Vocations Retreat Addresses
‘Gifting’
Vocations Retreat Address 1
Introduce and then read wrong reasons to be a pastor :-
people become pastors for so many wrong reasons.
They like the status. They like speaking in public. They like arguing theology. They come from a long line of ministers. The list goes on.
If you’re debating becoming a pastor, here's a list of wrong reasons to become one, including some better alternatives to consider.
This may be why the pastoral drop-out rate is so high. Especially in the early years. Knowing them may save you – and your church – a lot of heartache.
The long list is followed by a very short list: the only good reasons I know to become a pastor.
What to Do Instead of Becoming a Pastor
Do you like being in charge? Start your own business.
Do you like talking while others listen? Become a college professor.
Do you like arguing theology? Start a blog.
Do you like church buildings? Become an architect.
Do you like church history? Become an archeologist.
Do you like visiting the sick? Become a chaplain.
Do you have a lot of ministers in your family? Become your pastor’s greatest supporter.
Do you like marrying people? Become a county clerk (or registrar).
Do you like burying people? Become a funeral director.
Do you like wearing special garments? Join the theatre.
Do you like having people look up to you? Wear higher heels.
Do you want to be in a position of authority? Run for public office.
Do you like having weekdays off? Become a rock star.
Do you like making money? Get a higher-paying job.
The Right Reasons to Become a Pastor
In my experience, there are only two good reasons to become a pastor:
1. Because you have an unshakable call from God to help people know Jesus and grow in their relationship with him and each other.
2. Despite how hard it is to be a pastor, it’s harder for you not to be a pastor.
God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to the church to equip the saints (Eph 4:11). But the unique call of the pastor (aka, shepherd) is to live among the sheep as we equip them. As Jesus told Peter, "Feed (pasture/pastor) my sheep." (John 21:17)
You have to love Jesus.
You have to love people.
You have to love equipping, mentoring and discipling people.
You have to be willing to stick with them over the long haul – through good times and bad.
If you’re looking for something other than that, you need to look elsewhere.
If you can't find God's will for your life doing anything but that, welcome to the pastorate. It's the hardest job you'll ever love.
Copyright © 2015 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
Read : Luke 10:38-42
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch.
He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. "Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience?
That will be hard because you have been a king." "I understand," said Henry, "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you."
"Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you."
When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."
When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father.
Christ expects us to be faithful where he puts us, and when he returns, we'll rule together with him.
And so, there is a great argument to say that where God has put you is where God wants you to be – but it doesn’t of course mean that for everyone, he intends us to stay there forever…
And I suspect, as you’re here on these few days, you’re wondering what God is saying to you – whether to stay where you are, doing what you’re doing or whether he is calling you to something different.
In the reading we heard from Luke’s gospel of Mary and Martha, we heard of two sisters alike in many ways, but very unalike in others. It’s a well known account and one where we can very often tend to judge who is right and who is wrong ! And perhaps also who is like us and who isn't !
I have two god-daughters who are sisters and they get on pretty well most of the time but their mum always says, “two sisters, same parents, same upbringing – totally different.”
When I was thinking about Mary and Martha I thought that actually they could have had the same said about them. Martha who was busying herself making sure everything was perfect for her guest, would have been seen as a ‘go and do’ type of character – or perhaps even someone who was a little fussy.
Then there was Mary who was enjoying their guests company so much that she didn’t help out, but sat attentively listening to Jesus. She could be seen as the quieter character who just wanted to listen- or perhaps the person who wanted to learn.
We are all different and we all have different ways of approaching things, however in the reading we will probably all have had a sympathy with Martha rushing around, but we may also have an understanding of Mary not wanting to lose the moment.
Martha had distractions, she was so distracted by everything else going on in the moment that she did not stop to think about what else might be needed. We can all do this, we can all spend so much time busying ourselves that we forget to take time out to sit in peace and listen to God.
There is a story of a man who lost his watch in a house whilst working, he searched everywhere for it, and so did all the other people who worked with him but they could not find it. So everyone apart from one boy went outside to look, when suddenly the boy shouted to say that he had found the watch inside. He was asked how he had found it and he replied, ‘I sat down when you had all gone, listened and heard it ticking !’
Mary sat down and listened to Jesus - she was not distracted, and we need to make sure that we sit and listen to God, that we give Him our whole selves and listen to what He wants to say to us.
There is one danger, though, we do need the balance. Martha didn’t just sit there and listen, she did things for God. We need to do things for God as well and not just sit and listen.
Mary and Martha, two sisters, same parents, same upbringing – totally different people. All of us children of God, related in the family of God - totally different people, but may we be united in seeking to listen to God, and to do things for Him.
Because if we truly want to know what God wants of us and for us we need to make space to listen – to listen to him as we pray and study the scriptures, but also to listen to him speaking through others – what are they seeing in our lives ? what are they thinking about us ?
There is no doubt that in our gospel passage Mary and Martha are both serving Jesus, but in very different ways. Let’s start again with the passage :-
v.38 – As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him…
Immediately Martha is serving Jesus – she welcomes him, she invites him in, she wants to make this a special time, preparing a special meal perhaps, making sure Jesus is as comfortable as he possibly can be…
It’s in the next verse we hear of Mary, not the one who did the inviting into the house and that’s no reflection on her – Martha had done it, but now it was Mary’s turn to ‘shine’ – she sat at Jesus’ feet listening to every word he said.
Both have already been involved in service – both have already been involved in trying to get closer to Jesus… Mary in listening, Martha in inviting Jesus in and wanting him to be well cared for… But Martha isn’t happy – she sees service and hospitality as ‘doing something’ and certainly not just ‘being something’.
And the Message Bible ends this account really well – Jesus says, ‘Martha, dear Martha, your fussing far too much and getting yourselves worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential; and Mary has chosen it – it’s the main course and won’t be taken away from her.’
We’re assuming that Martha is preparing food and food would often come at that time in various different courses, even more than our starter, main course and dessert perhaps, but the main course is in feasting on the words of Jesus – something that could never be taken away from Mary…
Food would come and go – Jesus’ words remain constant and life changing.
The message of this account is not that one of the sisters was right and one was wrong, but that both had important things to do but their priorities were different.
And when we think about God’s call on our lives, it’s essential that we recognise that we are all, whilst made in the image of God, very different, and some of us will have some gifts whilst others will have others…
There’s another incident from the life of Mary and Martha I want to think about - It is the account of Lazarus their brother being taken ill and dying (John 11:1-44).
We’re told that Mary and Martha sent for Jesus – they recognised the only hope they had came from him. What a lesson for us – as we look around for solutions to the world’s problems and our own problems, so often we fail to take those issues to God.
But wait, what happens ? Jesus is told that Lazarus is gravely ill and in verse 6 we’re told, he waits – for two days, he waits… not rushing to his friend’s side, but he waits…
And perhaps this has something to say to us as well as we consider God’s call on our lives… we can often be frustrated by delays, we can often think that God isn’t really clearing answering our prayers, we can often think that the people we talk to aren’t really pointing us in the right direction, or sometimes in any direction at all… but God is there… God is here… and he hears us, and he loves us, and he meets our needs – in his way and with his timing….
And this account continues as Jesus eventually goes to Bethany to be with the family – Mary and Martha are a little confused why Jesus waited so long, but both show their faith as they suggest that if Jesus had been there he would have saved Lazarus’ life…
Again though, both show their differences – it’s Martha who comes out to meet Jesus first while Mary stayed at home…. Martha appears the eager one, Mary the quiet one who waits….
They both have their place – they both have their value, they both show their faith and trust, they are both showing models of service, but in different ways – “two sisters, same parents, same upbringing – totally different.”
So we’ve thought of Mary and Martha as our introductory group of people this weekend. We’ve thought of the different gifts they bring, and the tensions as the two work so differently from each other… but what lessons do we learn as we think about our own calling…
The first is that they trusted Jesus – they welcomed him into their lives. The word vocation comes from a Latin word ( ‘vocare’) meaning to call.
