Are you called?

20 Responses to “Are you called?”

1. Notmyrealnameno says:
   

   I should NOT be sniggering at work – they might think I’m not working.

   Was I ‘called’ to be a Reader? Do you think I’d put myself through hell for a job that requires 3 years training, regular humiliation in the pulpit, and many other things besides and get paid precisely nothing to do it, if I weren’t called? LOL

   October 4th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
2. Dave says:
   

   Dear Notmyrealnameno,

   A good point and I am expecting other similar responses from people who feel they are called to do what they do. What I’m saying is I think more about the need to feel called rather than dismissing the idea that some people do.

   Having said that it will be interesting to see whether any people who do non-church jobs feel called to what they do and are used to expressing it in such terms.

   Me – I’d need something more than a subjective sense of calling as I know that that has led me into all kinds of pickles in the past. But maybe some people have more than that.

   October 4th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
3. Notmyrealnameno says:
   

   I didn’t need to feel called, I was shocked TBH, I never had a sense of calling till I did, if you see what I mean. And yes I question regularly whether I was actually called. Lets just say ‘the evidence is there’!

   I don’t think it has to be church-related, people sometimes talk of a ‘calling’ to do charitable work and the like, particularly in underdeveloped countries. Its often used for voluntary work.

   October 4th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
4. Chris Clark says:
   

   As someone going through the process that notmyrealname has gone through I think that calling should mostly be something that other people do to you. I think we all know very earnest and sincere people who have heard a call but we all wish they hadn’t!

   Dave you are called to draw cartoons to make us think and laugh. Keep it up!

   October 4th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
5. keith says:
   

   For me calling was always a combination of what I felt I should be doing, what others thought I should be doing and what I thought God wanted me to do. This was largely about what I was competent at and what I enjoyed. Exploring a calling to priesthood in the CofE means that the ‘others’ I refer to includes the church both local and national (i.e. Advisory Board of Ministry). But i hope all of this would pretty much hold true if I had felt ‘called’ to be a teacher, graphic designer or cartoonist.

   October 4th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
6. Ellen says:
   

   I didn’t feel called to go forward to be trained for ordianed ministry. I felt a compulsion to do it. I hadn’t felt like that about anything before (in fact I had only felt resentment toward ‘work’ in the past). I was reading 1 Kings chapter 3 the other day (as you do) and realsied that I felt like the woman who had been given custody of the child…like I had been given something precious to look after in my lifetime. As I haven’t felt the same about any other ‘calling’ is is tricky to know if ordained ministry is distinct in this. I suspect not cos I think – to quote Brecht – ‘all good things should go to those who are best for them’ – by which I mean…some are best at cartoons, some are best at pop music, some are best at being doctors or whatever. It is just that with the others you are not asked by a Bishop to respnd to the question ‘do you think this is your calling?’. Perhaps we shoud suggest it in synod?

   October 4th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
7. Farli says:
   

   I think I would use calling to describe whatever I was doing if I felt I was striving to be fully as I think God wants me to be.

   I have felt that I was following a calling in other jobs, but I am now following a calling to ordained ministry. Although as long as I can remember I have wanted to do what I am meant to be doing, I never thought I would end up being ordained.

   I would always use calling to describe a job if the person loved it and feels fulfilled by it. Other things outside your 9-5 work can be your calling. How many mothers have to work to pay bills when they feel called to care full time for their children?

   Even if you only spend a little time on it each week/year I think we all have calling(s), those things which enable us to express ourselves fully as a human being before God.

   October 4th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
8. Paul says:
   

   Years ago I asked to see our vicar to talk about vocation. (I meant that I had gone into a profession with a sense of calling, but that I was finding that that was no guarantee that you’d like it or necessarily be brilliant at it. I wanted a bit of pastoral support.) He replied along the lines “I think you should wait a few years….” My confusion was only cleared up (and replaced by irritation) when it became clear that there was a virtual identity in his working vocabulary between vocation and ordination.

