Consider a vocation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kalt
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kalt

Guest
To everyone. Had you ever considered becomming a priest, nun, deacon, minister, or rabbi? Please don’t feel that I’ve intentionally left your religion out if it’s not covered by one of these. I’ve either forgotten it at the moment, or I don’t know enough about your religion to name a clergy-type position. I would like people of all religions to answer, even if I’ve missed whatever it is you would have considered being. 🙂
 
kalt said:
To everyone. Had you ever considered becomming a priest, nun, deacon, minister, or rabbi? Please don’t feel that I’ve intentionally left your religion out if it’s not covered by one of these. I’ve either forgotten it at the moment, or I don’t know enough about your religion to name a clergy-type position. I would like people of all religions to answer, even if I’ve missed whatever it is you would have considered being. 🙂
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
Yes,

When I was a young man I wanted to be a minister…I had “the call”. We were attending the Church of the Nazarene. At 19 I was “convinced” as a Friend. I began attending an Evangelical Friends Church. I enrolled at George Fox College (now University)in the ministerial program to begin the process of being “recorded” a minister. Those Friends who use the pastoral system don’t “ordain”, they “record” the ordination as only God can ordain, the Meeting attests to the “call” and agrees to support the minister in their calling and it is recorded with the Yearly Meeting they serve.

As I became more involved in Friend’s worship and history, I found myself drawn to 'un-programmed" Friends worship…and it is there for some thirty years that I have found myself.

I have “filled in” as an interim minister for a Mennonite congregation before as well as worked with the Brethren in Christ. My heart and soul however has been drawn continually back to the “Living Silence” of Friends worship.

Here in the west most “un-programmed/non pastoral” Meetings consider each member “minister” as each of us is called to speak the truth of the Light Within. I served as Recording Clerk for a time and served as an Elder for three years.

While most Meetings in the western US don’t ‘record’, I found my experience among pastoral groups invaluable.
 
When I was a teenager, I was involved with Fundamentalists Baptists. I felt called to preach. I spent a year in Bible College. My personal experience was that Fundamentalist Baptist theology was exceedingly poor, full of many holes, logical failings, and unsupportable ideas. The greatest of these was once-saved-always-saved (OSAS), and a literalist interpretation of the Bible (so-called “non-interpretation” interpretation). These ideas, and others, simply did not make logical sense when examined deeply.

When I would speak to my professors, the explanation that I often got was “don’t think about that. That never gets anyone anywhere.” Or “We must accept this on faith.” To hear such statements when trying to work out contradictory teachings seemed to me to be intellectual suicide.

My year in a fundamentalist Bible college studying Baptist theology lead to me become so disillusioned that I became an atheist. And I remained an atheist for more than 2 decades.

Until my conversion experience lead me to the Catholic Church. Unlike the previous theology I studies, there are no logical traps and I do not have to leave my brain at the door.

Now do I feel called for a Catholic vocation?

:confused:
 
I am considering going to theological college to become a minister when I retire in 7 years. Retire to a small community that can’t find/afford a minister.
 
rpp said:
When I would speak to my professors, the explanation that I often got was “don’t think about that. That never gets anyone anywhere.” Or “We must accept this on faith.”
Click to expand...
I remember often hearing my fundamentalist pastor say:

“I don’t know about that, but I DO know about Jeee-sus!”

Theology was a bad word. As was the word: Religion.

“Christianity is NOT a RELIGION, it’s a RELATIONSHIP.”

Neither of those ideas are bad, in themselves, it’s just that that is SO MUCH MORE! This simpleton view of faith is hardly satisfying for the thinkers out there.
 
SyCarl said:
I am considering going to theological college to become a minister when I retire in 7 years. Retire to a small community that can’t find/afford a minister.
Click to expand...
This should be flagged as the Feel Good post of the week. 🙂

The community that finds you will be very lucky.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top