And the word vocation is often used to describe any kind of calling to a particular role – perhaps a doctor or a teacher. In the church the primary meaning of the word vocation or calling is the call to follow Jesus- again quoting the Message Bible, Paul says in his letter to the Romans (1:6), ‘You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ’.
Without really seeking to get closer to God we won’t hear him speaking to us properly – we need to be prepared to let Jesus into our lives completely – not to compartmentalise our lives in any way… When we think of calling we have to think of our relationship with Jesus…
Secondly Mary and Martha took the opportunity to serve when they could. Martha was the welcomer, the tea maker, but more than that she was also often the organiser – it’s her who laid the ground for Jesus to visit. It’s Martha who went out to see Jesus as he arrived after Lazarus had died… And Mary served in her way, by seeking to get closer to Jesus and what he had to say – she wanted to know what he’d been doing. She wanted to know about the lives that had changed because of Jesus, she wanted to be involved in this incredible ministry and with this incredible person…
When we think of calling, we have to think about our willingness to be people who serve – not people who stand at the front and lead. Not people who just make important decisions, or guide things in the way we want them to go but people who are prepared to be true servants… True servants seeking to live out and share the love of Jesus…
And thirdly I think we learn from Mary and Martha that God gives different gifts to different people. There is no one model for a church warden, or a flower arranger, or an organist, or a deacon or priest or lay reader, because God takes our lives and uses them as he wants… if we let him…
And if we let him then we will be getting ever closer to being the people he wants us to be… Back to that thought of Paul in his letter to the Romans, ‘You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ’.
Let yourself be yourself – Let God do the rest….
To finish for now I’d like to spend a few minutes reflecting on what being ourselves as God wants us to be might look like, on what we might need to do or to be to get closer to God, on who we need to listen to about where God might be leading us (and there’s the obvious answer of God, but who else might help us as well ?).
So we’ll spend some time in quiet (as some music plays quietly as well), and then I’m going to end with a prayer called the ‘Prayer of abandonment’ by Charles De Foucauld which I’ll ask you to slowly repeat after me line by line…
And so, we pause for reflection…
The prayer of abandonment by Charles De Foucauld (please repeat the lines after me, saying it really slowly), and at the end of the prayer, you’re welcome to stay here for a time or to move from here quietly (coming back for Compline at 9pm if you wish)
Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
‘Gifting’
Vocations Retreat Address 2
It's not about us, it's about God and without him we will never find the peace and fulfilment of life that is his wish for every one of us
Judges 6:11-15 and 1 Samuel 16:1-13
This morning we’re going to think about how God often calls the unlikely people into his service, and how we respond if we are those unlikely people.
Most of us I think would really like God to give us a very clear path for our lives. And when we’ve found that path we want to know that we are where God wants us to be, and we can struggle with the occasional thought that God might actually want us to be doing something different….
Our first reading comes from Judges (6:11-15 – Read that at this point)
So we have the calling of Gideon…. We’re told the angel of the Lord appeared and gave an important message to Gideon – the angel began, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’ Now this may well be one of those moments in comedies when you see someone talking to someone and the person to whom they’re speaking looks behind them, assuming that there’s no way what is being said is intended for them…
Gideon was to put it mildly, surprised – he was minding his own business when suddenly this angel appeared... And Gideon was busy, and he was having a tough time. He was trying to provide for his family and was really focused on that work, and it wasn’t easy because there were people who were invading his land who were pretty committed to making life tough for people like Gideon.
But anyway the angel appeared and spoke to Gideon – and Gideon expressed some of the frustrations that perhaps he’d felt for a while. He began (v.13) by questioning why life is so tough, he suggests that the God who brought them out of Egypt has actually now abandoned him and his people.
But the angel wasn’t put off by Gideon’s complaints. The angel told Gideon that he was to go in the strength he had and save Israel (v.14) from the Midianites… But Gideon doubted this calling and in doing so, in effect, he doubted God. And why wouldn’t he – he knew his own strength or lack of it. He knew his clan was weak, the weakest in Manasseh he said, and he was the weakest of the clan, so it didn’t look good.
And so Gideon when he was called firstly expressed frustration or even anger at his current plight, secondly he doubted the accuracy of the calling and thirdly he doubted himself by saying how inadequate he felt….
When we’re called by God to something we’re not sure about, I think these are emotions we can all feel… What about the circumstances in our lives ? I’m too busy, let me wait a while, I’m doing something important already, my family aren’t ready, I can’t afford to give up what I’m doing now… there are lots more things we might add, and any of them might well be true…
Sometimes our circumstances are such that maybe God is saying now isn’t the right time to change, or he may not want us to change to do something differently at all, but if he does, if he is calling us, if he is calling you, then there is no good reason that can get in the way of that call…
If you remember yesterday evening I mentioned that article about reasons not to become a pastor and one of the only reasons to do it is that whilst it might be hard to do, it's harder not to do it...
But then like Gideon, we sometimes doubt our call… Some of you may know the story of Nicky Cruz, a gang leader in New York in the late 1950’s, early 1960’s. He was a Puerto Rican who led a gang that was feared in the city and his story is told in a couple of books, ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’ by David Wilkerson and ‘Run Baby Run’ written by Nicky Cruz himself.
David Wilkerson, a preacher from a small country church feels a call to go to New York to work amongst the gangs there. And he goes, and that is incredible enough – to give up a comfortable lifestyle in a small but comfortable church to go and work with gangs in a huge city that he doesn't know, but he goes…
In the city he gets involved with the gangs and meets Nicky Cruz who immediately feels something when David Wilkerson tries to share the gospel with him – and that something gets inside him, and he can’t describe it, but he responds with anger. He threatens to cut David Wilkerson and the preacher responded “You could do that. You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will still love you.”
Nicky Cruz struggled to believe God was speaking to him, let alone through this rather crazy preacher, but God was there, just as God is here…
And God spoke then as he speaks to us today and as he spoke to Gideon…
Let’s not make excuses to ignore God and waste time doing that, instead we must commit ourselves to spending time with God finding out what he really wants us to do with our lives. As we learn if we read about the rest of Gideon’s life, it wasn’t always easy just because he’d answered God’s call, but God never once failed to fulfil his promises.
So we can sometimes moan about our frustrations and make excuses to ignore God’s call, or we can doubt that call, or thirdly, we can say we’re not up for it, we’re not capable of answering the call… And we’re not… By ourselves we will never be capable of doing God’s work anything like effectively, but God never calls us to work alone…
God uses us in spite of our weaknesses and failings, and in fact the bible teaches us that in our weakness we are made strong. The Lord says to Paul in 2 Cor. 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And Paul continues, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
By ourselves we will never be able to do all that God wants us to do and be, and he doesn’t want us to try – he is there for us…
And now I want to think about another well known but unlikely character called by God in the Old Testament and I’ll read from 1 Samuel 16:1-13
The Lord said to Samuel to go to Jesse of Bethlehem as one of his sons had been chosen to be king, but it wasn’t the obvious one ! Eliab seemed the right candidate to Samuel but he wasn’t (v.6). Then Abinadab and then Shammah and then the others… Jesse had 7 of his sons before Samuel, but not one of them was the one chosen to be king….
And so it was left to the youngest, to the least likely, David – ‘Rise and anoint him, this is the one’…
And what a calling that was – when we think of David we can think of all kinds of things, literally ! A shepherd, a poet, the one who killed Goliath, a king, an ancestor of Jesus, or perhaps an adulterer, murderer or liar…
God calls the unlikely, but perhaps David reminds us as much as anyone in the bible of how much we need God – In our own strength, using our own thoughts and attitudes and behaviour, we won’t match up to what God wants for us, or anything like it, but with God’s strength, we will be getting closer….