   Depressingly if you look at what mostly pass for vocation days and the like, you still see much the same assumption.

   October 4th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
9. Makeesha says:
   

   Good thoughts. I agree with you except on your scripture point. I guess I would tend to suggest that perhaps we need to adopt more of a “called” language for every person’s vocation. God does indeed say he will lead us, guide our path, direct our steps, the Spirit gives us counsel, God will give us wisdom. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that God leads people into jobs, ministry paths, life choices like parenting, etc. And I personally think we need to take our vocations more seriously and consider them to be part of God’s plan for his Kingdom to be lived out on earth instead of just a way to make money…be it cleaning toilets, teaching kids, performing heart surgery or whatever.

   But like I said, I agree with your other points, we need to use caution in applying the dualism that the church is so good at and make sure we’re not elevating the “ministry” to a higher plane. Of course, we’re bivocational and I think that might be a good answer to the “problem” overall…but that’s for another post

   October 4th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
10. James says:
    

    I felt ‘called’ to be an engineer in the Royal Air Force (which I was for many years); I was later persuaded to put myself forward to see whether I should be ordained and undergo the selection process. When I applied to the Air Force I wanted the job/vocation and felt that I was persuading the selectors that I should be allowed to do the job. When I applied to the Church (of England) I was (I think) trying to find out whether the selectors thought that I should be trained for ordination, rather than persuade them that I wanted the job. Analysis becomes woolly and it is difficult to express my thoughts. However, I think that all are ‘called’ to be/do something – to be ordained is only one avenue; there are many others equally important.

    October 4th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
11. Emma says:
    

    I agree that we should consider being ‘called’ in many if not all professions and not just for ones which are deemed ‘spiritual’. I, for one, am exploring my calling to ordination and like others who have posted here would not be going through the process if that had not been the case! However, there is a calling and discernment process for most if not all jobs within the church, youth workers for example. We are all trying to find out what it is that God wants us to do and following that, surely then everyone is following a calling? A Christian can feel called to work in secular employment, but in such an environment they wouldn’t talk about it being their calling I don’t think…
    Thinking and typing never quite works, I think I’m more confused now than I was when I started…!

    October 5th, 2006 at 11:12 am
12. Never Conforming says:
    

    I tend to think that finding our niche is often living out our ‘callings’. As such there isn’t a lot that I think isn’t or might not be vocational. It is, IMHO, worth doing and important to remember that ordained ministry isn’t the only thing to which we’re called.

    Jo

    October 5th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
13. Leao16 says:
    

    ‘You didn’t choose me, but I chose you…’ (John 15:16)

    October 5th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
14. Tiffer says:
    

    I can see where you are coming from Dave – and it enfuriates me (infuriates me?) that in order to get to all the millions of forms I need (as an ordinand) from the CofE website I have to click on the link “Ministry”. Although MinDiv is a broader department than just ordinands – it is the majority (I think). In fact does Faith in the workplace stuff even come under MinDiv? It should do.

    I think the SoF thread you speak of is a fair name – as what it is trying to do is not be too specific. It is trying to include those who do not have a calling to that kind of ministry. Otherwise it would be called the

    “Vocations to the ordained or lay ministry, that is, the kind accreditted by your church, and not the one that we are all called to, and walking the path and jumping through the hoops which your church will have put up to get in your way”.

    Somewhat more verbose you will admit.

    I think the real problem lies with snooty clergy and mis informed laity believing that those in full time or part time ministerial roles are a cut above the rest. And in people not connecting what they do with their day (be it lawyering, mothering, fathering or sweeping) with Gods call on their lives.

    I have always spoken of my jobs as callings – even the summer ones! Certainly my wife sees teaching as a calling (one which she doesn’t like much).

    October 5th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
15. joeturner says:
    

    I think there are two kinds of people (in very general not-very-helpful terms). Those who feel ‘called’ to something and ‘those who don’t’.

