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Morningside The Call? “The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go the land that I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1) “[Jesus] saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” (Matt 9:9) You probably noticed that both of these readings have something in common – that’s why I’ve singled them out. And what is this common thread? They have a call. One of the happiest but most difficult decisions that Michele and I have had to make was whether or not to come back to Britain last year. As many of you know we had been living in the US for ten years – as I am continuing to discover that’s a long time to be away. All three of our children were born in America. At least half of our family still lives there. We had, and still have, dear friends in the States. We had our own home and enjoyed a comfortable life there. But then this wonderful, exciting, intriguing, challenging offer came from across the waters, from Christ Church, Morningside… Bishop Brian, in one of the sessions that he led a few weeks ago as part of his Adventure of Faith course, put it well when he made the following remark. He suggested that very few of us in fact are ever faced with an absolute choice between good and bad – and indeed when faced with such a stark contrast the decision is a fairly easy one to make. The problem comes, and is, when we are faced with the much more usual situation of having to choose between two ‘goods’. In this sense the call of Abram (who later changes his name to Abraham, of course), the call of Abram is a much more difficult one than that of Matthew. Matthew, on the one hand, had the choice of leaving a comfortable but despicable and corrupt life to follow Jesus, while Abram, on the other was faced with the much more challenging call to leave everything that he knew and loved for something that while God promised would be even better he couldn’t see or touch or experience. Of course, it took enormous courage for both Abram and Matthew to leave their old loves and lives (I’m not in any way trying to downplay what Matthew did!), rather I want to make the point that most of us find ourselves as Abram, faced with the choice of two ‘goods,’ rather than Matthew, where the choice was a bit more black-and-white. So how do we choose? How do we make these kinds of decisions? How do we respond to our call, ‘The Call’? First, I want to just say something about the idea of a ‘call’, a calling. I’m not talking about a call to a particular ministry within the Church – like becoming a priest, a Lay Reader, a Church Warden, a Sunday School teacher or a member of the choir. I am thinking about something much broader than that. What I am thinking about is our own personal call from God. And I would suggest that the real, personal, call of God is one that invites us to become ever more fully our authentic selves. Our calling as human beings, as individuals, is to become ever more genuinely the person we are, made in the image and likeness of our Creator. It reminds me of a story that I read about the ‘call’ of a well-known Episcopal priest in the US. Her name is Barbara Brown Taylor and she is highly respected for her many books, sermons and lecture tours. Anyway, many years ago she tells how she had been wrestling with the idea of being ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. In fact she had been trying to discern the ‘call’ for over 5 years. Finally, one night, overcome with the pressure and uncertainty of being unable to decide she prayed or rather shouted – “God, if you want me to do this thing then you have got to let me know tonight. I don’t care which way it goes, I just need to know!” She said that she heard, for the first (and perhaps only) time in her life, an audible voice which said, “Barbara, do whatever pleases you, only belong to me!” The real, personal, call of God is one that invites us to become ever more fully our authentic selves. So, again, how do we choose? How do we make these kinds of decisions? How do we respond to our call? For a number of years I have had in my possession a wonderful, little jewel of a book called, ‘Discernment, the Art of Choosing Well’, written by a man called Pierre Wolff. And it’s all about this question – ‘the art of choosing well’. Wolff starts out the book like this: “Although we hear the word discernment used frequently, the process by which it is achieved remains mysterious for many people. It might appear that its mastery is the privilege of certain spiritual or theological specialists, such as priests, gurus or monks… Actually, everyone discerns since everyone makes choices, for life requires all of us to make daily decisions. And it is possible to do this in a more or less systematic way. The verb to discern comes from the Latin verb discernere, which means to separate, to distinguish accurately one object from another. Discernment is a process that allows a person to see, without confusion or ambiguity, what differentiates things… Choosing requires discriminating… The better our discernment, the clearer our choices.” (p.3, ‘Discernment, the Art of Choosing