And as we think about David who did some terrible things, overall we’re still left with not too bad an impression generally, because, for all of his failures, many and huge though some of them were, he remained sure of the faithful and loving nature of God, and he didn’t ask for forgiveness lightly, but he knew that God knew him inside out and knew that God knew his confessions were right from the heart…
David learned from his mistakes and there were many lessons to learn, but isn’t that true of us all ?.....
And as we reflect on our calling, as we think about where God wants us to be and what he wants us to do, we constantly go back to him and lay out our lives before him, asking for his transformation, asking that we will trust our lives into his service to do what he wants as he moulds us into the people he wants us to be…
God calls the unlikely… He called Gideon, he called David, he called Nicky Cruz, he’s called many more unlikely people through the centuries…
He asks us to surrender to him, and then let him do what he wants to do – are we willing to surrender our lives and let him do with them what he wants to do, not just what we want…
We’ll spend a time in reflection….
And now I’m going to read a hymn (All for Jesus – J W Van De Venter), after which you’re welcome to stay here, or leave quietly…
All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Saviour, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.
‘Gifting’
Vocations Retreat Address 3
Matthew 19:16-30
In our time so far we've thought about the different ways in which Mary and Martha committed to serving Jesus. We've thought of Gideon and David and of how God so often calls the people we might think to be unlikely.
But what has united them all is ultimately an incredible trust in God - a trust that has led them to follow him wherever he leads. And sometimes it's been an incredibly bumpy journey but they have followed and trusted.
Psalm 27:4 says, 'one think I ask of the Lord, this only do I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple'... It's an incredibly powerful verse but one which is incredibly challenging - what do we ask of the Lord ? What is it that we seek from him ? How keen are we to spend all our time in his presence, searching out his will and being prepared to follow it ?
Constantly in our journey of faith we are being challenged to seek and to follow God's call - sometimes we probably wish he'd make it clearer !! But that is part, I think, of our journey.
I read a short reflection earlier which said,
The terminus is not where we stay; it is the beginning of a new journey. It is where we reach out beyond, where we experience new adventures.
It is where we get off to enter new territory, to explore new horizons, to extend our whole being.
It is a place touching the future. It opens up new vistas. It is the gateway to eternity.
In our reading (Matthew 19:16-30), we heard the account of the rich young ruler, a man who you sense was at a terminus, wondering what to do in life.
It's a very well known account - the man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus tells him he must keep the commandments (v.18,19).
And the man says he has kept those commandments but wonders what he is still lacking, and Jesus tells him he must sell his possessions and give the profits to the poor and then he must come and follow Jesus...
Jesus is telling the man to get rid of all he has, and at its most obvious, perhaps he's telling us the same, but Jesus rarely stuck to just what is obvious and the key point for this young man wasn't necessarily giving up all he had but actually being prepared to make sacrifices of the things that made him comfortable in order to follow Jesus.
And that is a huge question for us - what are the things we need to give up to get closer to Jesus. For some people it may be the desire for wealth and worldly possessions which seems to come above everything else in life, for some it may be actually being too busy doing things to think about what being a servant of Christ might mean.
For some it may be the feeling that we're ready for whatever God calls us to do - we may be, but we need to question as well as to whether it's God or us that thinks we're ready. The reality is, to be true servants we serve not on our own terms, but on God's terms....
And that was a problem for this young man - he had the money to buy eternal life, he had the money to care for the poor, or so he thought... Today he may be replaced by the person who wants to give something to the church, and there's nothing wrong with that I'll add quickly, but if the motive is to win some sort of favour or to earn some sort of reward, then it has no real point.
Perhaps that is a valid thing to consider as we think about God's call on our lives - strange as it seems some are drawn to ordination out of a desire for power or importance, some are drawn to ordination out of a desire to make church what they want it to be...
And it's not just in ordination that people's motives are sometimes skewed - there are some wonderful servants of the church and of God in our churches, but there are also a few who like the positions of power - who want to be the church warden or treasurer or Reader or server....
Mad as it seems there are such people ! But one of the main things God asks of us is our willingness to surrender all to him and to offer our lives in service to him - whatever that may involve and wherever it may lead....
So the rich young ruler failed that test and he went away sad and I think that sadness is really important because as we fail to try and be the people God wants us to be we are failing to find the fulfilment in our lives that God wants for us...
So with the rich young ruler we can easily recognise the challenges of answering God's call, but this passage contains much more. In v.23 Jesus informs the disciples that its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
You can perhaps imagine the shock of the disciples - what constituted rich ? What about the things they'd given up to follow Jesus - were they going to be enough ? Was Jesus starting to become a bit unreasonable ?
Well, the answer was no because what Jesus said (v.26) was that actually there isn't anything that can be given up or taken up that will actually be enough to buy salvation - it is only given as a gift of God, a gift of grace and love and mercy...
And as so often it's Peter that asks Jesus for some clarification ! We've left everything to follow you, so what will there be for us ?
Jesus then gives a bit of affirmation and a bit of teaching - those disciples who'd left everything would occupy a wonderful place in God's Kingdom, and anyone who has truly taken up the invitation to follow Jesus would receive far more than they could ever possibly give... And then the teaching, 'many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.'
God's call is often unsettling, it can be inconvenient, even painful. Whatever God calls us to do must be life changing if we're doing it for and with God.
When the disciples answered the call of Jesus, 'Follow me', they knew they weren't going to make themselves rich, and they didn't ask what was involved down to the last detail. I suspect they had a fair idea it wouldn't be comfortable, but they followed - they followed Jesus and wherever God calls us and leads us we must always be reminded that it isn't to a position in any church or institution, it isn't to a job, it is to follow Jesus.
It's a common calling for every Christian but it will show itself in so many different ways. Finding our vocation is finding what makes us tick - what is life giving for us and for others... Jesus said, 'I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly' (John 10:10)
So what is life giving for us - what makes us feel that we're where God wants us to be, we are living, not necessarily easily, but abundantly ? And what do we love to do ? Because God sometimes does prompt us into service by calling us to do things we love.
I read something a while ago about Tom Jones - 50 years on from when he started he's still singing and recording and when asked how he managed to sustain his career he replied, 'I really love to sing... It's like breathing to me.' What we're doing for God must come as naturally to us as breathing...
The rich young ruler couldn't grasp that desire, because he didn't know Jesus - it is only through him and with him that we can ever hope to serve him....
To finish I'm going to quote from a book called the 'Contemplative Minister' written by Ian Cowley. He had a number of roles in the church and then was asked to go to a difficult parish, the parish of Yaxley outside Cambridge - it was a parish littered with problems but he went as he puts it, "radically dependant on God".
And so he writes,
I learnt a lot from this time. I learnt in a whole new way to give up the search for a higher position and to accept the call to serve. Something in me, which was at its heart a form of pride, of ‘Ian-centredness’, needed to be broken, and there was no easy way for this to happen. I had to become willing to serve Christ on his terms, not mine. I needed to learn to go where I was most needed, rather than to accept only the opportunities that I would prefer.
During this time I read a book by Henri Nouwen called In the Name of Jesus several times. In this book, Nouwen writes about his vision of the future of Christian leadership.
He speaks of a movement from relevance to prayer, from popularity to ministry, from leading to being led.
He writes, ‘The leader of the future will be the one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there.’
Going to Yaxley was my response to the understanding that I had to stop chasing success and relevance and positions of leadership. I had to be willing to take up in a new way the call to servant ministry, with all that this might entail, including unpopularity, irrelevance and pain. In my time at Yaxley I experienced all these in ways that have marked me deeply.
At the same time I saw God at work, and I know now that there were things about the life of following Jesus that I simply would not have learnt without my time in this difficult and testing, but ultimately glorious, place. We are not likely to become contemplative ministers without experiencing the pruning work of the Lord. We have to face some hard questions. Would we be willing to go, if called, to the people and places where we are most needed?
