Rising To The Call and Let Your Life Speak Chapter 2 Summary.

Rising To The Call
By Os Guinness
Chapter 2 Everyone, Everywhere, Everything

     This chapter is pretty straightforward with four essential parts. First we have a historical example of what the author will talk about. Next the reader is given a more detailed understanding of calling. The chapter concludes with two popular misunderstandings which often affect our ability to answer the call.
     Os Guinness opens his discussion with the story of William Wilberforce, the 18th century English abolitionist and parliamentarian. Wilberforce provides a textbook illustration for the biblical truth that you don't have to be a pastor or a missionary to do God's work. His story is a parable of sorts which teaches that all types of work are valuable if done properly. It's not a complicated concept but it's one that easy to miss. A wonderful movie about William Wilberforce.
     The idea of calling is fleshed out a bit more in this second section of the chapter. We're provided with the biblical uses of the world. These are simmered down into two functional ideas. Based on Os Guinness's reading of scripture the human being has two callings, a primary and secondary calling.

"Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him, and for him." (pg.24)

"Our secondary calling, considering who God is as sovereign, is that everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live and act entirely for him."  (pg.25)

     Simply put, The primary calling provides direction for the sort of person we are supposed to be. God calls us to Himself, to be like Him and share in His godliness. The secondary calling is how we ought to spend our time. As I am fulfilling my primary calling I will discern a secondary which will determine my professional, academic and relational choices.
     Concluding this chapter the reader is warned about two distortions of calling. Essentially they are these, don't elevate primary calling to the exclusion of secondary calling. At the same time, don't elevate secondary calling to the exclusion of primary calling. Recognize both callings are important; both as created by God. One is the compass the other is the map that guide us on the straight and narrow way for which God has created us.


Let Your Life Speak
by Parker J. Palmer
Chapter 2 Now I Become Myself

"Now I become myself

It's taken time, many years and places.

I have been dissolved and shaken,

Worn other people's faces...."

     Beginning again with a poem this time by May Sarton, Palmer provides his own summary of his next chapter. He proceeds to take about thirty pages to tell some of his own story, drawing insights periodically, from his experience that he believes are relevant to his readers.
      After spending sometime discussing the concept of vocation he had in high-school. Palmer explains his current definition of vocation. "Today, I understand vocation quite differently-not as a goal to be achieved but as a gift to be received." (pg10) Following this up with a story from the Hasidic tradition.The Rabbi Zusya says "In the coming world, they will not ask me: 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me: 'Why were you not Zusya?'" (pg11)  The underlying concept of course being that it's more important that you be yourself, than it is, that you try to be a copy of somebody else. This idea is cemented on page 15 "The deepest vocational question is not, 'What ought I to do with my life?' It is the more elemental and demanding, 'Who am I? What is my nature?'" Answering these questions forces us to recognize our limitations as well as our strengths and gifts. Knowing who we can not be is important. There is a danger to ignoring who we are, a danger to striving after a life that is untrue to our identity. "If we are unfaithful to true self we will extract a price from others. We will make promises we cannot keep, build houses from flimsy stuff, conjure dreams that dissolve into nightmares, and other people will suffer if we are unfaithful to true self. (pg.31)
      A powerful sense of freedom awaits those who live into their vocation. Unfortunately not everyone is successful. Among those who are, "some journeys are direct, and some are circuitous; some are heroic, and some are fearful and muddled. But every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need. (pg 37) Undertaking this journey often results in seasons of darkness, uncertainty. The road requires unmaking the inappropriate expectations that have been assumed for us. "The world needs people with the patience and the passion to make this pilgrimage not only for their own sake but also as a social political act." (pg.37)  Thus Palmer ends his chapter with the reminder that people don't exist in a bubble. It's not only for one's own sake that a person ought to discover their calling. 

Five Minutes with Malachi

My covenant with him was one of life and peace and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and no wrong was found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and he turned many from iniquity. Malachi 2:5-6

There is much talk about who we ought to be and how we ought to live. The scriptures clearly address the issues but often use words we don't like to hear. Humans like to ask questions of God but are only willing to hear certain types of answers. We ask God, "how do you want me to spend my life?" and we expect Him to instruct us in whether we ought to be a lawyer or a doctor or stone mason. It's similar to a man with no chickens, no knowledge of chickens, and no place to keep them wondering about whether he'd like an omelette or a fried egg. First things must be first and God always answers our questions with relevant information. His response to questions about purpose and vocation are usually centered around human character rather than action. Love your neighbor! Seek my face! Fear my name! Be perfect! such are the commands of Scripture. Only by walking in these directions will we find ourselves at a place appropriate for determining the smaller, less important questions concerning how we make our money and where we go to school.

The covenant of Levi is a covenant all of humanity is invited into. It is an old fashioned term for the modern evangelical concept known as "relationship with God". Today we like to sugar coat that idea but the reality of the relationship that God invites us into is just the same as it was twenty-three hundred years ago in the days of Malachi. It was a covenant of life and peace, we can look forward to those realities. It is a covenant of fear, that is our shield against apathy. The covenant bears fruit. The wisdom spouts from the mouth in a fountain of relevant instruction. There, is no shame. He who walks in the covenant of Levi need never hang his head. There is no wickedness in him and he is sought after for his teaching.

