My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

I was asked by the Bishop to take responsibility for the Ad Clerum for this month, and he gave me the option to omit the meditation if I did not want to do one. I have opted to do one, and the only reasons for taking on this challenge is to keep this tradition ( which is so well done by +Brian each month ) alive, and to make you realise how much you have missed his meditation.

As I was praying about what to say, it occurred to me that I should say something about what it really means to be called by God. Having worn the Vicar-General's hat for more than one term now, this time around I got a sense in my dealings with people - particularly we clergy - that it would not harm us to focus our attention once again on what God has called us to.

This thought was really inspired in me when I started reading Marva Dawn's book entitled "THE SENSE OF THE CALL: A Sabbath way of Life for Those who serve God, the Church, and the World", which I strongly want to recommend.

As Christians, I believe we have all been called to serve, and yet sometimes I get the distinct feeling that what I want is to be served and I somehow no longer see my calling as serving God.

In her book, Marva asks the question "Why is it so hard to serve God these days? Everywhere I go, pastors and lay people tell me how discouraged they are. Congregational budgets are not being met; council leaders or influential members lurk and attack like crocodiles; volunteers are difficult to gather; there is always too much work to do and not enough time to do it; too many needs and not enough saints to meet them all."

This is how Marva begins her book. Does it not speak straight to the heart of our own experiences as a Diocese as we grapple with Capacity Building, Spiritual Growth, Youth and Biblical Giving?

What then - one may ask - are we expected to do to be true to our calling in serving God? I am hoping that for me, it will be in reading and then reflecting on Scripture as well as the writings of people like Marva so that we can once again begin to make sense of our true calling. Sometimes we do something, not because we would like to do it, or because there is glamour, fulfillment or pleasure in doing a job, but simply because it is the thing we are called to do. We are the right people, at the right time, in the right place. And even if we are not the best people, we are the ones called to do the task anyway.

Let us consider for the moment how the prophet Isaiah is called to be the Lord's messenger. He acknowledges that he is unworthy, a man of unclean lips. He knows how far short he falls of the holiness of God, which he has just glimpsed. (Isaiah 6:1-8) Peter too when he is confronted with the words and the power of Christ, and he responds in a similar way to Isaiah: "Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man."

Each of us can surely identify with Isaiah and Peter. Yet the Lord continues to call us to do his work, even though we judge ourselves to be unworthy or not the best choice available. God's call is a mystery. It is always a gift: we do not choose him, rather he chooses us. Just as with Paul: though not an apostle, one of the Twelve, God nevertheless chose him to do his work, even though he was a "late arrival". And just as it is God who calls us, so also it is God who gives us our own particular mission: God decides, not us. For we cannot decide to follow the Lord and then try to tell him where he should go!

The first thing we need, of course, is to hear the Lord's voice; to have an experience of God in our lives. Isaiah was given a vision of God's awe-inspiring glory; Paul was knocked off his horse when the risen Christ appeared to him; and Peter was simply doing his job, an ordinary day's work, washing his nets, when the Lord happened to choose his boat from which to teach the people.

God calls each one of us in a particular way. We might hear God's voice in the depths of prayer, like Isaiah, or through a dramatic intervention in our lives, like Paul. Most probably, though, most of us hear God's voice in the ordinary routine of daily life and work, like Peter. For most of us, it is in the context of our existing commitments and life situations that our following of the Lord will be worked out.

God's call is never just for us, for our own benefit, but for a greater purpose. He gives us a task, a mission: to be his messengers, to speak words of love and healing to his people; to announce his salvation to the world, to make known our hope and our destiny as children of a loving Father; to become fishers of men and women; to invite all people to become part of God's kingdom.

We know our past failures, our weakness and inabilities. But Christ tells us, "Do not be afraid". Once we accept God's call in our lives, it is not us who are working but rather, as Paul says, it is the grace, the love of God, which is at work in us, fulfilling God's own kind purposes for his children.

May we truly become servants of God.

Gerard
Vicar-General

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