There are many uncongenial parishes, places where there is much deprivation and brokenness and need. Who will go to these places? Are we prepared to be ‘buried’ in Christ’s service, to go somewhere where no one will notice what we are doing (or perhaps not doing)? Much of the work of Jesus is done among the poor, in hidden and lonely places, where most, if not all, of the work, the faithful and sacrificial service, is known to God alone. Will this be enough for us?
Christ calls each of his followers to servant ministry. All those in ordained ministry in the Anglican Church, and in many other Churches, are ordained first of all as deacons. Deacons are called to service, to be ambassadors of Christ in the world, attending to the needs of others and especially the poor, the marginalised, the weak and the lonely. Are we prepared to walk this costly path?
Servant ministry and contemplative ministry are two sides of the same coin. Both are about being formed more deeply into the self-emptying nature of Christ.
Both take us down the road of learning to let go and let God be God. This is the work of the whole of life’s journey; it is not easy and it takes a long, long time.
Henri Nouwen described it as the future of Christian leadership, this way that is radically dependent on Jesus and which proclaims him to be Lord, with us as servants for Jesus’ sake (see 2 Corinthians 4:5). It leads to a contemplative way of being church that is centred on listening and serving, on building community and on a way of living which is both counter-cultural and missional.'
And so we pause for a few moments and reflect on things God has been saying to us as we've met over the last couple of days, and we listen for the things he is saying to us now...
Father we know you love us and have plans for each one of us, but sometimes we are overwhelmed by the thought of our futures.
Show us how to walk forward one day at a time. May we take heart while we search and learn about the choices, may we listen to others for advice and pay attention to our own thoughts and feelings.
By doing these things may we hear your call to live a life that will let us love as we can, and allow us to serve others with the gifts you have given us in whatever way you call us. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Closing sermon
Calling can be a really strange thing. Over the last few days we’ve thought about Mary and Martha, about Gideon and David, about the rich young ruler and about Peter, in that same account as he asked Jesus, ‘what about us who’ve given up everything ? what do we get ?’
The one clear thing about calling is that it is a personal thing – God doesn’t give us a set pattern to follow on who will be right for what role in what church…
But that matches everything about our faith. We're all different with different gifts and different callings but As we thought earlier in the weekend, calling is ultimately about a desire to serve and enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus….
There’s a well known story about a small boy returning from church one Sunday who said to his mother, ‘I’ve decided that when I grow up I’m going to be a Vicar’. The mother replied that that was very nice, and asked him why he had decided that. The boy replied, ‘Well I have to go to Church on a Sunday anyway, and I think it would be a lot more fun to stand up and talk than to sit down and listen’ !
And a couple of our readings this morning really concentrate on the theme of calling. In the Old Testament reading from Hosea (2:14-20) we actually just have a clip of what the whole book is about - a parable about calling and about God’s incredible grace and compassion.
Hosea is a good man who listens to God and receives a strange calling. It is to marry a woman who will be unfaithful to him – and so he marries Gomer and sure enough she is unfaithful and goes off and lives a life filled with immorality to the point where things got so bad that Hosea, her husband, had to step in and rescue her.
Many husbands would have stayed well away I’m sure, maybe we'd often think rightly so, but Hosea was working with God, and God’s plan was that Hosea would be the one to go and save her from her tragic life.
What a message this is for us – Hosea is a living parable of God’s love for his people who, time after time turn away from him, living lives that are a long way from God. Hosea took Gomer back and even worked to get her back when all the natural instincts must surely have been to walk away.
I wonder how often God has looked at us and thought ‘I’m going to walk away ?’ I think the answer is never! God doesn’t give up on any one of us. He sees us at our best but he also sees us at our worst and his love for us remains unchanged.
The Book of Hosea is a wonderful example of how God calls people and never gives up on them...
And then of course we think today of that gospel reading (Mark 2:13-22) where we are introduced to Levi who is better known to us as Matthew – Jesus calls him from his work and goes to dinner with him.
Jesus, who some thought to be a supposedly good man, eating with a tax collector – someone working for the Romans, someone who would regularly take their cut over and above what they were due, someone who was pretty much hated by a lot of people.
We know the path that Matthew’s life was to take but at this stage people looked on amazed that Jesus would spend time with someone like this and his friends as well.
But that was and is Jesus – calling the unlikely, calling those who seem lost in all kinds of problems, calling those who others simply didn’t even want to know... And whatever our lives are like or have been like, good or bad, or a mixture of both, God calls each one of us.
Some time ago I went to a funeral of a lovely man who was Church Warden when I was Vicar in Pyle, and his name was Ian Rees – for those that don’t know that’s my name as well ! And it’s a little bit strange taking part in a service like that as it’s rather difficult not to hear the words and think I’m hearing them from another place so to speak !
It is another reminder of our mortality as we reflect on the shortness of life, and yet when we allow ourselves to think of things like that, perhaps we also look a little more clearly at the bigger picture – what is really important in our lives ?
For Hosea it was the woman that he loved in spite of her many imperfections. For Matthew it wasn’t the money that he gained from his work but actually the knowledge that there was more to life, that he was being called to do and be something different. But for both of these people the common factor was God – a reliance on him and a sense that with God, whatever life may throw at them, life could be better.
And that is the promise to us – it’s not a promise to walk around with strange grins on our faces all the time. It’s not a promise that we will be continually happy but it’s a promise that we can know that God is with us every moment of every day in every place...
In the third of our readings (2 Cor. 3:1-6) Paul is writing to a church where some false teaching had started to creep in, sending letters to show they were authentic, but the test Paul used was one of authenticity as well.
He said it wasn’t in letters that people proved their authenticity but in their lives – lives transformed by God. Paul and Matthew and Hosea didn’t know God from reading some sort of manual – they knew him because he changed their lives.
There’s a story about an actor who is asked to read Psalm 23 in a special service and he does it, and it’s incredible with all the right tone and emphasis, and people are really impressed, but later on it’s read by a member of the congregation who doesn’t read well and stutters over some of the words, but whose reading leaves the congregation in tears – the actor knew the words but the member of the congregation knew Jesus and the reality of the words.
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and scholar who did some incredibly detailed studies and wrote books which are well beyond my understanding was once asked if he believed in God, and he replied, ‘I don’t believe in God, I know God’. We can do all the academic work we want, we can study hard, we can read everything, but what Carl Jung said is the essence of a Christian – knowing God and knowing him personally…
God wants to interfere in our lives, but he won’t unless we invite him to… But why wouldn’t we ?
God wants to share every moment with us, and he wants us to seek his vision and his wisdom and to use those things to show his glory certainly, but also to provide us with a life more abundant than anything else can ever offer… and a life of peace what ever the circumstances we find ourselves in….
When God calls us he calls us by name – he calls us individually and he doesn’t miss anyone out... I love the reading from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians chapter 12 where he writes about the various gifts that God gives to his people – all kinds of gifts, different gifts, none more important than another.
It’s a great picture of the church and how God calls us all to all kinds of different things - at the front of the church, at the back of the church, outside the church and that list goes on and on... All of us are blessed by God with gifts that we can use for his glory...
And Paul finishes 1 Corinthians 12 by saying that there is one thing that is most important of all – we can have all the gifts, we can look good, we can preach well, we can lead bible studies and pray and we can do all kinds of good works, but Paul ends that chapter 12 by saying, ‘I want to lay out a far better way for you...’
And do you know what chapter comes next ?? It is the most incredible passage about love that has ever been written by anyone. It begins, ‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal...’ You’ll know the words I’m sure, ‘If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing...’
And a little later, ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...’
God offers to us, his children, all kinds of gifts that we are to use but the greatest amongst them is love as we try to live out something of God’s love for us – the love that called Hosea and even his wife, the love that called Matthew, the love that called Paul and the love that continues to call each one of us... AMEN
Vocations Retreat Address 1
Introduce and then read wrong reasons to be a pastor :-
people become pastors for so many wrong reasons.
