Several weeks ago, during a class, our teacher talked about Ignatian Prayer Method in which you read a Bible Story and then use your imagination to visualize the story. In visualizing the story; you are asked to think about where you see yourself in the story. In my class, the story, which we read was the story of the Jesus' healing of the blind man, Bartimaeus. As I imagined the story; I saw myself as the blind person except that I was not physically blind but I was blinded by other people's opinions and my own desires for acceptance. As I saw myself sitting on the side of the road; I heard Jesus telling me that I am his beloved and that I need to get up off the side of the road and stop worrying about other people and stuff. Jesus has commanded me to get up and follow him. Following him is not sitting by the side of the road and just watching everything go by but rather it is focusing on Jesus and letting him lead. Over the past several weeks over and over again, I have heard Jesus saying to me; be not afraid; be courageous and it is okay to take risks. Following Jesus is not always logical nor practical but He will equip us. Is this easy? No, it is not but I get less distracted and know more peace when I focus on Jesus by spending time with Him in silence and letting the fruit of my silence guide me instead of public opinion.
During the same weekend of this class; I heard a sermon about claiming the call of our baptism and living our lives as a beloved child of God. I then heard a sermon about how all people are called and that call is about following Jesus not just about being a pastor or a missionary. The third sermon I heard on call was on Hebrews 11. This sermon reminded me about how God does not call people because they are already perfect but He equips those whom he calls like Abraham, Sarah, Rah ab, Ruth, David, Mary and many others throughout history. The 4th sermon I heard on call talked about how we are all in this following Jesus thing together; there are not two classes of people; clergy and lay. The church is all of together affirming and supporting one another. Part of call is about God shaking things up. Throughout scripture; it talks about God shaking up the earth and the heavens; about creating a new heaven and a new earth. So call is about how are we going to follow Jesus and be apart of God's shaking up. The word call and its various forms are mentioned over 800 times in scripture so we know that naming, listening,claiming and following are an important of our Christian life.
So now you are probably wondering have any I reached any definitive answer? No, I have not; I have some inklings and have had some paths affirmed but I am still wrestling with what Jesus' call for me is. For some reason the call of Jesus seems so much simpler in scripture; I mean Peter and Andrew just put down their nets and followed Jesus. They didn't explore their options or check out seminaries. However, perhaps it is that simple; let go and follow Jesus.
During the same weekend of this class; I heard a sermon about claiming the call of our baptism and living our lives as a beloved child of God. I then heard a sermon about how all people are called and that call is about following Jesus not just about being a pastor or a missionary. The third sermon I heard on call was on Hebrews 11. This sermon reminded me about how God does not call people because they are already perfect but He equips those whom he calls like Abraham, Sarah, Rah ab, Ruth, David, Mary and many others throughout history. The 4th sermon I heard on call talked about how we are all in this following Jesus thing together; there are not two classes of people; clergy and lay. The church is all of together affirming and supporting one another. Part of call is about God shaking things up. Throughout scripture; it talks about God shaking up the earth and the heavens; about creating a new heaven and a new earth. So call is about how are we going to follow Jesus and be apart of God's shaking up. The word call and its various forms are mentioned over 800 times in scripture so we know that naming, listening,claiming and following are an important of our Christian life.
So now you are probably wondering have any I reached any definitive answer? No, I have not; I have some inklings and have had some paths affirmed but I am still wrestling with what Jesus' call for me is. For some reason the call of Jesus seems so much simpler in scripture; I mean Peter and Andrew just put down their nets and followed Jesus. They didn't explore their options or check out seminaries. However, perhaps it is that simple; let go and follow Jesus.
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