Here I Am, Did You Call Me?
Ministry students at the Centre for Christian Studies end each learning circle with a review of learnings. This is often a time of vulnerability but also of strength, as students name their growth – for themselves and for each other. As the sharing moves around the circle, each student chooses how they would like the group to create a space. This might be a moment of prayer, a verse of a favourite hymn, a stretch break, or three calming, centring, stilling breaths. At the review of learnings for the recent Ministry as Listening learning circle, CCS student Sarah Williams opened her time with a riff on 1 Samuel 3:7-11 tailored to the context.
She did not yet know the voice of God, and the word of the loving one had not yet been revealed to her.
The Voice called to her again, a third time. She got up to check with her co-learners asking, “Here I am, did you call me?” But they had not uttered a sound. They discerned the Spirit was calling her and said, “Go back, lay down, take three CCS breaths, center yourself, still your mind, and if the voice calls to you again, say, ‘I Am listening.’ ”
So GOD literally came again, stood before her, calling the same as before, “Hello! Hello!” And this time she responded, “I Am listening.”
Then the Presence said, “I Am about to do something that will make the ears of anyone who hears it tingle, I Am going to be with you at your review of learnings for Ministry as Listening this morning.”
As she grew into becoming more creatively and adaptively expert at meeting Learning Guideline expectations, the Presence was with her and her co-learners, she let none of their words fall to the ground.
Do you feel called to ministry? Do you feel called to exploring your gifts in a supportive learning community?
