It’s all about the plastic.
Take a good look at the vicar standing in front of you. Somewhere below the
chin is the plastic, the clerical collar, the dog-collar. It’s all about the
plastic. God is all about plastic. That’s just the way things are.
A month after my ordination
in 1999 – yes, last century – myself and a bunch of new plastic wearers in
Derby Diocese were on a Post Ordination Training day (which we of course called
potty-training) and they were teaching us on faith in the workplace, vocation in
the wider world. Who were these charlies, we asked? We’ve just spent the last
20 or 30 or 40 years working out our vocation in the workplace, in the school,
in the home, in the community, at the golf club, and in the church, and a
couple of blokes who hadn’t set foot outside the Church of England since
Cranmer were reminding us that vocation isn’t just for plastic wearers. We
knew! We know.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same
Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but
the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them
and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation
of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
‘To each one.’ It always comes down to the same
question in the church: have you got a pulse? Once you’ve established that (and
if you can’t find one, please make your way for prayer ministry in St Aldhelm’s
chapel after the service) then you’re in the same boat as the rest of us. God
loves, God forgives you, God graces your life and God calls you to serve Him in
the world, the home, the church – you have a unique and holy vocation on this
planet, which morphs as you do. For the next month at the Abbey we are creating
some space to work out our vocation, asking what that pulse is for, (Re)Discovering Vocation:
June 9th 1.
Hearing the call to serve God (Isaiah 6:1-8)
June 16th 2.
Finding a place to serve God (1 Corinthians 12:14-31)
June 23rd 3.
Committing yourself to God’s work (Jonah 1:1-17)
June 30th 4.
Revd John Monaghan on his call to serve with us
July 7th 5.
Serving God in the world
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