Your Weekly Simul, 7

Kitty guilt:

the newest weapon in environmental ethics.

Your Weekly Simul, week 6: A Case for Libertarianism

State controlled Feline Christian interaction

Privately chosen Feline Christian interaction

John 15--The New Chris Interpretation

So, this is my take on last weeks reading, Jesus' farewell discourse.
Here is some background on how I got here.

“God loves me as a parent loves a child, and I love you in the same way. I command you, love like that, after all, we are in that kind of loving relationship together.

I abide in the Father’s love, so I love you, laying down my life for you.

You abide in that love, so you love one another, even laying down your lives for one another.

I’ve said this that my joy may abide in you, completing your joy.

My command is this that you to love one another, laying down your lives for one another.

There is no greater love than this, to lay down your life for a friend. I lay down my life for you, my friends. You are friends so you love one another, even laying down your lives for each other.

You are not servants, you are friends. I make you friends because you have heard me as I hear the Father—we are together in this conversation.

I chose you, I started this relationship, not you. I appointed you and planted you like a vine, that you would be fruitful—bearing fruit that will last. The Father will give you whatever you ask for the task of loving fully.

I command that you love one another completely, so you may love one another.”

Weekly Simul, Week 5

Sermon, Easter 5: How wide the resurrection?

How wide the resurrection?

Christ is risen

he is risen indeed, alleluia.

         When I read in Acts about how the Greek gentile Philip told the good news about Jesus to the Ethiopian Eunuch, and when I read about the Ethiopian Eunuch’s response to those words,

questions of who is in and who is out/

Questions about how far the church is willing to stretch itself for the sake of finding itself/

Questions about how Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is for all people,

come to mind.

         This last week the ELCA’s Full Communion partner, the United Methodist Church, met for their General Conference and struggled together with the question of who can be a minister and who cannot—specifically, can gay-folk be Christian ministers.

         These are the type questions the church has been grappling with since there was a church—and questions the church will continue to grapple with, until such time as we turn and find ourselves face to face, at the last, with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Slain Lamb of God.

         And ultimately the question becomes: “How wide is the resurrection?” How wide is the resurrection?

Prayer

         How wide is the resurrection?

         You might expect me to begin with the Eunuch, after all, at first glance, it would seem the resurrection would have to be pretty darn wide, to include him.

         But, I think it would be instructive for us to pan out from this moment in time. That is, expand out our vision to encompass the entire scope of Philip’s ministry as recorded in the book of Acts.

         Because when we do that, we see that this question “How wide is the resurrection?” follows Philip wherever he goes.

         Back in the 6^th chapter of Acts a crisis arises. While the Widows of Jewish decent were being fed by the earliest church, the Greek-speaking widows—the gentiles, were not being fed.

         As you may remember the gentiles, the non-Jews, were allowed to join the Christian church after Peter proclaimed the gospel to three thousand of them on Pentecost.

         And that was one thing, but feeding their widows was another thing altogether.

         I’m sure some of the Apostles asked themselves, “How wide is the resurrection?” Is it wide enough to take from our meager treasury and time to feed these latecomers?

         Their solution was that this church’s namesake, Stephen—St. Stephen, along with six other gentile men, among them Philip—would take care of distributing food to the gentile widows. To “wait on tables,” as the disciples somewhat dismissively described the task.

         Now, I’m friends with a conservative man who left his church because it allowed women to be communion assistants… he said if that was allowed, the next thing you know they’ll be allowed to preach God’s Word. And if the book of Acts is any indication, he’s right.

         You see, these gentiles didn’t stop at waiting on tables. Before too long they were preaching. Not long after that Stephen became the first Christian martyr—dying while proclaiming Christ crucified and raised.

         Again, I can imagine the early church seeing these gentiles preaching, and these gentiles laying down their lives for the gospel, and asking, “How wide is the resurrection?” Wide enough to let unclean lips proclaim perfect peace? Wide enough for Stephen to share in Jesus’ resurrection?

