“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the worlds deep hunger meet.” - Frederick Buechner
"If we would follow Jesus we must take certain definite steps. The first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous existence. … The first step places the disciple in the situation where faith is possible. If he refuses to follow and stays behind, he does not learn how to believe." – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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I was privileged enough to visit my brother and stay with a dear friend out in Winnipeg over the weekend a couple weeks ago. Karsten, my brother, showed me all the cool areas of town, like the Exchange, the Forks and St. Boniface… Since he is a part-time film editor part time hobo (he seriously is) and therefore does not own a car, we took the bus around town in minus twenty weather. I felt as if I was able to get to know the real Winnipeg, horrific dog sculptures and all! And I quite liked it; it is an artsy town, albeit a bitterly cold one. While I wasn’t bussing through Portage and Main, I gladly spent time visiting with Sherry (who lives in the cutest house ever), the friend I was staying with. It was the best type of trip: interesting places I hadn’t seen before and long chats with people I wish I saw more of. I even had a wonderful travelling buddy (Kelly) who kept me company when our flight from Saskatoon was delayed.
It seems as if my paths keep crossing (at least they did that weekend) with people in transition, people in the space between something past and something new… And I finding more and more that I’m feeling like I’m in that same space right now. I had a conversation with Kelly on the plane (or was it in the oddly decorated restaurant we spent our delay in?) about God’s call, a topic which seemed to be pertinent in this stage of our lives. I would have to agree with her that I feel a tension between two answers I received to the question of God’s call. One; that God’s call is to live in the present – it is not a specific place or decision, but rather being faithful with whatever situation we’ve been given. Two; that God does call us to specific locations, to jobs, to opportunities, to specific people… For myself, the first answer comes easier (on a certain level). The second leaves too much open – there’s too much room for error. What happens if we miss the call? What happens if we get it wrong? And how on earth do we know what God’s call in our lives is? The first response can also be frustrating (especially for one who hates waiting), and I would think that it might be easy to use this answer as an excuse to pass up opportunities to join God in his work because it is simply too far out of our normality.
When Christ calls us, our answering is obedience… not to our credit, but it is Christ himself who is behind our answering. Christ’s call brings us to the place where “faith is possible”, where all that we’ve held onto – those things that define us, that give us security – are stripped away, made meaningless, “counted as loss”. As the first response hints at, the moment of call is completely in the present, in that the circumstances surrounding us are nullified and we are nothing but ourselves.
I am currently taking great comfort in that it is Christ’s work that is behind the ability to obey, the ability to answer the call. This might seem a simple enough concept, or perhaps it might seem like avoiding responsibility all together... Answering the call is not laying back and waiting for something to happen, it is faith itself. It is in faith in response to being called that our “deep gladness” begins to mirror God’s own joy, in all its countless and unique ways. And it is out of this joy that we join in – out of joy we move to a new country, out of joy we change careers, out of joy we remain faithful in the seemingly small things.
Not that it is all gladness and no hardship… the call is to mend brokenness and feed hunger by entering into brokenness and hunger more fully than ever before. But joy compels us. It is our momentum, it is the gladness of giving up all the things that define and comfort us. Perhaps it is in these moments (a career change, moving to a new community, entering a new ministry) that we think we are “answering the call”. These situations are perhaps better understood as symptoms of our answering Christ’s first call. We often talk about these experiences (or long for such experiences) using the words “dream”, “purpose” or even “calling”. Christ called us to be his disciples, to answer is faith, and the joy that is born from that faith is what propels us to enter situations where God is at work. As generous God has been in giving each unique and beautiful gifts, so to are we to be generous as we pour out these gifts to the world. It is not simply about pursuing a personal dream, or being called to a specific place, or finding our life’s purpose (though I think all may be possible). Such experiences, such journeys are, at their core, allowing this joy overflow to feed a hungry world.
Labels: calling, faith, joy
