Hello –
On Sunday I began a new preaching series. For the rest of the season of Epiphany, which ends in March, I will be preaching on Call.
In Sunday’s sermon, which was less than ten minutes and can be found on the front page of our website (stpaulssanrafael.org), I shared four things that I believe:
• I believe every one of us has been given a gift or gifts from God.
• I believe we are called to use those gifts in different ways in different seasons of our life. People in their 80s are called to use their gifts just like people in their 20s, just in different ways.
• I believe we don’t come fully alive, don’t become fully ourselves, until we are using our gifts for the glory of God. When we do, it is both invigorating and, in the deepest sense, restful. It is a taste of the peace that passes all understanding.
• I believe it is not up to us alone to hear and follow our call. We need each other for the wisdom to hear the call clearly and for the fortitude to follow it. That work of discerning call in a small, trusted group is at the heart of Discipleship Groups.
I am still learning how to talk about call and how to discern call. I am proceeding with the assumption that we have much to teach each other about this subtle but essential work.
Almost a year ago I finally started articulating a working assumption that I’ve been living with for almost fifteen years. I assume that we can’t be a Christian church in depth unless we are deliberately attending to six things that I now call Fluency, Community, Abiding, Befriending, Call and Cross.
In the summer and fall, we attended to Fluency, that is Fluency in our spiritual mother tongue, beginning with scripture. Leading up to Christmas, we focused on the mysterious task of working on our belovedness, which is necessary for each of us if we are going to be in Community in depth. For the next month we will focus on God’s Call. We all have one. Come and listen.
Blessings,
Christopher
p: (415) 456-4842