Vocation

I owe this to Rev. Phil Blackwell of the Chicago Temple (a United Methodist Church in downtown Chicago). This is from one of his recent homilies during the Wednesday noontime service (on 1 Samuel 3:1-10):

"God calls each one of us; do we hear it?

For about 1500 years that statement might have been considered blasphemous. It was thought that the only true vocation, that is, ‘calling,’ was to the religious orders, to be a priest or a nun. But, Martin Luther insisted that God wanted a priesthood of all believers, and if so, then every person was called by God. …

So, how do we hear God’s call in our lives today? … Parker Palmer … uses a Quaker term as the title of his small book on this very topic, Let Your Life Speak. … Where are your passions? What matters most in your life? …

[H]e quotes Frederick Buechner … who says that we find our vocation where ‘our deepest gladness meets the world’s greatest needs.’ We find our vocation where our deepest gladness meets the world’s greatest needs."