         But it doesn’t stop there. Later Philip preaches so powerfully in the district of Samaria that a Sorcerer by the name of Simon is so stirred by his words that he is baptized.

         Yet again, I can imagine the church looking at this convert of Philip’s and asking, “How wide is the resurrection?” Is it wide enough that a man that the Book of Exodus says ought to be put to death, a sorcerer, might partake in it? Did we make a mistake, was letting gentiles become Christians the beginning of a slippery slope?

         And finally, in the 22^nd chapter of the book of Acts, we find Philip living with his family, which included four daughters… four daughters that scripture describe as “prophetic.”

         Now I don’t want to overplay how male dominated the ancient world was, but, you can imagine someone asking, “How wide is the resurrection?” Is it wide enough to include women prophets? Did the Prophet Joel really mean it when we said both, “your sons and your daughters shall prophecy”?

         From first to last, Philip’s ministry involved expanding the types of people who were brought close to God through Christ. Expanding the church’s understanding of whom Christ died for. Widening the meaning of the statement that the resurrection changes everything.

         And today’s reading is no different.

         Philip is in the wilderness. He approaches a man in a government issued vehicle—there was probably a secret service agent driving that chariot, touching his ear every now and again, wishing someone would hurry up and invent the ear piece and sunglasses.

         Philip approaches a man of a different race and a different ethnicity than his own. Philip was named after the Macadonian father of Alexander the Great, that man was likely named after his Ethiopian Queen—probably named something like Abdi-Malkah.

         Philip approaches a man, also, who was a Eunuch—meaning someone neutered him so that he could be trusted with the entire treasury of his queen—

after all the point of taking over a queendom would be to pass it on to your daughter or son. If it was impossible to have children, the thinking went, it was also impossible to control a country.

         And Philip rides along the Wilderness Road with this Eunuch reading scripture together and proclaiming Christ as risen Lord.

         Then they stop, and the Eunuch asks, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

         And that persistent question could have popped up in Philip’s mind, “How wide is the resurrection?” Wide enough for a Eunuch—who Leviticus says may not come near God, and Deuteronomy says can not be amongst God’s people?

         Philip could have barred this man from baptism on account of him being a Eunuch.

         For that matter, he could have said, “I can’t baptize you because there were no Ethiopians present when the three thousand converted on Pentecost.”

         He could have made up excuses based on the man’s position as Treasurer.

         But that’s not what happened.  He did baptize the Eunuch. And if the tradition of the Ethiopian church is to be believed that Eunuch in turn brought The Faith to his country, and that faith continues on in the lives of 38 million Ethiopians today.

        

         How wide is the resurrection? So wide that table service becomes proclamation.

         So wide that Sorcerers are baptized and daughters prophecy.

         So wide that race, ethnicity, treasures, and Eunuch-hood are not a barrier to the Kingdom.

         How wide is the resurrection?

So wide that Christ is raised and dies no more.

         So wide that he broke death’s fearful hold and turned our despair into blazing joy.

         So wide that by water we share in his saving death.

         So wide that we share his Easter life and live as members of our Savior.

         So wide that the Spirit shakes the church of God.

         So wide that a new creation comes to life and grows.

         So wide that the universe, restored and whole, will sing Hallelujah. 

The best of the web today

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What I learned in Seminary 3: Gospel and Culture

            Gospel and Culture was a week long intensive course that looked at how the gospel message is read in a pluralistic and global world. We read Paul Knitter’s book about inter-religious dialogue as well as books about how Christianity manifests itself in non-western cultures.

            In that class I interviewed Bishop Cosmo Moenga of Botswana and his wife Jennifer. During that interview one of them said, “Understand that Christianity is not new to Africa, after all Jesus spent his Childhood in Africa.” Which seems an obvious statement now, but in the moment I was blown away, especially regarding the wider implications of this, that some social paradigms native to Africa fit Near Eastern culture much more closely than those of Europe.

