This week the Gospel story has got me thinking about "being called" -- the feeling that God has selected you and given you a task to do. We expect our clergy to have a "calling" from God, but we sometimes forget that all of us are called by God.
Our calling is usually closely connected with our gifts. Each of us has gifts that are unique to us. I think God wants us to use our gifts in a way that is fulfilling to us and helpful to our world. One of my gifts is that I enjoy people. Not a very useful gift for a computer programmer, say, but very useful for a pastor.
The writer Frederick Buechner has a famous quote about our calling:
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.What are your gifts, and what is your calling? You may be surprised when you think about these two things together.
This week Phyllis Lewis asked that we add Jamie Minks to the list of names in the prayer, "For those in the Armed Forces of our Country." Jamie is the son of a friend of Phyllis. He and his brother were in Afghanistan on an earlier tour and returned home. Now Jamie, the younger brother, is being deployed again. We ask God's protection and guidance for Jamie.
I made a number of visits this week to the hospital and the hospice care center. Our dear friend Mary Warner faded away gradually and died this afternoon. I'm grateful to have spent time with her and her family. On a brighter note, I'm glad to report that Ann Daniels went home from the hospital today after successful surgery on Monday.
When we gather around the holy table on Sunday, Mary will be with us and the communion of saints and all the angels and archangels as we raise our voices to proclaim the faith: Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.
In unbroken faith,
Bill
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