They like the status. They like speaking in public. They like arguing theology. They come from a long line of ministers. The list goes on.
If you’re debating becoming a pastor, here's a list of wrong reasons to become one, including some better alternatives to consider.
This may be why the pastoral drop-out rate is so high. Especially in the early years. Knowing them may save you – and your church – a lot of heartache.
The long list is followed by a very short list: the only good reasons I know to become a pastor.
What to Do Instead of Becoming a Pastor
Do you like being in charge? Start your own business.
Do you like talking while others listen? Become a college professor.
Do you like arguing theology? Start a blog.
Do you like church buildings? Become an architect.
Do you like church history? Become an archeologist.
Do you like visiting the sick? Become a chaplain.
Do you have a lot of ministers in your family? Become your pastor’s greatest supporter.
Do you like marrying people? Become a county clerk (or registrar).
Do you like burying people? Become a funeral director.
Do you like wearing special garments? Join the theatre.
Do you like having people look up to you? Wear higher heels.
Do you want to be in a position of authority? Run for public office.
Do you like having weekdays off? Become a rock star.
Do you like making money? Get a higher-paying job.
The Right Reasons to Become a Pastor
In my experience, there are only two good reasons to become a pastor:
1. Because you have an unshakable call from God to help people know Jesus and grow in their relationship with him and each other.
2. Despite how hard it is to be a pastor, it’s harder for you not to be a pastor.
God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to the church to equip the saints (Eph 4:11). But the unique call of the pastor (aka, shepherd) is to live among the sheep as we equip them. As Jesus told Peter, "Feed (pasture/pastor) my sheep." (John 21:17)
You have to love Jesus.
You have to love people.
You have to love equipping, mentoring and discipling people.
You have to be willing to stick with them over the long haul – through good times and bad.
If you’re looking for something other than that, you need to look elsewhere.
If you can't find God's will for your life doing anything but that, welcome to the pastorate. It's the hardest job you'll ever love.
Copyright © 2015 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
Read : Luke 10:38-42
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch.
He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. "Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience?
That will be hard because you have been a king." "I understand," said Henry, "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you."
"Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you."
When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."
When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father.
Christ expects us to be faithful where he puts us, and when he returns, we'll rule together with him.
And so, there is a great argument to say that where God has put you is where God wants you to be – but it doesn’t of course mean that for everyone, he intends us to stay there forever…
And I suspect, as you’re here on these few days, you’re wondering what God is saying to you – whether to stay where you are, doing what you’re doing or whether he is calling you to something different.
In the reading we heard from Luke’s gospel of Mary and Martha, we heard of two sisters alike in many ways, but very unalike in others. It’s a well known account and one where we can very often tend to judge who is right and who is wrong ! And perhaps also who is like us and who isn't !
I have two god-daughters who are sisters and they get on pretty well most of the time but their mum always says, “two sisters, same parents, same upbringing – totally different.”
When I was thinking about Mary and Martha I thought that actually they could have had the same said about them. Martha who was busying herself making sure everything was perfect for her guest, would have been seen as a ‘go and do’ type of character – or perhaps even someone who was a little fussy.
Then there was Mary who was enjoying their guests company so much that she didn’t help out, but sat attentively listening to Jesus. She could be seen as the quieter character who just wanted to listen- or perhaps the person who wanted to learn.
We are all different and we all have different ways of approaching things, however in the reading we will probably all have had a sympathy with Martha rushing around, but we may also have an understanding of Mary not wanting to lose the moment.
Martha had distractions, she was so distracted by everything else going on in the moment that she did not stop to think about what else might be needed. We can all do this, we can all spend so much time busying ourselves that we forget to take time out to sit in peace and listen to God.
There is a story of a man who lost his watch in a house whilst working, he searched everywhere for it, and so did all the other people who worked with him but they could not find it. So everyone apart from one boy went outside to look, when suddenly the boy shouted to say that he had found the watch inside. He was asked how he had found it and he replied, ‘I sat down when you had all gone, listened and heard it ticking !’
Mary sat down and listened to Jesus - she was not distracted, and we need to make sure that we sit and listen to God, that we give Him our whole selves and listen to what He wants to say to us.
There is one danger, though, we do need the balance. Martha didn’t just sit there and listen, she did things for God. We need to do things for God as well and not just sit and listen.
Mary and Martha, two sisters, same parents, same upbringing – totally different people. All of us children of God, related in the family of God - totally different people, but may we be united in seeking to listen to God, and to do things for Him.
Because if we truly want to know what God wants of us and for us we need to make space to listen – to listen to him as we pray and study the scriptures, but also to listen to him speaking through others – what are they seeing in our lives ? what are they thinking about us ?
There is no doubt that in our gospel passage Mary and Martha are both serving Jesus, but in very different ways. Let’s start again with the passage :-
v.38 – As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him…
Immediately Martha is serving Jesus – she welcomes him, she invites him in, she wants to make this a special time, preparing a special meal perhaps, making sure Jesus is as comfortable as he possibly can be…
It’s in the next verse we hear of Mary, not the one who did the inviting into the house and that’s no reflection on her – Martha had done it, but now it was Mary’s turn to ‘shine’ – she sat at Jesus’ feet listening to every word he said.
Both have already been involved in service – both have already been involved in trying to get closer to Jesus… Mary in listening, Martha in inviting Jesus in and wanting him to be well cared for… But Martha isn’t happy – she sees service and hospitality as ‘doing something’ and certainly not just ‘being something’.
And the Message Bible ends this account really well – Jesus says, ‘Martha, dear Martha, your fussing far too much and getting yourselves worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential; and Mary has chosen it – it’s the main course and won’t be taken away from her.’
We’re assuming that Martha is preparing food and food would often come at that time in various different courses, even more than our starter, main course and dessert perhaps, but the main course is in feasting on the words of Jesus – something that could never be taken away from Mary…
Food would come and go – Jesus’ words remain constant and life changing.
The message of this account is not that one of the sisters was right and one was wrong, but that both had important things to do but their priorities were different.
And when we think about God’s call on our lives, it’s essential that we recognise that we are all, whilst made in the image of God, very different, and some of us will have some gifts whilst others will have others…
There’s another incident from the life of Mary and Martha I want to think about - It is the account of Lazarus their brother being taken ill and dying (John 11:1-44).
We’re told that Mary and Martha sent for Jesus – they recognised the only hope they had came from him. What a lesson for us – as we look around for solutions to the world’s problems and our own problems, so often we fail to take those issues to God.
But wait, what happens ? Jesus is told that Lazarus is gravely ill and in verse 6 we’re told, he waits – for two days, he waits… not rushing to his friend’s side, but he waits…
And perhaps this has something to say to us as well as we consider God’s call on our lives… we can often be frustrated by delays, we can often think that God isn’t really clearing answering our prayers, we can often think that the people we talk to aren’t really pointing us in the right direction, or sometimes in any direction at all… but God is there… God is here… and he hears us, and he loves us, and he meets our needs – in his way and with his timing….
And this account continues as Jesus eventually goes to Bethany to be with the family – Mary and Martha are a little confused why Jesus waited so long, but both show their faith as they suggest that if Jesus had been there he would have saved Lazarus’ life…
Again though, both show their differences – it’s Martha who comes out to meet Jesus first while Mary stayed at home…. Martha appears the eager one, Mary the quiet one who waits….
They both have their place – they both have their value, they both show their faith and trust, they are both showing models of service, but in different ways – “two sisters, same parents, same upbringing – totally different.”
So we’ve thought of Mary and Martha as our introductory group of people this weekend. We’ve thought of the different gifts they bring, and the tensions as the two work so differently from each other… but what lessons do we learn as we think about our own calling…
The first is that they trusted Jesus – they welcomed him into their lives. The word vocation comes from a Latin word ( ‘vocare’) meaning to call.
