Clear as mud:)

So, the further I get into this assignment the clearer this concept of "calling" is becoming. I suppose that's exactly why my professor came up with this assignment in the first place:)

Here is the definition of "calling" that Guiness offers at the beginning of his book "The Call":

"...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" (4).

There are "four essential strands" of calling in a biblical sense:

1. To call on someone in order to be heard. In this sense "call" takes place in the context of relationship.
2. To call also means to name and thereby "...call into being or to make". I love the idea of "...becoming what we are not yet but are called by God to be."
3. In the New Testament calling is almost synonymous with salvation.
4. Also in the New Testament, Jesus calls his followers to himself but he also calls them to other things and tasks which fall under the umbrella of discipleship (30).

Although this definition doesn't overtly mention the concept of primary and secondary calling the author goes on to make that distinction. Primary calling refers to the act of God calling a person to Him (by God, to God, for God). This aspect of calling is dependent on the existence of a caller. Logically, there is no "calling" if there is no "caller". This call speaks to who I am because the God of the universe has called me into relationship with him.

Secondary calling "...is that everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for him" (31). Secondary callings are dependent on our primary calling. These "callings" are in response to the lordship of Christ in my life. The work that I do, the roles that I embody, the daily and menial tasks that I find myself doing have meaning because of the primary call on my life.

Because I am uniquely created by God this secondary calling on my life has an element of individuality. I have been created with a unique combination of heritage, strengths and weaknesses, intellectual, emotional and physical capabilities and talents or gifts. The sum total of everything that I am belongs to God. I am only a steward "...responsible for the prudent management of property that is not (my) own" (46). The author calls to mind the parable of the talents to emphasize this point. This call is the sense of life-purpose that I have which is founded in God's primary call on my life.

The secondary calling on my life also has a corporate sense to it. In as much as I am an individual and have been uniquely created by my "caller", I am also part of a community of believers all of whom have been called to be holy and participate in the process of discipleship. Any individual calling on my life must line up with what I am corporately called to do within the context of scripture and the church.

So far I'm buying what this guy is saying:) but....what I'm finding interesting in this study about calling is what exactly all this means for the person who considers themselves "called" into "ministry". I've always had difficulty understanding what exactly people mean when they claim to have a "special call" on their lives. Like the only way one might legitimately become a pastor is if they are "called" by God to do so. Hhhhmmm....