"My Calling..."

Part of my Methodist Local Preacher's course entails various portfolio pieces in various media. Here's one of the questions I have tackled recently:

Produce something in a verbal medium (poetry, a talk, a meditation, a PowerPoint based on words) that you could use: (a) to share with a group what ‘calling’ means to you; and (b) to help them reflect on what 'calling' might mean to them. 

Part a:  Sharing what Calling means to me (in the medium of Poetry):

Calling.
Just like in the movies...
Up steps the reluctant hero
Chosen by the gods
Foretold in the prophecies
To lead and redeem the people...
That's "calling" right?
Or is that "destiny"?

Or maybe as in wartime:
"Uncle Sam needs YOU!"
"If you're fit enough
To hold a sword you can fight!”
Fight foes for freedom...
That's "calling" right?
Or is that "desperation"?

Or maybe it's simply my story:
A passion in my soul;
A gift I can't ignore;
Following the prompt of a friend,
Into space that I can fill.
Not fated in my destiny
Or called in desperation,
But seeking to be true
To all that I can be.

Just like in the Bible:
Believing "I AM has sent me to you"
Because I met him once.
That "I appointed you a prophet"
Because he made me this way.
Because he saved me and called me
"According to his grace."
Because when he said
"Whom shall I send?"
I had the audacity to answer...

... And now my words are not my own
As I claim the promise to Moses:
"I will be your mouth
I will teach you how to speak.”
As I rely on Jesus' promise:
"I will send you a helper.”
As I seek to be faithful to the "Word"

Who "was at the beginning"

Who "was and was with God”

Who "became flesh and dwelt here."

As I dare to speak the words of life
Declare the message of truth
Share the gospel of love
And bring others to proclaim His name.

As I try to listen
To heed and follow this "call"
"May the words of my mouth
And the thoughts of my heart
Be pleasing to my God."

He calls
I answer
He teaches
I learn
He uses
I'm used
That his Kingdom might be built.

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Part B:  To aid personal reflection
I’ve tried, through my poem, to pick several different ideas of what the “call” part of calling might look like, according to popular culture, world history, my own story, and the Bible.

• What other examples can you think of?
• What example do you think would make the call most clear?
• Have a read of the following passages from the Bible about people responding to calls for God (Feel free to add others you may be aware of). As you read, put yourself in the story. What do you notice about the calling in each passage? How did they know they were chosen? Did the have any reservations? Did it cost them anything?
  • Exodus 31:1-11
  • Judges 6:11-24a
  • 1 Samuel 3:1-21
  • Daniel 1:6-21
  • Luke 1:26-38
  • Acts 9:1-9
  • Acts 9:10-18

It’s one thing to think about what the call itself might look or feel like, but it’s another to understand what it is that we are called to. This piece was composed with the idea of preaching and leading people in worship in mind, but each of us should expect to be called in service of God in all sorts of different ways. He may call us to places, to people, to tasks, to careers, to rest, to play… the list is endless. Ultimately whatever we feel called to should mean we are able to apply the last stanza of my poem to our callings.

• Have you ever felt like you were called to something? If so, what?
• How do we recognise the things to which we are called?
  • Others confirming thoughts?
  • Passions?
  • Skills?
  • Circumstance?
  • Conscience?
  • Testing?
  • Other?

With those things in mind:
Who has God made you to be?
What are your skills?
What do others say about you?
Where is your passion?
Where is the need around you?

​Let’s spend some time praying about these things and asking for a clarity of calling from God.