The Greene Recorder has a biweekly column on faith and life written by local pastors. This is my first “Light For Our Path” column, published September 7, 2016.
What Is Our Call?
I’m new to this column, so before I get to the meat of what I want to share with you, let me briefly introduce myself. I’m Pastor Daniel Flucke, the new pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church here in Greene. My wife Christin and I moved here in July from Dubuque, where we’ve lived for the last four years while I’ve been in seminary. As we have been getting settled into our new home here, we are enjoying getting to know both the people in our congregation and in the rest of Greene.
As I’m beginning my new call as a pastor, the idea of “call” is on my mind a lot. Some people have said I must be “called to ministry.” That’s true, but it has nothing to do with being a pastor or a priest. I firmly believe that all Christians are called to ministry.
What is our call? How does God want us to live? Someone once asked Jesus a similar question, and he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:36-39)
All Christians are called to do two basic things: Love God, and love other people. That’s ministry. I live out my call through a particular vocation as a pastor in the church. Being a pastor is a particular, distinctive professional vocation, but it’s not any more or less important than any other vocation.
You can love God and love other people in any vocation. My mother lives out her faith through her work as a nurse, meeting and helping people in times of crisis. My father’s vocation is to be an electrician, doing his best to serve God and people by doing quality work and through conversations with his coworkers.
Any job can be a vocation if you approach it seeking to glorify God and to love people. Or maybe your vocation isn’t something professional at all. Raising a family, being a student, and volunteering are all important vocations. If you’re retired, maybe you volunteer, or you serve others by praying for them. Our world always has plenty of topics for prayer!
When God came to us in Jesus, it was as the child of a carpenter and an unwed mother, in a barn, not a church. Often, God works best through the ordinary stuff of life. This month, look for God at work, and stay alert for opportunities to love God and love other people. How are you answering God’s call to ministry?
In Christ,
Pastor Daniel Flucke, St. Peter Lutheran Church