Well’, Pierre Wolff) And I would suggest that the ability to discern or to choose well has never been more important that it is today. Why? Because we live in a society which is built on the notion of choice – choice as a consumer, choice as a voter, choice to say and think and worship what we will. Choice and freedom of choice is, perhaps, our most cherished value and right. The European Values Studies, which is compiled every 10 years by the E.U. and was last published in 1999, suggests that, “individualism is the key characteristic of the modern European… [as is] the freedom to decide.” (p.8, The Tablet, May 7th, 2005) And we do indeed have all sorts of choices to make. What kind of work that we do? What partner to have? Where to spend our money? Who to vote for? How to invest our retirement savings or investments? What school to send our children or grandchildren to? How to best help a friend or family member who is in difficulty? To touch just the tip of the iceberg. And these are all important decisions, decisions which affect not only us and our immediate friends and family, but workers, the economy, the way the country is governed, the environment and so on… Going back to Wolff’s book, ‘The Art of Choosing Well,’ he suggests that one of the ways forward is to first identify our core values and then to use two main tools: Our Core Values As Wolff says, “When life asks me to make choices, I usually weigh my options with respect by what is important to me.” (p.6, ibid) What are our core values? What is most important to us, to you? The core value that the Church teaches about and tries to bear witness to is the value at the core of God – and that is love. But not a love which is to do with feelings or affections, but a love that, at it’s very heart is about service, “love your neighbour as yourself”, “love your enemies,” “what you do to the least of my brother’s and sisters you do to me.” What are our core values? What is most important to us, to you? And then our tools Again, Wolff identifies two main tools at our disposal. The first is our head and the second is our heart. Sounds obvious, but we need top use both if we are to make a wise, clear and informed choice; to discern; to choose well. Our head Some people make lists – pros and cons. Some people talk things through with friends and family. Some people analyse the situation, trying to anticipate foreseen and unforeseen consequences. One of the things that I find useful is to ‘live’ a day or two as if I had actually made a decision one way or the other and see how it ‘fits’. It’s a bit like trying on a jacket before you buy it. Our heart Using our head is important, but we rarely just use our ‘heads’ to make up our minds (if you’ll excuse the pun – which was intended!). Our feeling or our ‘hearts’ should and need also to be consulted. Taking a new job may seem like the best thing to do on paper, but if it means moving to an area of the country that you don’t like or more travelling or doing something that you don’t want to do, it may not be the best thing for you. Similarly a particular investment may seem great on paper – bringing in good returns on your money – but if those shares are from a company that doesn’t practice their business according to your core values, they may have a reputation for being hard on their employees or laissé faire about their impact on the environment, then although it might be a good thing to invest in from a business (head) point of view, it maybe not be so good from a heart perspective. So in order to ‘choose well’ we are at our best when we use our head, our hearts and our core values – all the gifts that our God has given us – our intellect, our souls, and the values of God’s Kingdom, imbedded in us at the moment of our conception. Remembering that the real, personal and abiding call of God is one that invites us to become ever more fully our authentic selves. So, how did Michele and I come to make the decision to move back to the UK? From a head point of view I have to admit that it didn’t make much sense. We gave up a very good income. We gave up owning our own home. I gave up my US church pension scheme that not only would give me 45% of my current salary on finishing full-time work but also allowed me to retire early at 58 with a full pension. Now I’ll have to wait until I’m 65. From a heart perspective, however, the picture looked very different. Being in Edinburgh, living ‘back home’, serving at Christ Church – here – with all of the wonderful opportunities and ministries that make this church community so loving a vibrant. These were significant considerations too. And the there were our Core Values.
I could go on, but I’ll finish here. Discernment, the art of choosing well, isn’t easy or a quick fix answer. But not only does it provide us with true choices and so real freedom – the “glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21) – but, as I have said, it also gives us the opportunity to hear and respond to God’s personal call to us (as it was for Abram and Matthew and so many others) one that invites us to become ever more fully our authentic selves. Simon Justice Home 5th June 2005 |