And the word vocation is often used to describe any kind of calling to a particular role – perhaps a doctor or a teacher. In the church the primary meaning of the word vocation or calling is the call to follow Jesus- again quoting the Message Bible, Paul says in his letter to the Romans (1:6), ‘You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ’.
Without really seeking to get closer to God we won’t hear him speaking to us properly – we need to be prepared to let Jesus into our lives completely – not to compartmentalise our lives in any way… When we think of calling we have to think of our relationship with Jesus…
Secondly Mary and Martha took the opportunity to serve when they could. Martha was the welcomer, the tea maker, but more than that she was also often the organiser – it’s her who laid the ground for Jesus to visit. It’s Martha who went out to see Jesus as he arrived after Lazarus had died… And Mary served in her way, by seeking to get closer to Jesus and what he had to say – she wanted to know what he’d been doing. She wanted to know about the lives that had changed because of Jesus, she wanted to be involved in this incredible ministry and with this incredible person…
When we think of calling, we have to think about our willingness to be people who serve – not people who stand at the front and lead. Not people who just make important decisions, or guide things in the way we want them to go but people who are prepared to be true servants… True servants seeking to live out and share the love of Jesus…
And thirdly I think we learn from Mary and Martha that God gives different gifts to different people. There is no one model for a church warden, or a flower arranger, or an organist, or a deacon or priest or lay reader, because God takes our lives and uses them as he wants… if we let him…
And if we let him then we will be getting ever closer to being the people he wants us to be… Back to that thought of Paul in his letter to the Romans, ‘You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ’.
Let yourself be yourself – Let God do the rest….
To finish for now I’d like to spend a few minutes reflecting on what being ourselves as God wants us to be might look like, on what we might need to do or to be to get closer to God, on who we need to listen to about where God might be leading us (and there’s the obvious answer of God, but who else might help us as well ?).
So we’ll spend some time in quiet (as some music plays quietly as well), and then I’m going to end with a prayer called the ‘Prayer of abandonment’ by Charles De Foucauld which I’ll ask you to slowly repeat after me line by line…
And so, we pause for reflection…
The prayer of abandonment by Charles De Foucauld (please repeat the lines after me, saying it really slowly), and at the end of the prayer, you’re welcome to stay here for a time or to move from here quietly (coming back for Compline at 9pm if you wish)
Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
‘Gifting’
Vocations Retreat Address 2
It's not about us, it's about God and without him we will never find the peace and fulfilment of life that is his wish for every one of us
Judges 6:11-15 and 1 Samuel 16:1-13
This morning we’re going to think about how God often calls the unlikely people into his service, and how we respond if we are those unlikely people.
Most of us I think would really like God to give us a very clear path for our lives. And when we’ve found that path we want to know that we are where God wants us to be, and we can struggle with the occasional thought that God might actually want us to be doing something different….
Our first reading comes from Judges (6:11-15 – Read that at this point)
So we have the calling of Gideon…. We’re told the angel of the Lord appeared and gave an important message to Gideon – the angel began, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’ Now this may well be one of those moments in comedies when you see someone talking to someone and the person to whom they’re speaking looks behind them, assuming that there’s no way what is being said is intended for them…
Gideon was to put it mildly, surprised – he was minding his own business when suddenly this angel appeared... And Gideon was busy, and he was having a tough time. He was trying to provide for his family and was really focused on that work, and it wasn’t easy because there were people who were invading his land who were pretty committed to making life tough for people like Gideon.
But anyway the angel appeared and spoke to Gideon – and Gideon expressed some of the frustrations that perhaps he’d felt for a while. He began (v.13) by questioning why life is so tough, he suggests that the God who brought them out of Egypt has actually now abandoned him and his people.
But the angel wasn’t put off by Gideon’s complaints. The angel told Gideon that he was to go in the strength he had and save Israel (v.14) from the Midianites… But Gideon doubted this calling and in doing so, in effect, he doubted God. And why wouldn’t he – he knew his own strength or lack of it. He knew his clan was weak, the weakest in Manasseh he said, and he was the weakest of the clan, so it didn’t look good.
And so Gideon when he was called firstly expressed frustration or even anger at his current plight, secondly he doubted the accuracy of the calling and thirdly he doubted himself by saying how inadequate he felt….
When we’re called by God to something we’re not sure about, I think these are emotions we can all feel… What about the circumstances in our lives ? I’m too busy, let me wait a while, I’m doing something important already, my family aren’t ready, I can’t afford to give up what I’m doing now… there are lots more things we might add, and any of them might well be true…
Sometimes our circumstances are such that maybe God is saying now isn’t the right time to change, or he may not want us to change to do something differently at all, but if he does, if he is calling us, if he is calling you, then there is no good reason that can get in the way of that call…
If you remember yesterday evening I mentioned that article about reasons not to become a pastor and one of the only reasons to do it is that whilst it might be hard to do, it's harder not to do it...
But then like Gideon, we sometimes doubt our call… Some of you may know the story of Nicky Cruz, a gang leader in New York in the late 1950’s, early 1960’s. He was a Puerto Rican who led a gang that was feared in the city and his story is told in a couple of books, ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’ by David Wilkerson and ‘Run Baby Run’ written by Nicky Cruz himself.
David Wilkerson, a preacher from a small country church feels a call to go to New York to work amongst the gangs there. And he goes, and that is incredible enough – to give up a comfortable lifestyle in a small but comfortable church to go and work with gangs in a huge city that he doesn't know, but he goes…
In the city he gets involved with the gangs and meets Nicky Cruz who immediately feels something when David Wilkerson tries to share the gospel with him – and that something gets inside him, and he can’t describe it, but he responds with anger. He threatens to cut David Wilkerson and the preacher responded “You could do that. You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will still love you.”
Nicky Cruz struggled to believe God was speaking to him, let alone through this rather crazy preacher, but God was there, just as God is here…
And God spoke then as he speaks to us today and as he spoke to Gideon…
Let’s not make excuses to ignore God and waste time doing that, instead we must commit ourselves to spending time with God finding out what he really wants us to do with our lives. As we learn if we read about the rest of Gideon’s life, it wasn’t always easy just because he’d answered God’s call, but God never once failed to fulfil his promises.
So we can sometimes moan about our frustrations and make excuses to ignore God’s call, or we can doubt that call, or thirdly, we can say we’re not up for it, we’re not capable of answering the call… And we’re not… By ourselves we will never be capable of doing God’s work anything like effectively, but God never calls us to work alone…
God uses us in spite of our weaknesses and failings, and in fact the bible teaches us that in our weakness we are made strong. The Lord says to Paul in 2 Cor. 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And Paul continues, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
By ourselves we will never be able to do all that God wants us to do and be, and he doesn’t want us to try – he is there for us…
And now I want to think about another well known but unlikely character called by God in the Old Testament and I’ll read from 1 Samuel 16:1-13
The Lord said to Samuel to go to Jesse of Bethlehem as one of his sons had been chosen to be king, but it wasn’t the obvious one ! Eliab seemed the right candidate to Samuel but he wasn’t (v.6). Then Abinadab and then Shammah and then the others… Jesse had 7 of his sons before Samuel, but not one of them was the one chosen to be king….
And so it was left to the youngest, to the least likely, David – ‘Rise and anoint him, this is the one’…
And what a calling that was – when we think of David we can think of all kinds of things, literally ! A shepherd, a poet, the one who killed Goliath, a king, an ancestor of Jesus, or perhaps an adulterer, murderer or liar…
God calls the unlikely, but perhaps David reminds us as much as anyone in the bible of how much we need God – In our own strength, using our own thoughts and attitudes and behaviour, we won’t match up to what God wants for us, or anything like it, but with God’s strength, we will be getting closer….
