Bishop Eric Menees
"Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior
Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we
and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who liveth
and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen."
Do you remember how
you first received the call to ministry? When I say ministry here, I am
referring to the ministry of all believers and not just those who are ordained.
You'll recall from Sunday School or your Catechism class that all baptized
Christians, by virtue of their baptism, are ministers in the church.
I remember, from my
own baptismal preparation, how Miss Marge - one of the saints of the church -
taught us that in our baptism we would receive the Holy Spirit, who would
empower us for ministry. I remember being very excited and thinking that God
would somehow speak to me personally, saying something like, "Eric, I want you to be a professional
baseball player - in fact, you'll be the third baseman for the California
Angels." (Remember, I was just 14.) Unfortunately, God didn't call me
to my childhood dream. Rather, he spoke to me in quiet ways through the
brothers and sisters of the church, my friends, and ultimately my own desires
and talents.
Fr. David, our curate and youth minister, began to notice
that I was particularly drawn to the sacraments of the church. Soon after my
baptism, I would get up early on Sunday morning and ride my bike to church in
order to attend the 8:00 o'clock service, and then I would stay for the 10:00
o'clock service to see my friends. Before long, he was inviting me to become an
acolyte. I loved the liturgy and serving at the altar. I learned that I could
work with the adults and the teens, and began to take on leadership in training
new acolytes. One thing lead to another, and people began to notice that my
interest was in serving at the altar and serving people, so I was invited to
assist with our service projects and leadership in the youth group. The summer before my senior year in High
School, Fr. David invited me to shadow him on hospital visits where I learned
that I had a natural ability to minister to those who were sick, and before I
knew it, I was trained and volunteering as a hospital visitor. That summer, as
we would debrief after visits, Fr. David shared with me, "Eric, I suspect
you've thought about it, but I believe you are called to be a priest in the
church." When Fr. David said that, two things rushed over me: a sense of
fear and foreboding that I wasn't worthy to be a priest, and the sure and
certain knowledge that he was right - I was called to be a priest.
This week's Collect
asks the Lord to give us the Grace to answer Jesus' call. Ultimately, that is
the only way we can answer the call of God upon our lives - by submitting to
the Holy Spirit and His prompting. Too often, we cut His Spirit off in that
call. We tell ourselves: Ministry is for other people; I'm not good enough -
ministers are the holy rollers; I'll get around to that after I finish school,
get married, get settled in my work, the kids get older, the kids move
out....you fill in the blank.
Thankfully, the disciples didn't rationalize or question
Jesus' call upon their lives - they simply followed. My prayer is that this
week you will pray this Collect in preparation for Sunday's worship, asking the
Lord to open your heart and mind to hear and understand what ministry he's
placing upon your heart. If you rise to this challenge, I promise that the Lord
will speak to you. It may be through the scriptures, the sermon, the priest or
deacon, or a friend; but he will surely speak if you listen, pray, and then
listen some more!
Note: The "Notes to the church" articles are written by Bishop Menees for the Diocese of San Joaquin. I have posted them on Soundings with his permission for a wider audience. This is also the case for his "Why I am an Anglican" series. Dale+
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