Here am I, send......

[Anchorman]

     I've recently been forced to assess my 'walk' with God.
Several things happened to make me pray very seriously about where God wants me to be, and what He wants me to do - a kind of 'wilderness experience'. if you like' a time out spent in delving into this relationship with God thing.

     At the start of the process, I was genuinely unsure about a 'call' to a specific task...now I'm certain that call was genuine.
One of the great things about this kind of journey is that God challenges the traveller, and each challenge strengthens the call.
Obstacles and objections I threw in to put off a decision turned into stepping stones, rather than stumbling blocks.
Just like Isaiah, I answered "Here I am - Send me".

Anyone else felt something similar?

[BashfulAnthony]

     I've recently been forced to assess my 'walk' with God.
Several things happened to make me pray very seriously about where God wants me to be, and what He wants me to do - a kind of 'wilderness experience'. if you like' a time out spent in delving into this relationship with God thing.

     At the start of the process, I was genuinely unsure about a 'call' to a specific task...now I'm certain that call was genuine.
One of the great things about this kind of journey is that God challenges the traveller, and each challenge strengthens the call.
Obstacles and objections I threw in to put off a decision turned into stepping stones, rather than stumbling blocks.
Just like Isaiah, I answered "Here I am - Send me".

Anyone else felt something similar?

I had an "experience," many years ago, which has had a profound effect on me.

[Anchorman]

I've had a few such encounters over the years, BA several as a result of 'seeking' guidance, others absolutely not - but looking back, they changed or affected choices I needed to make.
Each and every one was a life-affirming, ennervating and itensely moving experience, and strengthened my  need to know more about this God I claimed to belong to.
 
When I started off in my new life, I was a Bible-quoter with the best of 'em...I must have bored the pants off anyone unfortunate enough to listen.
Don't get me wrong here - I still accept Scripture as the bedrock of my faith, and can drop in a verse at any opportunity. But I think I'm with the Psalmists when they said "Wait on the LORD...."
Listen for Him.
Spend time in thinking, praying, walking, talking with Him.
I think those times are as profound as any hermeneutics, systematic theology or exegetical analytics lecture I've been unfortunate to stay awake long enough to listen to.

[BashfulAnthony]

I've had a few such encounters over the years, BA several as a result of 'seeking' guidance, others absolutely not - but looking back, they changed or affected choices I needed to make.
Each and every one was a life-affirming, ennervating and itensely moving experience, and strengthened my  need to know more about this God I claimed to belong to.

I experienced, and experience, exactly those sensations.

[Sassy]

     I've recently been forced to assess my 'walk' with God.
Several things happened to make me pray very seriously about where God wants me to be, and what He wants me to do - a kind of 'wilderness experience'. if you like' a time out spent in delving into this relationship with God thing.

     At the start of the process, I was genuinely unsure about a 'call' to a specific task...now I'm certain that call was genuine.
One of the great things about this kind of journey is that God challenges the traveller, and each challenge strengthens the call.
Obstacles and objections I threw in to put off a decision turned into stepping stones, rather than stumbling blocks.
Just like Isaiah, I answered "Here I am - Send me".

Anyone else felt something similar?

My walks with God force to assess my daily living...
It forces me to walk in his word rather than in the flesh...

I believe that if we walk by faith then we know God guides our steps as is best for us.
Sometimes you have to watch out in case your assessing is really you becoming complacent in your walk and learning for something new...

40 years he kept their prize away from them in the wilderness because of their disobedience. But today, Jesus Christ has come the relevance of the OT has been made known. Sometimes it is about correcting your walk and making sure it is Gods will you are walking in, and not your own.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

[Sassy]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

He isn't ready for that calling.... because he cannot accept that the truth of God in man is about a change in life and not about knowledge possessed which is not scriptural....

[Anchorman]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

-
Bingo......sort of. Gonners!
As you know, I trained as a reader type in the CofS.
I put my name forward for selection as a candidate for the Ordained Local Ministry - what used to be called Auxilliary ministry; that's a minister who does everything a 'full' minister does without a stipend or the commitment of being a parish minister (besides, I'm now officially too old to train for that...don't say it - I'm past it).
Dunno about the dog collar bit.
If I'm ordained eventually, I'll be able to wear one, I suppose...but that's not me - I don't have fleas!

[Anchorman]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

He isn't ready for that calling.... because he cannot accept that the truth of God in man is about a change in life and not about knowledge possessed which is not scriptural....

-
I was blissfully in ignorance as to your qualifications for assessor, Sass.
Fortunately those who have such qualifications were of a differing opinion, and my studies start in September.
Thanks for the encouragement, though.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Jim,

To old!! Anyway old son, Our Lord has chosen wisely, the Church of Scotland is in great hands and be assured I will have a quiet word that he strengthens your Ministry.

Gonnagle.

[Sassy]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

He isn't ready for that calling.... because he cannot accept that the truth of God in man is about a change in life and not about knowledge possessed which is not scriptural....

-
I was blissfully in ignorance as to your qualifications for assessor, Sass.
Fortunately those who have such qualifications were of a differing opinion, and my studies start in September.
Thanks for the encouragement, though.

I see you rely on men and not God for assessor?
The truth is they don't see your posts here or attacks on others.
Either way... you are not right for the ministry. I have spent my life around people who were and you are not ministry material.

You  know what they say... Men may make their decisions but God decides the final outcome....

