Called. Tricky business being “called,” (in the spiritual sense that is—as in, a call from God.) I’m pretty specific when I refer to being called as God’s call for me as oppose to my call to ministry. For theological reasons but also ‘cause I one-upped Moses for making up reasons why I shouldn’t be a person God called into ministerial leadership. (My call for my life would look a lot different than how God has led me through this process!) I very distinctly understood God to be directing me to seminary and reluctantly agreed.

The other night at our monthly Session meeting we heard from Megan and Eric, two of our young adults who will both begin seminary this coming fall. It was a blessed mix of joy, holiness, laughter, community, and spiritual growth. It was quite clear both Eric and Megan were called to ministry through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So yesterday in a meeting I got my whole sense of how God calls us to ministry dumped upside-down. The opening devotion was a reflection on Isaiah 6:8—“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’” The devotion was from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest:

It is not a question of God singling out a [person] and saying, "Now, you go." God did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah was in the presence of God and he overheard the call, and realized that there was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom, "Here am I, send me." Get out of your mind the idea of expecting God to come with compulsions and pleadings. When our Lord called His disciples there was no irresistible compulsion from outside. The quiet passionate insistence of His "Follow Me" was spoken to [people] with every power wide awake. (January 14th)

Good reminder. Yes, there are clear calls from the Holy Spirit—those indescribable communications that make known what it is we are to do. But we also must be wide awake to hear the call that is constantly being communicated by Jesus—feed my sheep, do unto others, share, pray, love…. ‘Here I am; send me!’

In Christ,
Jess