Hello all. During these first two weeks we will be looking at the Introduction to our book and the first chapter (this longer span of time allows folks to get their books).
Introduction: In the Introduction Smith sets out a three-part understanding of "calling." He writes, "First there is the call to be a Christian...To be a Christian is to respond to the call to know and love God and to know and love ourselves." Smith continues, "Second, for each individual there is a specific call - a defining purpose or mission, a reason for being. Every individual is called of God to respond uniquely through service in the world." Finally, he concludes, "...there is the calling we face each day in response to the multiple demands on our lives - our immediate duties and responsibilities."
As part of the third understanding of call, Smith says, "But not all the immediate and legitimate needs that I face are necessarily my responsibility. I may be 'overhearing' God's call to another. The danger is always that these daily and immediate needs would crowd out our capacity to respond to our unique vocation."
As we begin our discussion, let's look at this three-part understanding:
- 1) How do you respond to this division? Does Smith's description of our "Christian calling" (To be a Christian is to respond to the call to know and love God and to know and love ourselves) surprise you? In what way?
- 2) What are your current "immediate duties and responsibilities?" Do you identify with his warning about these duties crowding out our capacity to respond to our unique vocation? How has this happened in your life? Did you notice that tricky little word respond? Does this imply that figuring out our "calling" is not so much about our action as it is about our response? ummm....
- 3) As a back door way to begin our discussion about our "unique calling," I would like you to remember a time when you were involved in some activity during which (and after which) you reflected upon that experience and said "I loved doing that!"
So what do you think? Try to keep each response to 2 to 3 paragraphs.
God bless each of you - Becce
Amazon.com has Courage and Calling on sale for immediate download ($9.99) if you would like the book in eReader format. It comes packaged for a Kindle, but you can download -- free -- a Kindle reader for your computer.
ReplyDeletei downloaded the kindle for pc and the ebook. both were quick and easy!
ReplyDeleteThoughts:
ReplyDelete1) Specific call=our reason for being. Wow! That’s so general. It can't really be nailed down into one job, task, career or profession, can it? Becce said at our meeting that the expression of the specific all will change through seasons of our lives, but there will be a common thread or an underlying theme. What's the common thread for me? How is it being expressed? I used to think it was to advocate for individuals with disabilities; especially in the area of vocation. I'm not in that place now. Is specific call the same as my passion, gifts and talents? I'm sure it relates somehow.
2) Especially now in my life I TOTALLY identify with Smith's warning about my responsibility. It seems that when "overhear" and try and respond, it robs my joy. Another comment from Becce was that my immediate response to take on something that is not my responsibility ("tyranny of the urgent") makes me lose sight of the concept of vocation. Yet, it's in my vocation that I find my joy.
2) The last time I remember REALLT feeling that "I loved doing that" feeling was when I was on the worship team.
Thanks for these comments. What are the rest of you thinking about with regard to this Introduction?
ReplyDelete1. I am still trying to learn who God really is. I came to an understanding of Jesus as a living and personal God in my late 30's so have a lot of catching up to do; much reading, study, questions, etc.(the call to be a Christian)
ReplyDelete2. I am guilty of being overwhelmed by the multiple demands on my life. The concept of "overhearing" God's call to another has really made me stop and think; to really be quiet and listen to that still quiet voice from God.
3. Specific calling .... In the past I have seen calling as a vocation for someone such as a Moses, Abraham or David. But God doesn't call everyone to great things - small things are important too. This is liberating for me, for I can be the grease that oils God's wheels?
I look forward to the rest of this study "to move from self-absorption to being God centered and true to my own identity and call.
Question #1--I have known God had a plan for me since childhood (probably about 9 or 10 years old). I didn't always listen to the still small voice inside me when I was a teen, young adult, or, sometimes, even in middle and senior years. However when I took the time to think about what God would want me to do before making a decision things always went a lot better.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm really not surprised that the Christian calling is to know and love God. However I am often surprised that I am also supposed to know and love myself. All of my life has been spent being an advocate for others and only in later years have I taken time to be an advocate for myself as well. God has often had the task of advocating for me--without any help from me.
I like the three part division. I think that division will be helpful in the search for God's later life calling for me.
Question 2--My life right now is not really filled with activity, but I can get caught up in a good book, tv, or household "Things" and forget that somehow I am supposed to be watching, listening, and responding to God. Sometimes I really an listening but feel nervous or a little unsure about the task that is coming to mind and so I say I'm not sure that's God's plan or mine. Even though I know God has a plan for me at my age I am much more cautious about accepting a call if I am uncertain. And most of the time now I am uncertain.