            Additionally I interrogated the assumptions of famed Christian Historian Jaroslav Pelikan about the origins of Gandhi and Martin Luther King’s commitments to non-violence. Jaroslav claims King read Howard Thurman, who read Gandhi, who read Tolstoy. A non-gracious interpretation would be that two non-European civil rights leaders got their most coveted ideas about non-violence from a European, instead of from their own cultural/religious contexts and/or directly from Jesus’ messages about non-violence.

            Finally, I ended up writing a parable about loving God and neighbor while in this class—take from it what you will:

“There was once a naïve man and a huckster, they were driving across a bridge to a seminary, when an earthquake occurred. The bridge cracked underneath the car and the car was caught in such a way that there was only time for one man to climb out of the sunroof before the car fell into a watery chasm.

The huckster told the naïve man, “I know the will of God, and he wants me to survive.”

The naïve man responded, “Well, my family always talked about pre-destination, so if I’m a Bible believing man I have to trust you.”

And with that the huckster wriggled out of the sunroof, and the naïve man plunged to his death. There was a Seminarian sitting in a grassy spot next to the bridge, she did not notice any of this, because she was reading about loving God and neighbor.”

Weekly Simul--Week 4

Weekly Simul--Week 3

Your Weekly Simul--Week 2

Got student debt?

Promise to ½ tithe to your school for 20 years.
Or
Pay alumni instead of banks

Your weekly Simul--week 1

So, I’ve noticed that LOL Cats, Ceiling Cat, funny cat videos and so on, have virtually taken over the internet.
Well, I’m adaptable and I’ve got a cat. So I’m putting little Simul to work for Luthermatrix. Roughly once a week we will post a “Your Weekly Simul” post. This will also encourage me to post more often, so Luthermatrix doesn’t become just another cat website.
Without further ado, Your Weekly Simul:

Romney/Kerry

I saw this picture:

And said... I've seen this guy before:

While We Work portion of W6

This is the first draft of the second half of the While We Wait, While We Work(W6) document.
For the first half of this document click here.

While We Work:

Advice for Bivocational Pastors:
Clarity and communication are key—Be clear about expectations all around (both you and the congregation). Be honest about your limitations. Develop relationships in the congregation to provide a network of people that will support you and have your back so you can get a fuller picture of what is going on and get honest feedback and insight into the congregational situation. Spell out as much as you can in your contract so there are fewer surprises. Have honest conversations with the church’s leadership and make plans for covering situations in which the pastor can not be there, i.e. if the pastor can't get there is there a lay leader who can be first response until the pastor is available? The important thing is to have the conversation first which both helps the leadership understand the potential challenge and plan for it.
Boundary setting—You may want to be at church all the time—but you have a responsibility to both vocations, and to your non-paid vocations as well. So leave when you need to leave. It is your duty as the pastor to set boundaries and say no. Setting these boundaries is best done from the start. Then, when you really need to be flexible, you have that consistency in the past to build from.
Be Flexible—once you have the boundaries of both vocations firmly established you can make exceptions as needed, because both the church and the other employer will trust your judgment about balancing your time for the sake of both callings.
Do not worry about office hours—the working/living situation of Americans has changed. Many more people are working during traditional pastor’s “office hours.” People are unlikely to desire to visit the pastor on a 9am to 5pm basis. Technology, from cell phones and email to blogs and twitter, can fit the purposes of the traditional office hours model. Weeknight meetings and busy Sundays will be your stock and trade.
Focus on tasks not time—You and your congregation will need to decide what your top priorities are and you will get them done. Bivocational ministry is not about the number of hours you put in—its about what you get done.
Help the Laity own the ministry—One of the main things a congregation and bivocational pastor will need to make clear is what jobs must the pastor do? The pastor then is there, to quote Ephesians, to equip, “the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” In other words, the tasks of ministry are divvied up, the pastor does that which she is called to do and makes sure the lay-folk have the skills and support to do their tasks.

