Answering the Call #8: Protect me O Lord

[stevene]

(podcast version available at ATC008)

Breton Fisherman's Prayer
.....Protect me oh Lord for my boat is so small
.....Protect me oh Lord for my boat is so small
.....My boat is so small and your sea is so wide
.....Protect me oh Lord (1995, "Celebrate With Song", Girl Guides of Canada)

Several years ago I belonged to a congregation whose pastor had retired as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, and he used the penultimate (next-to-last) line of this poem whenever he began his weekly sermon. I often think about this "arrow prayer” when I'm intimidated by something, or at awe about something God has done.
.....Have you ever stood at the ocean with the white foam at your feet,
.....felt the endless thundering motion? Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (1970, John Fischer, "Jesus my Lord")
You can look at an aircraft carrier and marvel at the thousands of sailors on board. But if you use Google Earth to look at it from a satellite, it clearly is very tiny, bobbing in the ocean. Indeed, "My boat is so small, and your sea is so wide."

Recently, with 4 surgeries on my right foot in 9 days, I’ve dealt with a fair amount of anxiety. Each surgery has been preceded by a night of nervous contemplation. I’m ready to graduate, should the Lord choose to take me home, but there is so much I feel I can do, if allowed to remain in this world a little longer. And so my contemplation has been a mixture of “what the Lord has done for me so far” and “what does He want me to do with the resources He has given me?”

What has the Lord done for me so far?
This week I responded to one of those ubiquitous “tagging” games on Facebook. You can look it up in the notes section if you can find “Stevene Hubbard”. The process of going through that was essentially a miniature version of the self-study I talked about in “Answering the Call #1: My Mission Statement.” I found it to be helpful to review where I’ve been in my life.

In the 80s I had a “spiritual friend” relationship with someone in which we were mutual spiritual directors. At one point in that period, she made the prophetic statement “It looks to me like you’re being prepared for something really important.” It’s been 25 years now, and I still can’t point to a fulfillment of that prophecy. A few years later, one of my fellow aspirants to the Episcopal diaconate stated that “I don’t think, in the greater picture, that singing in the choir is what God has in mind for you.” He was encouraging me in my pursuit of formal ministry, and discouraging me from thinking of my future as one of many on the platform Sunday mornings. And around that same time I had a vision which involved my standing on stacks and stacks of books expounding profound thoughts. The books were piled at least 5 feet high in my driveway (the house I lived in at the time did not have a driveway or a garage) and the stacks were unstable, so I was constantly struggling for balance. The people around me were not only listening intently to what I was saying, but reaching out to me to help with my balance.

What I extract from these three thoughts is that God expects me to use the intellect with which He has gifted me, and the learning He has empowered me to absorb, and the community in which He has placed me, to deliver messages from Him. I can’t depend solely on the intellect, the learning or the community. It’s another proverbial “3-legged stool” – any 2 legs and I’ll fall over, but all three legs will give me the firm foundation from which to express His ministry.

So that’s what He has given me. But what am I to do with it? What are these messages I am to deliver? Who is the audience awaiting my obedience to His call? I don’t know.

I don’t know. It occurs to me right now that, perhaps, that is a sign that I am missing one of the legs in my stool. If “ministry” in Greek is “diakonia”, then that stool is my “diako-stool”. I can picture a logo for “Answering the Call” which is a three-legged stool with books of learning, people in community, and something to represent natural talent as the legs.

Here’s a thought: Maybe you are called to be one of the “people in community” called to support me when my diako-stool wobbles. Right now, I am looking for suggestions, questions that have come up because of earlier articles, and graphic ideas for representing that “natural talent leg” in my diako-stool. If God blesses you with a thought in this area, pass it on. Remember, it only takes a spark!

I'll pray for you, and will you please pray for me? Pray that all of us will be obedient to the call to learning, and responsive to the people in community around us, so that we can use the natural gifts God has given us to Answer The Call. In Jesus’ Name!

Thanks for the time you took to read this!

Stevene

[Greg]

Good post Stevene! I'll ponder and pray on the natural talents...