And as we think about David who did some terrible things, overall we’re still left with not too bad an impression generally, because, for all of his failures, many and huge though some of them were, he remained sure of the faithful and loving nature of God, and he didn’t ask for forgiveness lightly, but he knew that God knew him inside out and knew that God knew his confessions were right from the heart…
David learned from his mistakes and there were many lessons to learn, but isn’t that true of us all ?.....
And as we reflect on our calling, as we think about where God wants us to be and what he wants us to do, we constantly go back to him and lay out our lives before him, asking for his transformation, asking that we will trust our lives into his service to do what he wants as he moulds us into the people he wants us to be…
God calls the unlikely… He called Gideon, he called David, he called Nicky Cruz, he’s called many more unlikely people through the centuries…
He asks us to surrender to him, and then let him do what he wants to do – are we willing to surrender our lives and let him do with them what he wants to do, not just what we want…
We’ll spend a time in reflection….
And now I’m going to read a hymn (All for Jesus – J W Van De Venter), after which you’re welcome to stay here, or leave quietly…
All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Saviour, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.
‘Gifting’
Vocations Retreat Address 3
Matthew 19:16-30
In our time so far we've thought about the different ways in which Mary and Martha committed to serving Jesus. We've thought of Gideon and David and of how God so often calls the people we might think to be unlikely.
But what has united them all is ultimately an incredible trust in God - a trust that has led them to follow him wherever he leads. And sometimes it's been an incredibly bumpy journey but they have followed and trusted.
Psalm 27:4 says, 'one think I ask of the Lord, this only do I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple'... It's an incredibly powerful verse but one which is incredibly challenging - what do we ask of the Lord ? What is it that we seek from him ? How keen are we to spend all our time in his presence, searching out his will and being prepared to follow it ?
Constantly in our journey of faith we are being challenged to seek and to follow God's call - sometimes we probably wish he'd make it clearer !! But that is part, I think, of our journey.
I read a short reflection earlier which said,
The terminus is not where we stay; it is the beginning of a new journey. It is where we reach out beyond, where we experience new adventures.
It is where we get off to enter new territory, to explore new horizons, to extend our whole being.
It is a place touching the future. It opens up new vistas. It is the gateway to eternity.
In our reading (Matthew 19:16-30), we heard the account of the rich young ruler, a man who you sense was at a terminus, wondering what to do in life.
It's a very well known account - the man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus tells him he must keep the commandments (v.18,19).
And the man says he has kept those commandments but wonders what he is still lacking, and Jesus tells him he must sell his possessions and give the profits to the poor and then he must come and follow Jesus...
Jesus is telling the man to get rid of all he has, and at its most obvious, perhaps he's telling us the same, but Jesus rarely stuck to just what is obvious and the key point for this young man wasn't necessarily giving up all he had but actually being prepared to make sacrifices of the things that made him comfortable in order to follow Jesus.
And that is a huge question for us - what are the things we need to give up to get closer to Jesus. For some people it may be the desire for wealth and worldly possessions which seems to come above everything else in life, for some it may be actually being too busy doing things to think about what being a servant of Christ might mean.
For some it may be the feeling that we're ready for whatever God calls us to do - we may be, but we need to question as well as to whether it's God or us that thinks we're ready. The reality is, to be true servants we serve not on our own terms, but on God's terms....
And that was a problem for this young man - he had the money to buy eternal life, he had the money to care for the poor, or so he thought... Today he may be replaced by the person who wants to give something to the church, and there's nothing wrong with that I'll add quickly, but if the motive is to win some sort of favour or to earn some sort of reward, then it has no real point.
Perhaps that is a valid thing to consider as we think about God's call on our lives - strange as it seems some are drawn to ordination out of a desire for power or importance, some are drawn to ordination out of a desire to make church what they want it to be...
And it's not just in ordination that people's motives are sometimes skewed - there are some wonderful servants of the church and of God in our churches, but there are also a few who like the positions of power - who want to be the church warden or treasurer or Reader or server....
Mad as it seems there are such people ! But one of the main things God asks of us is our willingness to surrender all to him and to offer our lives in service to him - whatever that may involve and wherever it may lead....
So the rich young ruler failed that test and he went away sad and I think that sadness is really important because as we fail to try and be the people God wants us to be we are failing to find the fulfilment in our lives that God wants for us...
So with the rich young ruler we can easily recognise the challenges of answering God's call, but this passage contains much more. In v.23 Jesus informs the disciples that its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
You can perhaps imagine the shock of the disciples - what constituted rich ? What about the things they'd given up to follow Jesus - were they going to be enough ? Was Jesus starting to become a bit unreasonable ?
Well, the answer was no because what Jesus said (v.26) was that actually there isn't anything that can be given up or taken up that will actually be enough to buy salvation - it is only given as a gift of God, a gift of grace and love and mercy...
And as so often it's Peter that asks Jesus for some clarification ! We've left everything to follow you, so what will there be for us ?
Jesus then gives a bit of affirmation and a bit of teaching - those disciples who'd left everything would occupy a wonderful place in God's Kingdom, and anyone who has truly taken up the invitation to follow Jesus would receive far more than they could ever possibly give... And then the teaching, 'many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.'
God's call is often unsettling, it can be inconvenient, even painful. Whatever God calls us to do must be life changing if we're doing it for and with God.
When the disciples answered the call of Jesus, 'Follow me', they knew they weren't going to make themselves rich, and they didn't ask what was involved down to the last detail. I suspect they had a fair idea it wouldn't be comfortable, but they followed - they followed Jesus and wherever God calls us and leads us we must always be reminded that it isn't to a position in any church or institution, it isn't to a job, it is to follow Jesus.
It's a common calling for every Christian but it will show itself in so many different ways. Finding our vocation is finding what makes us tick - what is life giving for us and for others... Jesus said, 'I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly' (John 10:10)
So what is life giving for us - what makes us feel that we're where God wants us to be, we are living, not necessarily easily, but abundantly ? And what do we love to do ? Because God sometimes does prompt us into service by calling us to do things we love.
I read something a while ago about Tom Jones - 50 years on from when he started he's still singing and recording and when asked how he managed to sustain his career he replied, 'I really love to sing... It's like breathing to me.' What we're doing for God must come as naturally to us as breathing...
The rich young ruler couldn't grasp that desire, because he didn't know Jesus - it is only through him and with him that we can ever hope to serve him....
To finish I'm going to quote from a book called the 'Contemplative Minister' written by Ian Cowley. He had a number of roles in the church and then was asked to go to a difficult parish, the parish of Yaxley outside Cambridge - it was a parish littered with problems but he went as he puts it, "radically dependant on God".
And so he writes,
I learnt a lot from this time. I learnt in a whole new way to give up the search for a higher position and to accept the call to serve. Something in me, which was at its heart a form of pride, of ‘Ian-centredness’, needed to be broken, and there was no easy way for this to happen. I had to become willing to serve Christ on his terms, not mine. I needed to learn to go where I was most needed, rather than to accept only the opportunities that I would prefer.
During this time I read a book by Henri Nouwen called In the Name of Jesus several times. In this book, Nouwen writes about his vision of the future of Christian leadership.
He speaks of a movement from relevance to prayer, from popularity to ministry, from leading to being led.
He writes, ‘The leader of the future will be the one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there.’
Going to Yaxley was my response to the understanding that I had to stop chasing success and relevance and positions of leadership. I had to be willing to take up in a new way the call to servant ministry, with all that this might entail, including unpopularity, irrelevance and pain. In my time at Yaxley I experienced all these in ways that have marked me deeply.
At the same time I saw God at work, and I know now that there were things about the life of following Jesus that I simply would not have learnt without my time in this difficult and testing, but ultimately glorious, place. We are not likely to become contemplative ministers without experiencing the pruning work of the Lord. We have to face some hard questions. Would we be willing to go, if called, to the people and places where we are most needed?
