Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

As we set the Communion table for worship last Sunday I thought about the many ways in which God equips us to answer our call to serve as Christ-followers. Communion is one way that I find both comfort and the strength to do the Lord’s work.

You may ask: “What exactly is that calling?” The call of God to you is as unique as you are. As it says in Genesis 1:27 we were created in the image of God. This calling is also a part of our vocation. While you typically hear the term vocation applied to the religious “profession” I believe it applies to each one of us. Thomas Merton had this to say about vocation: A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live. (Thoughts in Solitude, p. 99)

Our vocation comes alive when we stop thinking about how to live and begin to live. Over the course of the past three months the church along with individual members has been challenged. How can we be the church when the building is closed? How can we be the church when gatherings are on platforms like Zoom, YouTube, Facebook, and Live Streaming? I believe that we have had the opportunity as the church community at Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies to move beyond the questions and actually live into our vocation. As it says on our website: We are open as a church without walls, as a community of faith. All are welcome.

This is our new reality but it doesn’t have to be an insurmountable challenge. When we think outside of the box (or in this case, outside of the building) the Spirit will guide us as we seek new ways to be the body of Christ. That is the story of Matthew’s description of the disciples being commissioned and send forth. Matthew says that Jesus looked out at the crowds and had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

Jesus gave them strict orders about what to bring with them and how to approach the towns they came to on their journey. He also warned them that he was sending them out as sheep among the wolves. I don’t know about you, but if I had been in that number and heard Jesus’ warning I would have had a serious lump in my throat and tightness in my chest!

Recently I have been reading a lot about another sort of shortage of workers. There are crops rotting in the field because the usual laborers have been prevented from crossing the border legally to do their work. The farmers have to plow under or give away their produce and the workers aren’t able to earn the living they did before. The consumer will pay more for produce (also meat and dairy) and watch the shelves continue to be bare in the stores. Nobody wins in this scenario. More importantly though is the amount of suffering this will cause in an already difficult situation.

As a nation and world the way of operating has to change. The oppressed cry out for justice. The very ones whom God calls us to care for are left out in the cold (or blazing heat). The prophet Isaiah has some pretty strong words for those who fail to care for others.

Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth, so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain? For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 10:1-4)

So we return once again to the initial question about our calling and our vocation. Scripture makes it pretty clear that life is not self-centered. Our life, our calling, our vocation is to be instruments of God’s peace, love, reconciliation, and justice. Spirit will equip you to answer that calling/vocation. It’s up to us to respond to that call.