A Good Call

The other day, I was talking to a friend about an exciting potential job. She had been offered a position that would require a good deal of change—a cross country move to a new city, and it would put her in an entirely different role. As she talked through the pros and cons of taking the role, it was pretty evident that there was no perfect answer. To accept the role would mean an exciting new job, but also uprooting her life, leaving friends and colleagues she had grown to love. Like so many of the decisions we make in our lives, either taking the job or choosing to remain both had consequences.

Somehow or another in the phone call, we ended up talking about calling. Where had God gifted her and what was her calling? Was it to remain in the role she had been in for 5 years, or was it to leave for something new? There was a lot of shiny potential in a new job, a new role, and a new city, but what if God had work for her to do still where she was?

How many of us find ourselves asking this question, whether it be on a grand scale like shifting your whole life, or on a smaller scale like how to spend a day? These wicked problems, meaning there is no right solution, either vex us or make us callous. If God is calling, why can't it be straightforward?

This season of Lent, we are talking about God's call in our worship. We have been sharing stories of ow God has called ordinary people throughout the Bible. It has struck me time and time again that God calls all people to his goodness, calls all people to his glory. Each of the stories from scripture have included incredibly human people faced with wicked questions. Why if God can call the likes of Jael, Nehemiah, and Peter, I guess he can call us too.

The friend ended up turning down the role, saying that maybe God was calling her to do something slightly different in her job she currently does. It struck me how much calling is that—learning to listen to God's nudgings even if it's just a shift in how we show up.

People are called to ministry in Mercer classrooms and in Atrium hospital rooms, across Village Coffee and Sid's Sandwich Shop tables. Ordinary, and good callings. And maybe, God calls us to things we are already doing. Maybe God calls us to places we love but to do something slightly different in those spaces. That is a good call.