some Theology at CSU for 2010 - this should provide me with some further insight.

Until next time ~ Shalom!