One of the most compelling conversations I had on Clergy Renewal was with a colleague who serves a church in TX. He and I were in the same prayer group in seminary and now still connect via email on a somewhat regular basis. We had not talked in person for more than a minute or two since we left seminary. What a treat for me to spend an afternoon with him. We actually did less reminiscing than I expected and more reflections on how being ministers had turned out for us and the struggles the Presbyterian church faces.
One of the churches he served in W. Texas had significant financial struggles; now he serves a church that faces the same struggle we face -- the dying off of the old guard and the challenge of finding new members who have time and want to make the commitment to be part of a community of faith.
We also talked about how our being in ministry had impacted our families. He had gone to seminary after being out in the work force for 10+ years, so his wife and kids knew life before dad became a minister. We talked about the difficulty some minister's families have adjusting to that in their lives.
He has done a lot of work with the Committee on Ministry in his presbytery, so he has seen lots of problems in churches and in minister's lives.
In that moment, I asked him -- given all the struggles you have had and have seen in the church, would you go to seminary again? I confess to thinking as I asked that question, with the conversation still full of the challenges and struggles we had faced and witnessed, that he's going to give me the honest, logical answer, "I'm not sure I'd go to seminary if I had to do it all over."
Instead, he looked me in the eye and said with conviction, "My only regret is that I waited the ten years to go to seminary. I wish I had those additional ten years of ministry!"
He overwhelmed me with his sense of call and passion for that call.
Samuel's call story points out the excitement and trepidation Samuel feels when God calls him. And, I also feel a certain sadness that Eli's call to lead God's people will end on terms not of his choosing -- surely he would have preferred for his sons to have lived in ways that would have allowed them to carry the mantle of leadership for God's people.
I have to laugh when I read the story in Acts of Priscilla and Aquila meeting Paul. We are told that Paul shared the same trade with them, so he stayed with them in Corinth. The next time we hear of them they are in Ephesus helping the church there. What luck to share the same trade with the the most persistent, challenging evangelist in the early church!
How would you tell your call story? Both a call to discipleship, but also your story of where God has put you at this time and this place for the particular purpose you now serve?
Peace,
Richard
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