The place God calls you to – Mary-Anne Rulfs
“The place God calls you to
is the place
where your deep gladness
and the world’s deep hunger
meet”
Frederick Buechner, from Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (1973)
Buechner was a minister, theologian, thinker and author whose thinking and writing have helped many people discover their calling – their vocation – and pursue it. This phrase certainly encapsulates my journey to ordained ministry as an Anglican priest. One of the joys of my current role as priest in both Robina and Palm Beach parishes, is the privilege of journeying with people and offering spiritual care in many different ways and spaces throughout the week – in our beautiful worship spaces; in our purpose-built community spaces; in hospitals and homes; at cafes, pubs and shopping centres; in our office with colleagues and volunteers; in incidental conversations ‘on the way’; and in our Anglican schools.
These conversations may be in small groups, or by email, text, or face-to-face; conversations about life and death, joy and grief, being lost and being found, about contentment and confusion, about anger and about being at peace, about forgiveness. Conversations about finding our salvation – our wholeness – in Christ as part of the community (or body) of Christ.
And of course, these conversations are not only for ordained people! These are the conversations we can all have when we pay attention to the people we encounter in each and every the moment. This is our calling as Christians … it’s integral to how we love and serve.
Stewart and I have the opportunity to assist with ministry in our Anglican schools in 2 ways. Firstly, by serving on a school council – Stewart at All Saints Anglican School, and me at Coomera Anglican College. Many parish priests serve in this way, since good governance is part of our ministry responsibilities and necessary for the Church to function safely and effectively.
Secondly, through the invitation of school principals and chaplains to assist with worship and pastoral care. This week I had the privilege of speaking to Year 12 students at St Hilda’s during their farewell chapel service, a service attended by Year 12s and their parents and Year 11 students.
Here is a summary of what I shared with the girls:
You may like to read Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 and Matthew 6:19—21 before you begin …
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What do you treasure? And where might you find it?
There are many questions that crop in our lives where the advice and opinions of others can be helpful. Then there are other questions that only we can answer for ourselves.
‘What do you treasure?’ is that kind of question.
Let me ask the same question another way?
What is it
that makes your soul
want to leap out of your skin
and say ‘yes!’?
These are the questions the writer of the mysterious ancient book of Ecclesiastes was asking. The writer was some kind of philosopher or teacher, writing a few hundred years before Christ, during a time of political, social and economic change – a world full of inconveniences, inconsistencies and contradictions.
Do you feel like you live in such a world, today?
In such a world, it can be hard to identify our treasure, the thing that wants to make our soul jump out of our skin and say ‘yes!’ because the inconveniences, inconsistencies and contradictions of our world can confuse and distract us.
And treasure can be a contested idea.
On one hand, treasure means something of great worth or value. Something to be cherished… Relationships. Your health or intellect. Memories. Your hobbies or career.
On the other hand, treasure can mean possessions – material items, that, while of significant monetary worth or holding important meaning, are simply things. They can’t adequately define us because they are inanimate. Fixed in time and place. And can easily be taken from us one way or another – by moth, rust or theives. And who will we be then?
There are things that happen in our lives to disrupt everything.
Birth and death
Planting and harvesting
Mourning and dancing
Laughing and crying
Finding and losing
Loving and hating
War and peace.
None of these are extraordinary. This is human life.
And because it’s human life, our heart cries out to be known and loved through all these experiences.
One of the treasures of being part of a Christ-centred school is community. We don’t go through anything alone. Even when we leave school, we continue to be a treasured member of this community.
If we can grasp what kind of treasure can’t be taken away, we can be less fearful, more adventurous and find courage to have an authentic identity based on who we are as a beloved child of God. Rather than the precarious situation of shaping our identity around our skillset or possessions.
Someone has described the heart like this:
‘The heart
is that with which a human being
perceives the world around herself
and responds to it.’
God has placed the longing for happiness in our hearts. And provided a pathway for finding true fulfilment – loving God and loving our neighbour. Finding our life in the freedom and forgiveness of being made whole by the love of God.
What is it that makes your soul want to leap out of your skin and say ‘yes!’?
I’d love to tell you about a time when this happened for me.
In Year 12, I told a vocational guidance officer (who, looking back was probably in his early 20s …) I wanted to study law and help people. He suggested that if I wanted to help people that I do a science degree instead, and become a physiotherapist. “Ok”, I said. (I ask myself now, “what was I thinking!?”)
I practiced as a physio for 20 years as we raised our 4 children – who were and are absolutely my dearest treasures – and eventually described where I found my professional self as having ‘lost the fire in my belly’.
I was doing some part time pastoral work in our church and also doing some volunteer work, serving on the board of an independent school. I really enjoyed both.
One day I was reading the weekend paper – the classifieds – and saw an ad for a chaplain at an Anglican school in Brisbane.
My soul jumped out of my skin and said ‘yes!’.
I didn’t have the qualifications though, not being and ordained Anglican person.
A few months later I saw another ad placed by the Anglican schools commission seeking suitably qualified people who would like to train for ministry and become a chaplain in one of our diocesan schools. I phoned the schools commission first thing Monday morning, and began my journey towards ordained ministry!
While this journey hasn’t been easy, and I’ve experienced heartbreak on the way, I have found treasure.
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
Your heart will draw you to this treasure.
Lean into this. Don’t try and figure it out too soon. Sometimes we work too hard at finding answers rather than pursuing the best questions. Then we can too easily find oursleves in careers, relationships and other situations that aren’t life-giving.
Don’t cling to the people you think will have the answers. The answer is within you. St Hilda found the answers to some pretty tricky social, economic and political situations by leaning in to her heart’s calling – faith, hope and love won out as she served her community well.
Thank you for the privilege of being with you tonight. I wish you well in the weeks ahead as you sit your final exams, and as you continue on your life’s quest to discover what and where your treasure is – and that as your soul leaps out and says ‘yes!’ as you find yourself serving a need in the world, you will experience deep joy.
Grace and peace,
Mary-Anne