    The unfortunate thing, as Dave points out, that those who are ‘called’ are rarely in the toilet-cleaning ministry, and ‘those who don’t’ are usually excluded from any kind of ordination.

    Basically, we’re a bit mixed up. In the jolly ole anglican church, we get to chose the clergy and not the other way around. In theory. When Tiffer [for example] stood up and said he was thinking about ordination, it required the rest of us to agree that wasn’t a stupid idea before he could go any further. On the other hand, it would be a bit daft if someone stood up to ask if everyone thought they were the right person to clean the toilet.

    I think ordination is for organised people – or maybe for people who dream of being organised. The rest of us just make it up as we go along.

    October 6th, 2006 at 11:17 am
16. Daniel says:
    

    The word called is used consistently in the New Testament to describe all of God’s Gentile followers. It’s the updated version of ‘chosen’. Which makes a lot more sense of “many are called, few are chosen”, yes most of us aren’t Jewish.

    Like ordination and priesthood, ‘calling’ isn’t a Christian idea. It’s an obstacle we make God work round.

    October 6th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
17. David says:
    

    As a rookie ordinand who has recently had to talk about his ‘calling’ at a selection conference in a rural location until the cows came home (quite literally)…

    Are we annoying and super-spiritual in referring to calling? Unquestionably, yes. Is it wrong for the ordination service to talk about calling? Unquestionably, no. Can you be called to something other than priestly ministry? Very definitely yes.

    I know plenty of us don’t find our ‘calling’ but in an ideal world we would do. Calling can and should apply just as much to the teacher, the postman, the city banker as it does to the minister.

    I’d like to see some liturgies or other such mechanisms in church in which we commission members of our congregations to go and be postmen, teachers or whatever. I am sure there is plenty of potential for humour and a few Dave Walker cartoons in such thoughts.

    However in all seriousness, if we did such things, we’d address an imbalance in our churches as to how people value secular vocations compared to church-based vocations and probably do wonders for our every day mission, let alone our morale.

    October 9th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
18. Jo says:
    

    I think that we’re drawn to jobs and careers because of our giftings. Whether that’s a calling or not, I don’t know. I do admin – because I’m good at it. I didn’t plan it as a career – I wanted to be a research scientist! I got into admin by accident – because it was a job.

    Am I called to it? Perhaps. At least some of the people I support in the office think so! As do those at church when I get my organising hat on!

    October 10th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
19. 'Bud' Shackleton says:
    

    At fifty, in church every Sunday, I felt I was just ‘chasing the penny’ during the week and so I gave up a very lucrative occupation to work for a charity. I gave the charity 15 years and found it very satisfying. Was I called?
    The down side (and I’m sure there always is) was that my wife of that time only stayed with me for two of those years.

    October 11th, 2006 at 9:17 am
20. Unordered says:
    

    I’m starting to see in the Orthodox church, that priests are indeed special people who do their ‘jobs’ with much fear and trembling. Except it’s not a job, (not many in our area are paid) it’s a life, not a lifestyle, their whole life. You just can’t be a priest unless you’re prepared to spend your whole life becoming more and more holy, confessing your sins and being accountable for your every action not only to God but to the bishop – and not just in theory, in a practical face to face meeting kinda way.

    And whether they feel called or not, they can’t be a priest unless their family agrees, so in a way it’s quite a practical thing as well as spiritual.

    You know how sometimes you meet someone, and you say, “that man was a man of God. He just glows with the presence of God.” That’s what Orthodox priests (the one’s I’ve met) are like. Every single one I’ve met is more holy than me and closer to God than me, regardless of their personalities or how much I personally like them. They are an example of how to live.

    So it’s the same spiritual language as someone who hears God’s call, through the call Jesus made that’s recorded in the bible, or the call of the Holy Spirit to connect yourself to God for the rest of your life. And a priest connects themself to God and his church for the rest of his life. Spiritual language for a spiritual ‘job’.

    October 13th, 2006 at 5:34 am