Network with fellow clergy—Keep a list of the names of area clergy that the secretary or pastor can contact in case something urgent comes up and you are unable to leave your other vocation. Though bivocationality limits the opportunities for a pastor to meet colleague making these connections is imperative.
Suggestions for Candidates Seeking A Part-time or Bivocational Position:
Create a document for yourself that specifically describes your approach to part-time/bivocational ministry. Use concrete examples.
Ask call committee questions such as:
What are the congregational attitudes about calling a part-time minister?
What are the agreed-upon expectations about office hours?
What would a “worst-case” scenario look like regarding pastoral emergencies and funerals? How would the congregation take dropping the ball on something like that?
Who else is going to help lead the important tasks and programs of the church that the pastor won’t be able to do?

Remember:
Remember this, your type of ministry is a particular gift to the church, especially to your lay folk and to the larger community you serve in. Full-time clergy can more easily get trapped in the “clergy bubble.”
This makes them look at ministry in a particular way. For example, they will likely look at the lay folk who have full time jobs and yet come in and volunteer at the church, with less empathy than you do. You have a higher level of understanding of the strains and demands of, for example, the folk sitting on church council who juggle commitments to both outside work obligations and church.
This also makes non-clergy look at them in a particular way—like it or not their main identity is pastor. This creates a perception of otherness that can make them less approachable. This otherness is less apparent for bivocational pastor, and thus you are more approachable. You get to represent the church in contexts outside of the traditional church setting! You will have more opportunities to pick the brains of unchurched folk than your monovocational sisters and brothers.
Remember also that doing ministry in new ways to fit new situations is what we do as protestants. For that matter, this is what the Holy Spirit does, She stirs things up and creates out of God’s people something new. You are living within a grand tradition!

Advice for Congegations with Bivocational Pastors:
If you are considering calling a Part-time pastor a few important questions to ask yourself as a congregation are:
What are the five most important activities done by the church?
Which must the pastor lead?
How much time should the pastor spend at the church?

Don’t expect a full-time pastor for half-time pay—One of the big dangers of having a Bivocational pastor is that you might accidently (or purposefully) financially abusing them. “The reality is that the living out of social justice ideals espoused form the pulpit applies directly to the fairness with which a church treats its employees, in this case, its pastors.”

Don’t assume “downsizing” from a full-time pastor to a part-time pastor means the congregation is dying—Bivocational pastors bring with them many gifts that can be refreshing to a congregation. Also, thinking that way can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Understand that the pastor will not always be available when you need her/him—they have a second vocation, and that job is of equal import to their being your pastor—just as your non-pastoral vocation is.
When writing your church profile be specific about your expectations of how your minister will be part-time—the practical details of hours on-site, office hours, appointments, committee meetings, and the “what if” questions about pastoral emergencies and funerals must be addressed Be as honest as you can about how the whole church feels. Duties and work schedule of other personnel must be available to the candidate in as much detail as possible.

Recommendations:
Candidacy Committee:
The possibility of bivocational ministry ought to be brought up to candidates early on. On one hand, candidates have went all the way through seminary and to first call before being told that bivocational ministry is the wave of the future—this can feel like a “bait and switch” situation. On the other hand, there are people who might consider the ministry, but are completely in love with their primary/current vocation—they do not know that bivocational ministry is an option.
We highly discourage requiring bivocational candidates to quit their second vocation as a pre-requisite for candidacy. This is counterproductive.

