Resources for Discerning Call   

In Italy this fall I was struck by how often the scene of the annunciation was portrayed by artists in works originally slated to be in churches and often now in museums. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary with the news that she had been chosen to bear God's son, her first words were "How can this be?" Perhaps the paintings of the annunciation struck a chord with me because when I was a recently divorced, single mom, struggling with a call to ministry and thinking about seminary, I found myself echoing Mary's words, "How can this be?" It was hard to imagine that new direction for my life.

Most of us don't have visitations from angels with the news that God has something totally new in store for us. But Mary did, and so did Sarah, who was informed that she would bear a son in her advanced old age. She laughed! But both of them participated in God's vision for the world by doing their part.

As this new year begins I'm wondering how we're doing in encouraging the elders in our congregations to listen for God's call as to their part in the continuing process of expanding God's reign of love, mercy and peace. Or maybe I should ask, are we helping them imagine themselves as agents of God's love, mercy and peace in the world? If you suggested this, would they laugh? Do we even believe that a new sense of mission and agency is even possible for them?

One of the reasons I was able to step out and follow God's call on my life was that I was a member of a congregation that encouraged its members to listen for and respond to God's callings. This congregation responded to my sense of call with affirmation and sent me off to seminary with its blessing. And it was not just my call that was affirmed--I saw many other members of that congregation encouraged to new ventures in God's name with the congregation's affirmation and support. Since that time more than twenty years ago I've realized how few congregations are really good at helping members discern the call of God in their lives and how far fewer are even thinking about challenging their older members to listen for and act on God's call.

I asked an older adult at the beginning of last year what she was looking forward to for the year 2011. She had a hard time answering the question. She did say that she'd really like to serve on her church's governing board, but she knew that she'd never be asked to do that, because of her age. This is a community that she'd been a part of and contributed to in significant ways for several decades. It had been the center of her life. Now she feels very much pushed to the sidelines.

Serving on boards and committees is not every older adult's "cup of tea." But do we bother to ask what is? Have we written off our older adult members as recipients of a new call for this stage of their life journey? If we have, aren't we wasting an awful lot of talent, knowledge, expertise and passion? In this time of the increasing greying of our population in general and the increasing greying of churches in particular, is it perhaps time to frame this aging trend as less of a problem and more of an opportunity?

All of us need meaning and purpose in our lives. Many of us find at least a large portion of that in our vocations and work lives. Most of the retired older adults in our congregations no longer have that same vocational identity and work. But they still have the need for meaning and purpose. What place is better than a congregation to give assistance in helping them find places of meaning and purpose at this stage in their lives? And how might we assist them in listening for and believing that there is something new for them in this New Year?