A Call to Ministry

I have recently taken the first steps towards ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church.  As part of that, I have been asked to share with my local church a statement of my ministry call.  I'm including part of it here, so let me know what you all think!

I spend a lot of time thinking about unanswered prayers. Specifically, I think about that person sitting alone in a room, wondering it’s safe to hope, and praying for God to show up in their lives.  I think about that person all the time.  Maybe they are praying for an end to abuse or suffering in their lives, or for community and connection, or simply to feel the presence of a higher power to lift them up.  However, I do know one thing about those who utter unanswered prayers: we haven’t showed up for them yet.  They do not yet sit in our congregations, feeling Grace, like I did 3 years ago when I found my current church.  God is trying to answer their call, but needs our help with that.  I could spend the rest of my life making excuses for why some theological detail of the church as a whole does not fit with me, or why some imperfection in my own life or faith disqualifies me from the job, but that’s not answering that person’s prayer.  That’s not answering God’s call. 

Much of my call to ministry is because of the prayers that we. as a community of faith, as a denomination, as disciples of Christ, have yet to answer.  The world is full people trying to find God, of God trying to find them.  However, according current trends in our society, each generation finds less relevance for their spiritual life in a traditional church.  But their spiritual needs are increasing – not decreasing.  My Master’s work in community-based sociological networks looked at how break-downs in interpersonal connections in communities dramatically impacted their ability to solve shared problems, and psychological researchers are documenting similar impacts on basic human relationships.  Recent studies at Duke and the University of Arizona concluded that most American have only 1-2 close confidants with whom they can share their most important life concerns, while 25% have no one at all.  How many of these people live near our churches?  How many of these people go to our churches?

The theologian Frederick Buechner has written, ”vocation is where our greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.”  My greatest joy is that look in a people’s eyes when they experience the Love and power of God in their lives.  Stripped down to its most basic element, Christianity is about connecting people to God and each other with that love – Christ’s Love.  The Methodist faith talks about transforming the world by connecting people to Christ’s love through Discipleship.  My vision in ministry is to help make Christ relevant again in peoples’ lives, by listening to the spiritual story of each person, and learning how to be the face of Christ for them.  It does not matter what shape or color or size their faith comes in.  It just matters that they have someone who shows up for them after they pray.  If we can do that, God only knows what’s possible.

(A clarification here:  I know many who read my blog posts are not Christian per se.  As I hope you already know, my aim in this blog is not to evangelize and convert, but rather to share my own stories of spirit.  Despite our spiritual lens, I believe we are all  ministers in our way, Christian or not, ordained or not, if we decide to heed that call.  So even in this post where I am talking about my own plans for ministry, I am aware that all of us, all of the time, are ministering in our own ways.)

Like I’ve done so well the last 20 plus years, I can easily list the excuses for why I should not go into ministry.  However, I’m left with that call of the unanswered prayer.  How will I respond to that voice crying in the wilderness, once I have heard it?

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,

Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:

and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: (Isaiah 40:3)

O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them. (John 17:25-26)