Seminary:
At some point during seminary try to include information about bivocational ministry both, historically and contemporary, within the Lutheran tradition.
Bring in guest speakers to talk about how they do bivocational ministry.
Spend some time on group dynamics, conflict resolution, and how to delegate. All these skills are important for successful bivocational ministry.
When considering mentors for field ed and supervisors for internship try to pair up people interested in bivocational ministry with bivocational ministers. As it stands internship supervisors are supposed to be full time—in cases of students preparing for bivocational ministry providing them with a supervisor who exemplifies the best-practices of bivocational ministers should be seen as a worthy exception to the full-time rule.
Investigate the educational model of the Roman Catholic Permanent Deaconate (30 credit hours over 4 years, Wednesday evening classes. Supervised Internship. 3 Weekend workshops. Required spiritual direction) as a possible alternative model for educating bivocational ministers.

Synod:
Many synods train lay leaders for larger roles in the church—for example Saint Stephen Ministers. We recommend Synods start, continue, and expand such endeavors to prepare for the possibility of more Bivocational ministries in the church’s future.
Ensure candidates, especially Bivocational ones, know about the ELCA document Guidelines for Shared-Time Ministries.
Bivocational workshops should be available and Directors of Evangelical Mission should keep up on the latest trends in bivocational ministry.

Broader Policy/Churchwide:

The ELCA ought to rethink its rules on what constitutes a call. For example, a pastor who serves a church for 10 hours a week should not be considered “on leave from call.”

Requiring a Lutheran Year of candidates who intend to be Bivocational adds unnecessary strain on a candidate who will not be financially compensated as a full-time minister. Potentially moving five times (to seminary, to internship, back to seminary, to a Lutheran seminary, and finally to a first call congregation) is a lot to ask of someone who will be working 15 hours a week at a Lutheran church.

The Church ought to be talking honestly about how the Church and ministry is changing today. It ought to reevaluate the very idea of what a pastor is, could be, might not be, and is not. It ought to also more fully embrace, and advocate for, positive interpretations of Bivocational ministry (see for example the Remember portion of the Advice section above).

While We Wait portion of WWW,WWW first draft

This is the first draft of the first half of the While We Work, While We Wait document

While We Wait: Recommendations
This section will contain recommendations for all the expressions of the church regarding helping/managing people waiting first call.
Candidacy Committee:
We recommend that Candidacy Committees remember to be upfront about the costs of Ordination. Tell people right up front, from the time they consider candidacy that the landscape of the church has changed. Let them know that they may have to wait for an extended time for a call; let them know they ought to have a plan B in the wings; let them know the extent of debt they will incur at seminary. After all “which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28)
Encourage First Call Pastors to join candidacy committees—pastors who have more recently gone through the candidacy process might be more up to date on the particular struggles of candidacy.

Seminary:
Covering the ins and outs of the call process at seminary has been invaluable. However, the call process described tends to be an idealized process—which has not been most candidate’s experience. The messiness of the process ought to be disclosed more fully.
Encourage Seminarians to do mock first call interviews.

Congregational Level:
Congregations considering a first call pastor ought to read Lily Foundation studies and Alban Institue materials on what makes a lively, healthy, faithful, first call situation.
If a congregation is debating whether they are open to a first call pastor, they ought to recognize a first call pastor’s inexperience can be a gift to help them discern new ways of doing ministry. They ought to also see calling a first call pastor as a ministry to the wider church.

Synod Level:
Welcome your new candidates—If you have a Renewal of Vows liturgy invite them to participate in that service. Make them aware of Synod events—for example Synod Assemblies and Cluster Bible Studies.

Your First Call Candidates are a gift to the Synod, even before you ordain them—Look at your Candidates waiting call as leaven to enliven your synod. Endeavor to use their gifts in volunteer, if not paid, positions until they are called to a church.

Let them administer the sacraments as well as preach the word—We recommend that a Regionally Marked Call be issued at either approval or assignment. A Regionally Marked Call would give permission to waiting candidates to not only supply preach, but conduct the whole service, Holy Communion included. This would increase the candidate waiting call’s likelihood of landing Sunday supply jobs (because she would be able to conduct a “real” worship service), thus earning some money while keeping their pastoral skills sharp.

