Call to ministry not limited to ordained

Written: 6/15/2005

By Lisa Elliott Diehl
Connection editor
All of God’s people are called to ministry, not just those who are called to ordained ministry, Rev. Dr. Bruce Birch, dean of Wesley Theological Seminary, told conference laity May 25.

“To be a Christian means to minister along with our other work in the world,” Birch said. “The sense of call needs to be renewed and to be extended to the whole people of God, not just the ordained. This renewal will have to take place in the congregations of the church.”

Birch used the story of Moses’ call in Exodus 3 as the text for his lesson. God called Moses from the burning bush to go to Egypt and bring God’s people out to freedom. Moses considered himself unworthy and asked, “Who am I?”

“Our calling sometimes does not reflect the classic elements of Moses’ call,” Birch said. “No burning bush, no majestic mountain, no audible voice of an awesome God.”

But there is something universal in the Moses story, which has been made into a movie 11 times. Cecille B. De Mille directed the most powerful and enduring version of the story. In the burning bush scene, Charlton Hesston is very stalwart. He turns from the mountain with a visible glow of divine power and heads out with resolution to begin the task.

“Is this the way we hear and respond to our call?” Birch asked.

In a later Moses movie, Ben Kingsley shows a less courageous and more uncertain Moses who questions and doubts his call.

“Our calls are somewhere in between,” Birch said.

When called to lead in the local church, Birch said it is important to remember God’s promise to Moses in Exodus, “I will be with you.”

Birch said there are three important insights in the Moses’ call story.

First, the call is not about Moses, but about God. It’s God’s agenda that imposes on the life of Moses.

“Moses is summoned into partnership with God,” Birch said. “It’s God’s nature that is revealed.”

God is fulfilling his mission by calling humans to fulfill that mission.

“The sense of God’s call in our lives is not about our self-fulfillment, but about God’s purpose,” Birch said.

Second, calling is often an intrusion, a struggle for the called. Moses resists five times, but God is insistent. This struggle is a consistent theme in biblical call stories. Abraham and Sarah thought they were too old. Ezekiel said he didn’t know what to say. Isaiah said he was a man of unclean lips.

“The mission of God in the world is uncertain, and sometimes it can be dangerous,” Birch said. “Our only assurance is that God will be with us. The world is always in opposition with God’s mission in one way or another. If we align ourselves with that mission, we will experience that opposition also. God calls us to ministries that go forward in the face of obstacles and in spite of our inadequacies.”

Third, God’s call cannot be carried out alone. When we’re challenged to take up new tasks on God’s behalf, we worry that we won’t be successful, Birch said. But we must remember that it isn’t all up to us individually. It’s up to us collectively through congregations in the worldwide fellowship of Christians.

“Moses objects because he doesn’t speak well,” Birch said. “God sends Aaron to speak for him. This element of the story reminds us that none of us are self-sufficient. We stand on the shoulders of those who have answered God’s call.”

Moses owed his call to the five women who risked their lives for his. These faithful women hid him from death, saved him and raised him to manhood.

“Moses had lots of help throughout his lifetime and his vocation,” Birch said. “Without that, he would have failed.”

Like Moses, we work faithfully at what we can do in the place we’ve been given, believing that God is with us, Birch said. The bush constantly burns before us, perhaps within us, he said.

“What is God calling you to do at this point to further the mission of God’s kingdom?” Birch asked. “The bush burns before us and within us, but we are not consumed. Instead, we hear God’s voice, ‘I will send you.’”