Let it be so with us dear brother and sister. Amidst the busyness of life let us not lose sight of the reality of what God calls us to. 

Rising To The Call and Let Your Life Speak Chapter 1 Summary.

Rising To The Call

by Os Guinness

Chapter 1, The Ultimate Why

“It is never too late to be what you might have been”

George Eliot

The book opens with the presentation of a problem. “..”purpose and fulfillment are some of the deepest issues in our modern world.” He quotes Thomas Carlyle who said, “The man without purpose is like a ship without a rudder-- a waif, a nothing, a no-man” We experience this to be true particularly during the years in which we come into our adulthood. This time period characterized by choices presses upon us the weight of destiny, forcing us to consider why we are here and whether our existence has value.

The author continues his discussion by cautioning his readers against well intentioned but misguided effort. It’s possible to do alot of things really well and still fail. He quotes Walker Percy, “You can get all A’s and still flunk life.”  So what do we do? How do we answer the ultimate why of our existence? why do we feel this urge to do something valuable?“answering the call of our Creator is the ‘ultimate why’ for living,...” After giving this brief answer he sets the stage for the rest of the book, “This book is for all who long to find and fulfill the purposes of their lives. It argues that this purpose can be found only when we discover the specific purpose for which we were created and to which we are called.” He assumes we readers are one of those individuals and proceeds to provide a helpful definition of calling.

“Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.”

So we conclude with his main ideas of chapter 1.

1. Humanity is called
2. This calling requires a caller who is Jesus Christ
3. Only by answering this call will we be able to accomplish our purpose and find fulfillment.

Let Your Life Speak

by Parker J. Palmer

Chapter 1 Listening to Life

Ask me whether what I have done is my life

William Stafford

Beginning with the poem Ask Me by William Stafford, the author discusses the line quoted above. Asking the question, are our actions who we are? Palmer poses the idea that we can live a life not our own. By conforming to the expectations of our culture we can sometimes miss who we were born to be. So we never become who we ought to be because we’re striving to meet the good, and the bad expectations that people, society and ourselves place  on us. So rather than striving to jump over a hypothetical bar Palmer suggests, “before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody and what values you represent.” We like to make lists, to create a nice simple to do list and simple check it off when we succeed or repent and thank God for grace when we fail. However real life is not so simple, we have a vocation. A vocation “is not a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear.” Often our vocation disagrees with our ego, our conscious awareness of ourselves, resulting in stress, frustrating ect. Beneath the loud noise of our ego exists the still small voice of God calling us to a higher, existence. To hear it, one must quiet the noise, calm their heart and wait in silence for the call of the Creator.

February - Jonah 1

Perhaps one of the most famous biblical stories is the account of the prophet Jonah and his rebellion. Now rebellion against God is nothing out of the ordinary; neither in the Bible nor in everyday life. What makes this story so memorable is the particular way in which God decides to handle Jonah's rebellion.   A divine slap on the wrist in the form of a bout of leprosy or a loss on one's stock portfolio would be expected. However, God, in His wisdom initiates Jonah into an aquatic discipline so unusual that it has captured the minds of school children, pastors and sailors across the ages.

We find Jonah, a messenger of God, tasked with a mission which is not to his taste. Thus far he's exactly like us and we might look to his example to avoid making similar mistakes. We to are messengers of God, and our tasks are often distasteful. "Love your enemy", "...be rid of all evil behavior...", "..be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect...", are all specific commands of God, applicable to all people, in all times and are not easy. So, like Jonah we often run away.

Jonah runs in a geographical sense by boarding a ship bound for the ends of the earth. He pays his fair and tries to sleep away his guilt. Awakened from that complacent repose by a storm so powerful it threatens to consume him, and a whole boat load of people besides. Be warned you sinner, who fancies that your entertainment of evil will only hurt yourself. Since when has evil been under your thumb? Who but God Almighty can say to the darkness, "thus far you shall come but no further." Assuredly evil attacks hurts and destroys not only the perpetrators but anyone else who happens to be close by. Though you embark on a journey to the ends of the earth, the age old adage proves true, "your sin will find you out."

In repentance Jonah acknowledge his guilt before the mariners and bids them throw him to the storm that it might be appeased. Before consenting to this, the brave mariners try every effort to save themselves, along with Jonah. How true today is this parable? Though we acknowledge the evil around us, we refuse God's medicine and replace divine aid with human placebos. We pour money, time, good intentions into the black holes that plague society when the answers were to be found, not in gold, guns and positivity but in godliness.  After the men rowed hard to save Jonah from destiny, they gave up, and Jonah was thrown to the sea. In an instant peace was restored. It didn't matter how far Jonah ran, how much he tried to save himself, it only took the submission to God's will to calm the storm. And now we leave Jonah, afloat in a peaceful ocean and will return to him another time.

Consider well and be glad we have a God who is not limited by time, space, or power. The storms that rage in our world are as nothing to Him for in an instant He bids the waves and winds be still. Let us have faith and await the salvation of the Lord.