There are many uncongenial parishes, places where there is much deprivation and brokenness and need. Who will go to these places? Are we prepared to be ‘buried’ in Christ’s service, to go somewhere where no one will notice what we are doing (or perhaps not doing)? Much of the work of Jesus is done among the poor, in hidden and lonely places, where most, if not all, of the work, the faithful and sacrificial service, is known to God alone. Will this be enough for us?
Christ calls each of his followers to servant ministry. All those in ordained ministry in the Anglican Church, and in many other Churches, are ordained first of all as deacons. Deacons are called to service, to be ambassadors of Christ in the world, attending to the needs of others and especially the poor, the marginalised, the weak and the lonely. Are we prepared to walk this costly path?
Servant ministry and contemplative ministry are two sides of the same coin. Both are about being formed more deeply into the self-emptying nature of Christ.
Both take us down the road of learning to let go and let God be God. This is the work of the whole of life’s journey; it is not easy and it takes a long, long time.
Henri Nouwen described it as the future of Christian leadership, this way that is radically dependent on Jesus and which proclaims him to be Lord, with us as servants for Jesus’ sake (see 2 Corinthians 4:5). It leads to a contemplative way of being church that is centred on listening and serving, on building community and on a way of living which is both counter-cultural and missional.'
And so we pause for a few moments and reflect on things God has been saying to us as we've met over the last couple of days, and we listen for the things he is saying to us now...
Father we know you love us and have plans for each one of us, but sometimes we are overwhelmed by the thought of our futures.
Show us how to walk forward one day at a time. May we take heart while we search and learn about the choices, may we listen to others for advice and pay attention to our own thoughts and feelings.
By doing these things may we hear your call to live a life that will let us love as we can, and allow us to serve others with the gifts you have given us in whatever way you call us. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Closing sermon
Calling can be a really strange thing. Over the last few days we’ve thought about Mary and Martha, about Gideon and David, about the rich young ruler and about Peter, in that same account as he asked Jesus, ‘what about us who’ve given up everything ? what do we get ?’
The one clear thing about calling is that it is a personal thing – God doesn’t give us a set pattern to follow on who will be right for what role in what church…
But that matches everything about our faith. We're all different with different gifts and different callings but As we thought earlier in the weekend, calling is ultimately about a desire to serve and enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus….
There’s a well known story about a small boy returning from church one Sunday who said to his mother, ‘I’ve decided that when I grow up I’m going to be a Vicar’. The mother replied that that was very nice, and asked him why he had decided that. The boy replied, ‘Well I have to go to Church on a Sunday anyway, and I think it would be a lot more fun to stand up and talk than to sit down and listen’ !
And a couple of our readings this morning really concentrate on the theme of calling. In the Old Testament reading from Hosea (2:14-20) we actually just have a clip of what the whole book is about - a parable about calling and about God’s incredible grace and compassion.
Hosea is a good man who listens to God and receives a strange calling. It is to marry a woman who will be unfaithful to him – and so he marries Gomer and sure enough she is unfaithful and goes off and lives a life filled with immorality to the point where things got so bad that Hosea, her husband, had to step in and rescue her.
Many husbands would have stayed well away I’m sure, maybe we'd often think rightly so, but Hosea was working with God, and God’s plan was that Hosea would be the one to go and save her from her tragic life.
What a message this is for us – Hosea is a living parable of God’s love for his people who, time after time turn away from him, living lives that are a long way from God. Hosea took Gomer back and even worked to get her back when all the natural instincts must surely have been to walk away.
I wonder how often God has looked at us and thought ‘I’m going to walk away ?’ I think the answer is never! God doesn’t give up on any one of us. He sees us at our best but he also sees us at our worst and his love for us remains unchanged.
The Book of Hosea is a wonderful example of how God calls people and never gives up on them...
And then of course we think today of that gospel reading (Mark 2:13-22) where we are introduced to Levi who is better known to us as Matthew – Jesus calls him from his work and goes to dinner with him.
Jesus, who some thought to be a supposedly good man, eating with a tax collector – someone working for the Romans, someone who would regularly take their cut over and above what they were due, someone who was pretty much hated by a lot of people.
We know the path that Matthew’s life was to take but at this stage people looked on amazed that Jesus would spend time with someone like this and his friends as well.
But that was and is Jesus – calling the unlikely, calling those who seem lost in all kinds of problems, calling those who others simply didn’t even want to know... And whatever our lives are like or have been like, good or bad, or a mixture of both, God calls each one of us.
Some time ago I went to a funeral of a lovely man who was Church Warden when I was Vicar in Pyle, and his name was Ian Rees – for those that don’t know that’s my name as well ! And it’s a little bit strange taking part in a service like that as it’s rather difficult not to hear the words and think I’m hearing them from another place so to speak !
It is another reminder of our mortality as we reflect on the shortness of life, and yet when we allow ourselves to think of things like that, perhaps we also look a little more clearly at the bigger picture – what is really important in our lives ?
For Hosea it was the woman that he loved in spite of her many imperfections. For Matthew it wasn’t the money that he gained from his work but actually the knowledge that there was more to life, that he was being called to do and be something different. But for both of these people the common factor was God – a reliance on him and a sense that with God, whatever life may throw at them, life could be better.
And that is the promise to us – it’s not a promise to walk around with strange grins on our faces all the time. It’s not a promise that we will be continually happy but it’s a promise that we can know that God is with us every moment of every day in every place...
In the third of our readings (2 Cor. 3:1-6) Paul is writing to a church where some false teaching had started to creep in, sending letters to show they were authentic, but the test Paul used was one of authenticity as well.
He said it wasn’t in letters that people proved their authenticity but in their lives – lives transformed by God. Paul and Matthew and Hosea didn’t know God from reading some sort of manual – they knew him because he changed their lives.
There’s a story about an actor who is asked to read Psalm 23 in a special service and he does it, and it’s incredible with all the right tone and emphasis, and people are really impressed, but later on it’s read by a member of the congregation who doesn’t read well and stutters over some of the words, but whose reading leaves the congregation in tears – the actor knew the words but the member of the congregation knew Jesus and the reality of the words.
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and scholar who did some incredibly detailed studies and wrote books which are well beyond my understanding was once asked if he believed in God, and he replied, ‘I don’t believe in God, I know God’. We can do all the academic work we want, we can study hard, we can read everything, but what Carl Jung said is the essence of a Christian – knowing God and knowing him personally…
God wants to interfere in our lives, but he won’t unless we invite him to… But why wouldn’t we ?
God wants to share every moment with us, and he wants us to seek his vision and his wisdom and to use those things to show his glory certainly, but also to provide us with a life more abundant than anything else can ever offer… and a life of peace what ever the circumstances we find ourselves in….
When God calls us he calls us by name – he calls us individually and he doesn’t miss anyone out... I love the reading from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians chapter 12 where he writes about the various gifts that God gives to his people – all kinds of gifts, different gifts, none more important than another.
It’s a great picture of the church and how God calls us all to all kinds of different things - at the front of the church, at the back of the church, outside the church and that list goes on and on... All of us are blessed by God with gifts that we can use for his glory...
And Paul finishes 1 Corinthians 12 by saying that there is one thing that is most important of all – we can have all the gifts, we can look good, we can preach well, we can lead bible studies and pray and we can do all kinds of good works, but Paul ends that chapter 12 by saying, ‘I want to lay out a far better way for you...’
And do you know what chapter comes next ?? It is the most incredible passage about love that has ever been written by anyone. It begins, ‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal...’ You’ll know the words I’m sure, ‘If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing...’
And a little later, ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...’
God offers to us, his children, all kinds of gifts that we are to use but the greatest amongst them is love as we try to live out something of God’s love for us – the love that called Hosea and even his wife, the love that called Matthew, the love that called Paul and the love that continues to call each one of us... AMEN
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