Day of Call – Sunday, November 12, 2017
Do you have a sense of how God is calling you? Are you willing to share your story with us?
The Northern Illinois Board of Ordained Ministry has designated Sunday, November 12, 2017, as Day of Call, and Bishop Sally Dyck is asking both pastors and laity to share their call stories.
The Bishop reminds us that sharing call stories produces amazing results sometimes! She writes about the time when a clergywoman friend came and shared with her in a dialogue sermon on their call stories:
“In the midst of the sermon, a breeze blew through and blew her notes under the piano. She wasn’t inclined to go under there and get them! We laughed all afternoon about what had happened because she had ended up preaching without notes which was the one thing she didn’t want to do! But out of that sermon, a woman in the church revealed to me later that she had been discerning a call to ministry but didn’t know quite how to approach it. Our sermon opened the door for her, giving her language and permission to talk about it. She went to seminary and was ordained.”
Have you ever paused to consider how laity also have a calling on their lives? God’s call isn’t just to the professional ordained ministry – or even to just the work of the church. God’s call touches on all areas of our lives. We are all called to be good citizens, good parents, good daughters, good sons, good employees, good entrepreneurs, good stewards of creation, good recipients of God’s lavish and undeserved grace.
Bishop Sally also writes about the time a young girl, about 14, shared how she perceived God was calling her: “She was a beautiful, radiant young woman with long, curly strawberry blonde hair and a smile from ear to ear, even with her braces on. She stood in front of a rather large group of adults and said that she didn’t know exactly what God wanted her to do with her life, but she knew God had a claim on it. She wanted to live her life in such a way that she would always be open to what it was that God wanted her to be and do.
After we all regained our composure…, I said the only thing that came to mind: “What she will be has not yet been revealed” (1 John 3:2).
Do you have a sense of how God might be calling you? And are you willing to share your answer on Nov. 12th to the question, “What does God want from us?” The Scripture that day includes these challenging words from God:
“I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want. (The Word of the Lord from Amos 5, The Message translation)
Special note: We are asking our confirmation youth to be sure to be present in worship on the 12th and then stay as a class to discuss the questions: What does God want FROM me in my life? What does God want FOR me in my life?
Let’s talk. 630-728-9034.
Pastor Ron