What is my calling?

As I begin this second part of my sabbatical, this is the question I will be exploring: what is my calling? What role does God want me to play in the building of his kingdom?

Of course, it's a question for every disciple to ask from time to time. It's not just something to be considered by people like me who are entitled to wear a dog collar! But maybe it's especially important for me to ask this question because much of my life (in one way or another) is taken up with church. It's never been 'a job' - and I'm not sure it ever could be. So it would be easy to assume that I'm fulfilling the role God has for me.

Anyway, with this in mind I was especially struck (in reading through Mark's gospel again) by the account of Jesus calling the four fisherman to follow him, promising that they would become 'fishers of men' (Mark 1:16-20). This brings to mind an old Sunday School chorus, based on these words - the implication being that every follower of Jesus was called to this. This passage is often seen as a paradigm for discipleship - we're called to leave everything and follow. But in reality, that calling was addressed to very few people, according to the gospel accounts.

We're told that Jesus chose 12 men to be apostles (Mark 3:13-19), set apart for a particular ministry (and symbolising the re-making of Israel). They were sent out to preach and enact the kingdom of God. On another occasion, 72 were sent out on one of these preaching trips (Luke 10). By the time the day of Pentecost arrives, there are 120 people ready and waiting for the Spirit to come. Sometimes the word 'disciples' refers to the 12, sometimes to a bigger group. But the vast majority of people whose lives Jesus touched were sent back to their homes and communities to be 'kingdom people' in those places.

The gospels have much to teach us about discipleship and about what it means to live under the kingship of God. But for each of us, the key question is 'What is my calling?.