Prepare candidates for interviews—We recommend helping candidates edit their RLP as appropriate and hold interview training sessions shortly after candidates are assigned to your synod.

Don’t take more candidates than you have spots for—if possible do not request a first call candidate in the churchwide assignment until a congregation is practically at the point to start interviewing a candidate.

Help Congregations think through calling a first call pastor—if appropriate develop an all-day workship for call committees and councils to help them better understand what it means to call a first-call pastor, framing it as a calling also for the congegation to serve as a pastor’s first call.

Do be afraid to let go of a candidate—We encourage synods to have an informal trigger date at which point they will recommend a candidate is released from the synod to find a call elsewhere.


Broader Policy/Churchwide:
Remove the three year waiting period for specialized ministry—In some synods this has already become the norm. Sending candidates to a congregation who do not intend to continue on in congregational ministry fills churches with pastors who do not want to be where they are. This in turn lengthens the wait time for 1st call people who want to be parish pastors, because they are “competing” with specialized ministry folk for these churches.

Make it easier to be ordained—Currently a candidate is rostered and can be ordained only if they minister for 15 hours a week—if this was lowered to 10 more candidates could be officially ordained and thus no longer be waiting for ordination. Another solution some synods have done is to call candidates for 1 year term calls or interim work in order to ordain them.

Make folk waiting for call LVC summer chaplains—ministering to Lutheran Volunteer Corp members while waiting for call would provide housing and valuable group dynamic experience for people waiting for call. This lessens the economic burden of waiting for call and also strengthens the candidate’s ministry gifts.

Expect the best out of our Regional Coordinators—We have found Regional Coordinators have made a great difference in the positive, or negative, experience of candidates waiting for call. Therefore, we recommend Regional Coordinators share their best practices with one another and reflect upon their role in the first call process.

General:
Communicate—This can not be stressed enough, churches calling candidates, synod staff, Regional Coordinators, candidates themselves, should all keep in touch with one another with more regularity than is the current norm. An email saying “Hey, you still exist” does wonder for a Waiting Candidate.

Things to remember about candidates:
1. We are people—act pastorally, don’t lose us in the process—please.
2. We are in relationship with other people—especially partners and children. Considering multiple careers and kids in college, all play a part in the process. Please show understanding of this fact.
3. We have to eat—most candidates, after seminary, are out of money and in debt, so waiting around for a call is a financial hardship.
4. We need health insurance—We recommend a way to cover candidates waiting for call be established. Either an out of pocket system like rostered leaders between calls or make either the Synod of Call or the Synod of Assignment into the non-paying sponsoring employer.

A few Red Flags:
Extended waiting for call dampens enthusiasm for ministry—folk come out of seminary with a fire in their belly—they are hungry for ministry. After sitting on their parent’s couch, or working a minimum wage job to pay the rent, for a few months, apathy sets in.
Extended waiting for call lessens candidate’s identity with the synod and/or national church—in other words waiting for call endangers clergy loyalty to the ELCA. When candidates perceive that they are not being taken seriously by those in authority, when the efficacy of the system is called into question by personal experience, the process and those in charge of the process become suspect.




While We Wait: Advice
This section will contain the distilled collective wisdom of previous pastors who have waited for call. This is directed toward those who currently wait.

Things to think through before assignment:

Housing—where are you going to live? Is moving in with the parents an option? Can you live in your new Synod? Can you live somewhere rent free?

Income—How are you going to feed yourself? Your best bet is to act like any other student about to graduate from college or grad school - start looking for a job early in your last semester (February or March). Take whatever legal work you can get.

Family—How will waiting effect your relationships with family members? How will your call and your partner’s vocation be balanced?

Stuff to do while you wait:
As good Lutherans we know it isn’t what we do that saves us, but not doing anything can drive a person nuts. You are encouraged to do something rather than nothing. Keep yourself busy enough so that you don’t fall into despair.

