The Call of a Circle

I was impatient with his words. They seemed like shimmery soap bubbles, pretty and enticing but ultimately empty.

Still, his writing had yielded riches for me before. I persisted through the first couple of paragraphs and then suddenly found myself in deep, as though I had stepped through a mirror into a place where the meaning was real.

I might not even have looked at the article, except for the mention of Arnprior. Last fall, the Moderator of the United Church of Canada called together the "Arnprior Assembly" to consider the question, "What ministry will God require of The United Church of Canada in its third generation?" At the time, absorbed in contemplating my own call to ministry, and questioning the effectiveness of church ministry to my own generation, I actually wondered if perhaps I could contribute to the Assembly.

Some of you know that I have since decided not to pursue a formal path of study towards ordained ministry. Still, there is a call, but it seems closer to home, closer to the earth, not so much the beckoning of a bright and distant star, as the hint of a sparkle in a neighbour's eye.

For the most part, I am content to wait and watch, to be ready for the call whenever and however it may come. But sometimes I am drawn, and I wonder - is this the call, or is it merely an echo of my own longing to be called?