God's Call

 By Jacob Krueger, ELCA Seminarian Wartburg Theological Seminary

This month’s blog posts are focusing on Where is God Calling You? A couple of weeks ago, Bishop Maas wrote about the visionary aspect of this question and what might the church look like in the future. I’m curious what this question means for lay people in the church who are discerning or pondering God’s call to love and serve their neighbor by becoming a Pastor, Deacon, or Parish Ministry Associate (PMA).


In 2013, over fourteen students from the campus ministries in Nebraska joined together at a restaurant in Lincoln, NE. The major topic that day was about discernment, call, and vocation. While we gathered for fellowship and food, Bishop Maas asked a question for the group to discuss. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it went something like this, “In spite of what are you discerning God’s call?” This question got right at the heart of the many reasons people to this day don’t answer God’s call to work in and for the church.

Some responded with, “I am responding to God’s call to be a pastor in spite of the social injustice in the world.” Others responded with, “In spite of the uncertainty of the future of the church, I am responding to God’s call to be a pastor in the ELCA.” And there were certainly others. Anyone of us could have walked away from that table and not answered God’s call because of being fed up with the way historically marginalized people are treated in the church, the uncertainty of the future of the church, the desire to have a reasonable income, concerns about their insecurities, having the resources to enter into seminary, and many other things. There are plenty of reasons to leave or not associate with the church and plenty of reasons to say “no” to God’s call for you. 

In his new book, Love is the Way, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church, informs the reader that “Faith is always in spite of.” “Nothing short of faith, in spite of the odds, can stay the course. Faith dares us to believe that in the end, love wins. We can’t see it, but we believe it anyway.” Bishop Curry is speaking about the difficulty of living in faith even when one can’t see change in the world and church or when one can see the challenges in front of you. I’m not going to sit here and make you believe these challenges will be easy to face because it takes great courage to enter into ministry. Bishop Curry continues to say, “hope comes along, and puts wind in our sails of faith. Hope is the energy that keeps us going when the gravity of reality would otherwise defeat us.” It is faith and hope that will set us on the path to meet these challenges.

In spite of all the uncertainties, the injustice, the flaws, the conflict, and many other things, this call will be strengthened by God in Christ Jesus who gives you faith and hope to sustain you. It is because of faith and hope that you will continue to walk back to the waters of baptism, the source of all life, to be made new each day in order to live into your call as a Pastor, Deacon, and Parish Ministry Associate. God continues to call people into ministry for the sake of neighbors and the gospel.

In spite of the uncertainty the future holds and how drastically different the church may look in the future, there will always be a need for the gospel to be preached and the sacraments, means of Grace, administered to the people of God. And because these sacraments transform you as a part of the body of Christ, the Church is a place where faith and hope can take hold to imagine a new reality. The Church is a place where God’s reality, not the present reality, can be envisioned and enacted. The church is where the world can be envisioned to function more justly, righteously, and in line with the kingdom of God.

The church continues to work on removing the various obstacles and in-spite-ofs for you to answer God’s call. The next question for the church to think about, I believe, is how to create a space for people of all ages in this synod to discern God’s call to be Pastors, Deacons, and Parish Ministry Associates at the same time and on a regular basis. In my experience, discernment is partly done in community and on a regular basis. In spite of the breadth of this Synod, we have the resources to connect together as one discerning group and plant seeds of hope and faith.

I think I walked away from that gathering of students more energized and prepared to face the realities of this church and the world. I knew I wouldn’t be in this process of discernment nor would the in-spite-ofs define this call from God. This call can be very fulfilling in the many relationships you create with people in the church and outside. And it can be very rewarding to see the impact the Church can have on the larger community. Walking with others through their baptism, marriage, and death is a meaningful endeavor. 

Of the fourteen plus students gathered for conversation, back in 2013, seven people have answered God’s call to serve in the Church in spite of various challenges, and I hope you do too. Faith is always in spite of.


*Visit Sow the Seeds for information on discerning a call to ministry or encouraging those discerning a call 
________________________________________________________________________

 Bishop Michael Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times (New York: Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2020), 24.
 Ibid., 25.
 Ibid., 26.
 Ibid., 24.


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