Thursday 18 June - Accepting the Calling

DAILY BYTE

When my dad found out I would be born, he chose to accept the calling to be my father. This meant that he chose to offer me as much unconditional love as possible, mirroring God’s love, a love that has nourished my dad throughout his life. My dad knew that choosing to care for me and show me that love would mean that he was also accepting that this would cost him a lot of money – over two million rand, as he once reminded me with a wry smile.

And yet, he accepted the opportunity to give me life and sustain that life by continuously living up to his promise of feeding and loving me. Not all fathers accept this calling and opportunity, just as all of us, as the disciples we proclaim to be, do not always accept the opportunity to provide for others in our biological families, our families of faith, and the broader world family.

Today, picture the feast table that God is calling you to set. Who is sitting there? Who are you called to sit with at a table full of God’s spiritual and physical food?

Picture people in your community life whom God is calling you to nurture and offer love and grace. Is it the person sitting next to you in the cubicle at work or the desk at school? Is it your child? Is it your neighbor? Is it the person that you hate or fear most?

In your mind and heart, invite these people into a new vision for the ministry God is calling you to in your life.

And then, think and pray about how the feast for these people will be prepared. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What do you need to do? How much prayer and how much money are you called to offer to help usher this vision – this feast of sharing God’s abundant, nourishing love with others - into reality?

Lock that vision in your heart, but before you get lost on an island of individuality, broaden your scope and picture a vision of the feast table of the whole church. Every congregation and denomination. Picture us sitting together at long tables. Who do you see in this community who needs the nourishing, good food of God’s love, grace, and promises?

The church, this country, and the world are at many crossroads in history – financial, environmental, spiritual – you name it. And as God’s people, we have some difficult and crucial decisions to make about how we live out God’s callings.

You are undoubtedly aware of the global economic crisis and of the numerous retrenchments and struggles to find jobs in our local community. You may be increasingly aware of the costly ways we treat the planet, as we not so jokingly blame all manner of ills on global warming. You may, or may not, be aware of the resources that are required for a church to support and carry out acts of love and service in the community - ministries that attempt to set a feast for people in the community whom we are called to invite to the table of God’s love, grace, and sustenance, both physical and spiritual.

The bottom line is that people cannot live without physical water and food like beans and peanut butter. The bottom line is also that people cannot live without living water and spiritual food, such as Scripture, communion, and fellowship with one another.

So, yesterday we talked about giving as a calling. In what ways are you accepting specific callings God desires you to fulfill? Who is at the feast table, and how much money, time, and love might God be calling you to offer them?

FOCUS READING

Luke 14:13-14 (ESV)

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…

Ask God to help you discern how to use your money and other resources. Then, take a step in the direction in which God calls you. Create a plan of giving to the church you attend. Get involved in a ministry that is reaching out to serve. Accept a calling, and see the miraculous things God can do with one step that can seem so small.