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From the Desktop of the Pastor – Week of the 5th Sunday after the Epiphany

Hi everyone,

Our eldest son got his forms for high school registration earlier last week. Can you believe it? That little kid is going to high school. Which I suppose makes sense since he was born almost 13 years ago.

On this high school form he has his basic courses that he needs to take, things like math, science, English, and so forth (I can’t remember the others), and he is given one elective. He can choose either drama or some kind of musical course like band or choir or something like that out of the choices that this school offers. He’s a pretty musical guy, so I thought that it would be a no-brainer for him. Yet, it’s been like a week now and he still hasn’t decided. It’s been a pretty tough choice. Although it might seem like grade 8 whatever probably won’t have huge implications for the rest of his life, this choice would probably point him in a path that could have very different outcomes in the future.

And I get it, that’s scary.

Still, I think at this point his decision making process is to see what the majority of his friends are doing. If that gives him fulfillment and a sense of purpose, so be it. I just hope that he is happy with his decision and realises that he can totally change it later on if he wants.

If only all decisions could be like that. I have a few that I’d like to take back…

Here are the readings for next week:
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

There is a definite theme of “call” throughout these passages. We have Isaiah being called to preach good news, we have Paul’s call story as the “least” of the Apostles, and Jesus calling his first disciples. Often we look at God’s call for our lives as something huge, something perhaps vocational, something that will change our lives forever. And because of that, it’s kind of scary. We might not want to look at it very closely. We might even avoid it.

But I think God’s call for our lives can be small as well, like how we should react to our neighbours, or what we should say to a family member that we might not agree with, or even what we should do when presented with a certain situation. It could be something seemingly big like deciding what course to take, or something relatively minor like what article we should share on our social media accounts. It could be what we should stand our ground on, or what we perhaps should loosen the reigns on a bit in order to see the bigger picture.

Whatever it is, I know that it is for God’s purpose of love, hope, and grace. In that our first and foremost calling isn’t to a job or a position or an action, but it is to love both God and neighbour and to bring out community and peace.

Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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