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. 

January- Zechariah

Each person comes to God with a perspective and sometimes with a bias. God allows this to an extent because humans need on an individual bases and so He accommodates Himself to those needs by manifesting Himself in particular ways to particular people. Obviously this can lead to confusion when one person encounters God in a moment of deep sorrow as a ray of comfort in the darkness of despair, while another person encounters God in the form of a well placed jab at their pride. Two people, two real interactions with God, multiple possible interpretations of what God is like. We've all encountered God differently and we need to recognize this when fellowshipping and ministering.

What does this mean? Practically it means that if someone discusses a spiritual experience that doesn't match up perfectly with your own, they are not necessarily wrong.

However, it doesn't mean that they are necessarily right either. The spiritual world is in many ways more "real" than the world of our five senses and it does operate based on laws of absolute comparability. If someone shows me a picture of an apple and says, "this is an orange," they are wrong based on the definition of orange. This is the case regardless of their negative experiences with apples and oranges as a child. Similarly if someone approaches you and says, "God hates gay people" they are wrong for the character of God does not permit such an attitude.

The bible is a wealth of information about God and the non-material world. Zechariah a prophet of God can be read today and will provide the careful student some information about who God is and how He interacts with humanity. Here are just some reflections from my journal after reading.

1:2 The Lord was very angry with your fathers
     For all the people who don't like to think of God as someone who gets angry.
1:3 "...thus declares the Lord of hosts: 'Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.', says the Lord of hosts."
    Rather than lashing out in his anger as humans would do, God's anger doesn't change His resolve to call people to fellowship with Himself.
1:11 "...We have patrolled the earth, and behold, al the earth remains at rest."
     Here we hear the report of spiritual servants who patrol the earth. From an Israelite's perspective all is not at rest, war looms large and the kingdom is not secure. However, God's perspective is different and part of growing in godliness is to see the world as He sees it not as we would like it to be. So in the midst of the storm Jesus could sleep in the boat while the disciples were flipping out. (Mark 4:38)

I leave you with just these three reflections. Know that God is not absent from our world and He will be found by those who seek Him.