Question 3--Several years befor I moved to Las Vegas, I lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma and attended First Methodist Church. An associate minister asked me to take the leadership role in organizing a group of classes to help the Church and the community study and search and find ways that God was or could be a part of their lives. The minister helped me and we found a group of people who were willing to work together to bring this into being. Classes in Bible study, fitness, self help, parenting, prayer, travel, etc were outlined and instructors or leaders were found for each class. The organization, publicity and management of that minister's idea were a lot of work for many people, but HOPE Academy was born. (Heavenly Opportunities for Personal Enrichment) I remember all of us feeling excited and exhausted when the eight weeks of those classes were over. But we all were much closer to God because we knew He had called us to do something and He lead us in the effort. I did love doing it.
1.I heard a sermon last weekend in which the pastor shared that Christianity is different from other religions in that our identity (who we are in Christ, saved, redeemed) leads to our activity (what we do in response to what Christ has done for us). Other religions tend preach the opposite -- what you do (your activity or "works") leads to your identity (you are only accepted when you do certain things first). So it seems appropriate that we will discover our specific call or vocation only after we respond first to the call to believe and commit to follow Jesus.
ReplyDelete2. Most days I feel like a marionette dancing madly as other people are pulling on the strings. I have responsibilities at work towards many different clients, employees, two bosses, one of whom is my partner and husband. I have higher expectations of myself than they do most times. Although many aspects of my daily work are part of my specific call from God to service, I struggle with stress and find it difficult to relax in God's grace.
3. The "I loved doing that" feeling comes from seeing a moment of clarity and discovery that I helped to bring about--from a client discovering some truth about their financial life or helping an employee solve some bookkeeping puzzle or seeing light bulbs flash around an Adult Christian Education class wrestling with God meeting them in the Psalms. I enjoy the challenge of thinking deep thoughts that reading and discussing this book will bring.
Thanks for sharing. I think how we answer #3 has somthing to do with this thing we are calling vocation. I don't know why I have thought deep down in my heart that if I was really (I mean really) doing what God wanted that somehow it would be painful rather than joy filled.
ReplyDeleteSo what about Chapter 1? Has the Holy Spirit had a line jump out at you? For me it was the last line in the first paragraph on page 20 "We all become confused about work and the meaning of work, and consequently we are perplexed about the meaning of who we are." YIKES! So much of my identity is wrapped up in the work I do...so that when I mess up (Like I did this past week) I beat myself up unmercifully. For me, this confussion has be the source of me not being able to really rest in the Lord and to find my idenity in him.
What about you? Did a line jump off the page for you?
Becce
The line that jumps out at me is on page 19...
ReplyDelete"In our disturbed passion to achieve much and to accomplish it as soon as possible, we have lost a sense of true leisure and of what it means to be reflective and contemplative".
I have always been a 'busy' person with lots of responsibilities; work, wife, mother, business, church, etc. I tend to go from one thing to the next to the next and so on, until there is no more left in the day and then start over again when the sun comes up! To be reflective and contemplative would take 'time'. Praying for reflective and contemplative focus in my life!
i need to think more about the first two questions. the last question really caught my attention.
ReplyDeletemy first reaction to this was nothing. i can think of nothing unless you mean seeing a really good movie or one of my favorite shows on tv. i do not "love" any of the jobs i do, nor do i love the commitments i have to other people. i know that seems selfish, it is.
in truth, i do not often think of my role in the world in any way other than "what do i have to do now, so i can do what i want to do". again, blatant selfishness.
every day i work so i can come home to do what i want to do, maybe its sleep, maybe its to read, maybe its just to be still and think.
its hard for me to think in terms of "service to others" because that is my life, i serve others. sometimes, i just want to serve myself.
In his book “A Grace Disguised”, Jerry Sittser states, “Our sense of personal identity depends largely on…what we do. (Loss) is like undergoing an amputation of our identity…like the amputation of the self from the self…But it is not simply the loss of identity that causes a problem. It is also the difficult conditions under which a new identity must be formed.”
ReplyDeleteGordon Smith answers this dilemma on page 23: “Our work is never the primary expression of our identity, and through regular Sabbath rest we re-establish our identity in God and in His love, acceptance and grace toward us (Ex. 31: 13-17).”
The statement that really made me stop and think about my life to this point was close to the bottom of page 73. I'm using a kindle and my page numbers may be different. The statement was "Whether we fulfill our vocation in the church or in the world will make little if any difference."
ReplyDeleteI have always been in a profession that allowed me to fulfill my vocation in the workplace as well as in the church. However, I have always felt that I wasn't doing enough in the church to fulfill God's plan for me. A minister once told me that some people have a unique ability to work in the world and not necessarily become part of the world around them. In so doing they are able to carry God's mission outside the "church" setting. I try to remember this when I think I should be "church employed".
Are we discussing Chapter 2 yet? I've now read it 3x. I'm working on my list of 10 things that have brought me the greatest joy. Introspection is tough.
ReplyDeleteCathy - -what a great idea! Ten things that brought me the greatest joy ... wow. People come to mind easily, but things? I have 5 -- all God related.
ReplyDelete