Cache directory "/home/content/f/w/s/fwschmidt/html/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Live Aware

I once participated in a mentoring program in which the rector of a large, complex parish graciously took the time to discuss the challenges he faced where he was ministering. Looking back on the demands that the transition had brought his way, he observed, “You know, like my peers who now serve as bishops, going in I was convinced that I could remain a priest and do this job, but that isn’t possible.”

At the time I remember thinking I was not quite sure what shocked me most — the fact that he could say something like that in public, that he took obvious pride in having reached an impasse of that kind, or that he thought it was a helpful observation to make in front of younger priests. But, of course, the truly stunning dimension of his remarks was the absence of awareness — awareness of the peril that anyone is in, no matter how complex the transition he or she faces, in which she makes a deal with the devil, trading his vocation as a bearer of sacramental presence for the mantle of CEO.

That lack of awareness is, of course, perennial among clergy. Years ago I sat between two pastors who were twenty years my senior, anxious to get some insight into the way in which they balancing the challenge of listening for God’s guidance in pursuing their vocation, while navigating the exigencies of church communities that had a seemingly tin ear for such considerations. Both men — who presented on the face of it as satisfied practitioners of their vocation, spilled over with anger at the ways in which they had felt thwarted, ignored, and abused by the church. And, yet, there they were.

Not all of the demands that institutions and places of employment make upon us should be embraced. Living into our vocation — as a calling from God to be a particular person — is deepened and refined in navigating the changes are forced upon us, the ones we choose, and those we refuse to make. To name those choices — and the places where there are none we can make —- is to live in full awareness of their significance.

Welcome and unwelcome, we live more fully in God’s presence when we live aware.

One Response to “Live Aware”

  1. Martha says:

    “Living into our vocation — as a calling from God to be a particular person — is deepened and refined in navigating the changes are forced upon us, the ones we choose, and those we refuse to make.”

    This is true … you have articulated well how one continues in the face of all kinds of difficulties and challenges – it is about being true to who God has created you to become.

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