This week I find myself reflecting on vocations, on the calling which God places on each one of our lives. Normally, we might associate vocation with being clergy, or with a profession such as medicine or teaching. It is the kind of role which is so much more than just a job. It is something which we do because it is our entire being, and our love of it is all encompassing. Most people who have a vocational “job” couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
However, behind the role which provides our bread and butter and a roof over our heads, God calls us to an even bigger vocation. We are first and foremost called and named as God‘s beloved children. There is a place for each one of us in the heavenly dwelling places – in John 14, Jesus tells us that he goes ahead of us to prepare a place for us, so that we may be where he is. It is not conditional; it is not partial. It is definite, absolute, and all encompassing.
We are known by God exactly as we are, flaws and all. We don’t need to make excuses for how we are, how we behave, all the things we’ve done in the past. There might be some things which we are a little unwilling to have made public, but God knows those things and loves us just the same. The thing is, God is quite likely to use our past mistakes and our flaws to make us better equipped to help others in the future. After all, who better to teach children who hate schooling than somebody who only realised the value of schooling when it seemed too late? And who better to speak of the love and forgiveness of God than somebody who has truly experienced brokenness and forgiveness and redemption in their lives?
Yesterday I was presiding at Holy Communion at Saint Mary’s convent in Wantage, and it was what is called an Ember Day, where we pray for vocations to ministry. Recently, a new postulant who was seeking to become one of the sisters met with a tragic accident and died. It has been a terrible shock for the whole community. And yet even in her short time with them, she has blessed them, and they blessed her.
Vocations may be short, or they may be lifelong. I found myself reflecting on what it is that God calls each one of us to, what God is calling me to, and how that has changed over my life as I have aged and as my situation has changed, and as my experiences have shaped me. There are perhaps things that I can offer now which 20 years ago I most definitely could not, and vice versa.
Not everyone is called into a priestly or monastic ministry – there are many ministries, and every single one of them is valuable and has a place in the church. After all, the church is the Body of Christ, and it is made up of very many disparate parts.
What is it that God might be calling you to? What special gift do you have which could be a blessing to others? One thing is very certain – you do have a vocation, and God does call you to bless others.
Revd. Talisker
Photo by Alberico Bartoccini on Unsplash