Stuff to do for call:
Network in your synod—This is not always possible, some people are waiting for call in a different synod than they are assigned to, but if you can, get in there and get to know your new colleagues. Let folk know you are available for pulpit supply or sabbatical coverage. Go to cluster meetings and Bishop Leadership Days—ask folk there “what was one thing they did in their first call that they most regretted?” Ask them “What they know now that they didn’t know then but wish they had?”

Prepare for ministry—I know, we’ve been doing that since we began seminary, if not before, but now is a great time to begin a file of sermon illustrations, images, stories, and book/movie/web-based preaching resources that can be brought into your ministry and expanded.

Do ministry—Supply preach; see if your Synod would allow you to become a bridge interim.

Be actively involved in your call—Be available for interviews. Keep in contact with your synod staff contact person about how things are, or aren’t, progressing. Remember the congregation might be in more contact with you than with Synod.

If it is taking forever do something about it:
Review your RLP, is it written in a way that might turn off call committees?
How have you been doing at interviews? If you have doubts about this skill find a trusted colleague to practice with.
If you’ve waited until it is time for assignment again, consider asking for re-assignment, the more open you can be geographically.

Volunteer to be on candidacy committees—I know, you’re going to be busy discovering who you are as a minister soon, but if you wait until you are in your third call before you do something like this you might not remember quite as poignantly the particular struggles of waiting for call.

Do not assume anything—Until you get that letter of call, any potential call, no matter how sure it might seem, could fall through. So don’t count your eggs until they hatch.


Stuff to do for Yourself:
Be with a support network if at all possible—you’ve been living with a seminary community for at least a couple years now, leaving it will be tough, so don’t go it alone. Live near people you love who love you back.

Worship fully—This may be the last time you will be able to regularly worship in the assembly. Don’t waste it. Find a worshipping community nearby and throw yourself into the life of that people. Alternatively, worship with a community you wouldn’t normally worship with.

Find an income—You don’t know how long it will be before you will be called, for that matter student loans will be coming due sooner than you think, so keep your coffer full.

Take time to rest and reflect—you’ve been being formed and reformed by the seminary setting for a while now, take a breather and process the experience. reconnect with family and friends.

Share the gospel in non-churchy ways—We cannot afford to delay our ministry. Pick a kind of ministry you would like to do and start doing it. Don't wait to be asked, “Just do it.” Share the gospel by all means necessary. Volunteer, befriend, blog, listen.
Learn a new skill—learn web design, learn how to make those little fru-fru French desserts—you have been blessed with a lot of free time, use it well!


You Might Experience:
Limbo fatigue—waiting, and not knowing what’s next, and not having a whole lot of control over what’s next, can be emotionally and spiritually exhausting. Its like burn-out in reverse.

Economic uncertainty—The M.Div. is not the most versatile degree in the world and you are likely a few years away from your last degree and your last vocation. That is a strike against you when you try to get a job. For that matter, you are not looking for a permanent job, you want to leave once you get called. Few people are going to want to hire you in that situation.

Familial concerns—The candidacy process was set up, like it or not, to cater to a male/housewife team. That is definitely not the norm these days. Therefore the call process will involve tension about whose vocation comes first, how both spouses will find a job “in synod.” For that matter, your child/ren may have to transfer schools mid-year depending on when you receive a call. Also, having a child might have to be put on hold until you get a call. All this can bring about tense times.

Lack of Control—You might feel like a pawn in a game of chess. Or like you are not in control of your own fate… that’s because you aren’t.

Remember:
That’s kind of heavy isn’t it? Well, despite all the potential turmoil of call, try to remember that the time you wait is not “about you.” That is, the length of time you wait is not a reflection of your value to God, to the church, or to your future calling congregation.
Also, trust that this time awaiting call is part of your baptismal vocation and, thus, the context in which God is now drawing you to serve the world for Christ’s sake.