We publish a Parish Magazine 4 times a year and in each Magazine there is a letter from the vicar or a member of the ministry team. Here is the Summer 2011 edition, by Charles Burch:
Called to be....yourself.
What is your calling? You may think that is a pretty strange question, reserved for very saintly people who go off to work among the poor or to become monks or nuns.
Another word for calling is vocation, and that is sometimes used to describe professionals who care for others such as nurses and social workers. But most of us go through life not thinking we have any particular calling, beyond being a useful citizen and bringing up our family as best we can. And yet Christians believe that God calls every single one of us: young and old, women and men, confident and shy.... but what does he call us to do?
First and foremost, God calls us to change: to become more Christlike. We are called to live out our lives in response to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That may sound impossible - but in fact it's very easy to start. All we are called to do is to respond to Jesus by bringing our worries and burdens to him and asking him for his loving forgiveness. Then, as we encounter him through prayer, worship and the Bible, and through the life of our Church community and the people we meet, our lives will be touched and we cannot help but be changed.
But while we are called to change, God always calls us to what we are capable of becoming. It may be that we have hidden gifts which need to be discovered or it may be that there is something that we have secretly always wanted to do but have not had the courage or the time to try. Whatever it may be we need to find an outlet which will allow us to feel more excited about life or indeed to feel more alive. That is what Jesus meant when he said, 'I have come that you may have life in all its fullness'.
Within the life of the Church, some are called to a public 'up front' role of teaching or leading services, but most are called to serve in less visible ways, whether as welcomers, gardeners, cleaners....and that service which may start within the Church radiates out into our community, through practical acts of love and care - for the elderly, lonely, housebound - or just someone who needs a friendly presence.
Do you have a calling? you most certainly do, and whatever you discover it to be, it will involve God helping you to become more fully yourself, the person he created you to be.
Charles Burch
Charles Burch