Serving God or serving man and money? You wait till you find that it isn't all about the stipend or the preaching... I have seen good men of God who have relished in the full work of being a preacher..
The hospital visiting.. the home visiting.. the getting up in the middle of the night to help their parishoners... Believe me.. you haven't thought it through... and it could not happen to a nicer person... Be careful what you seek because it isn't a bed of roses it is really hard work .... as you will find out if you make it...

Good job, I am here to remind you what it really means to Serve God in the community...

[Gonnagle]

Dear Sass,

Away and bile yer heid

Gonnagle.

[Anchorman]

Dear Jim,

To old!! Anyway old son, Our Lord has chosen wisely, the Church of Scotland is in great hands and be assured I will have a quiet word that he strengthens your Ministry.

Gonnagle.

_


God's choices are always wise, Gonners....but I suspect that, in calling me, His sense of humour's in overdrive.....

[Sassy]

Dear Sass,

Away and bile yer heid

Gonnagle.

It isn't bile it is fact...
He is not thinking of the reality of serving God and his people.
It is about the prestige and the other things which go with it.
But the reality is the hard work behind which becomes a 24 hour job and 7 days a week.
Because serving God is  about leaving yourself behind.

His judgement of others here show he is not ready for the ministry.
Just as my outspokeness would render me not ready for a ministry and many people who actually know me have suggested it over the years.
It is knowing about what we are good at and where we can best serve God.
Bile has no place in this and I know Anchorman knows this has to be said... Because once in the ministry you cannot say to God... " You never warned me".
Sometimes callings are about doing the things and saying the things no one wants to hear.

They killed the Prophets for speaking Gods truth... They too thought it bile but clearly God is not limited to speaking only the good things men do. He sends people to tell it as it is...

But they judge the person rather than weighing the words for their truth.
God corrects those whom he loves... He does not pretend he tells people. It makes those who tell them unpopular.. And you? Would you hold their coats whilst they stoned me?

[Anchorman]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

He isn't ready for that calling.... because he cannot accept that the truth of God in man is about a change in life and not about knowledge possessed which is not scriptural....

-
I was blissfully in ignorance as to your qualifications for assessor, Sass.
Fortunately those who have such qualifications were of a differing opinion, and my studies start in September.
Thanks for the encouragement, though.

I see you rely on men and not God for assessor?
The truth is they don't see your posts here or attacks on others.
Either way... you are not right for the ministry. I have spent my life around people who were and you are not ministry material.

You  know what they say... Men may make their decisions but God decides the final outcome....

Serving God or serving man and money? You wait till you find that it isn't all about the stipend or the preaching... I have seen good men of God who have relished in the full work of being a preacher..
The hospital visiting.. the home visiting.. the getting up in the middle of the night to help their parishoners... Believe me.. you haven't thought it through... and it could not happen to a nicer person... Be careful what you seek because it isn't a bed of roses it is really hard work .... as you will find out if you make it...

Good job, I am here to remind you what it really means to Serve God in the community...

=
Again, Sass, and with respect, I must correct you.
The candidate for any ordained ministry in the CofS undergo rigorous testing of their calling before their names are put before the assessors.
These tests include attending enquirerer's conferences, 1-1  interviews, counselling sessions, reports from various sources within the candidate's own church and Presbytery.
The assesors consist of a professor of New Testament Studies, two parish ministers (one of whom is a past moderator of the General Assembly) and two elders, one of whom is a lecturer in English at Stirling University.
After several sessions with them in which, as a matter of fact, I DID disclose my membership of this forum, they approved my candidacy.
Again, I am amazed that you have hidden your skills as an assessor so well.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Jim,

I apologise for  my outburst on your thread, some posters on here can drive the patience of a saint.

Gonnagle.

[Anchorman]

Dear Jim,

I apologise for  my outburst on your thread, some posters on here can drive the patience of a saint.

Gonnagle.

-
Wot outburst?
As I recall, Jesus wasn't exactly meek and mild, regardless of what that blasted hymn says!
Anyhow, most of His Apostles were a pretty contentious, carnaptious (guid Scots word, that) crew on the whole.
Argumentative, prone to putting their feet in it up to their armpits, getting things wrong...human, in fact - the way Christ chose them, before moulding them, gradually into the men and women they became.
That didn't stop them being a bunch of obdurate twits sometines.
Maybe that's one of the reasons God loves us....

[Sassy]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

He isn't ready for that calling.... because he cannot accept that the truth of God in man is about a change in life and not about knowledge possessed which is not scriptural....

-
I was blissfully in ignorance as to your qualifications for assessor, Sass.
Fortunately those who have such qualifications were of a differing opinion, and my studies start in September.
Thanks for the encouragement, though.

I see you rely on men and not God for assessor?
The truth is they don't see your posts here or attacks on others.
Either way... you are not right for the ministry. I have spent my life around people who were and you are not ministry material.

You  know what they say... Men may make their decisions but God decides the final outcome....

Serving God or serving man and money? You wait till you find that it isn't all about the stipend or the preaching... I have seen good men of God who have relished in the full work of being a preacher..
The hospital visiting.. the home visiting.. the getting up in the middle of the night to help their parishoners... Believe me.. you haven't thought it through... and it could not happen to a nicer person... Be careful what you seek because it isn't a bed of roses it is really hard work .... as you will find out if you make it...

Good job, I am here to remind you what it really means to Serve God in the community...

=
Again, Sass, and with respect, I must correct you.
The candidate for any ordained ministry in the CofS undergo rigorous testing of their calling before their names are put before the assessors.

What rigorous testing? How do you test Gods calling?

These tests include attending enquirerer's conferences, 1-1  interviews, counselling sessions, reports from various sources within the candidate's own church and Presbytery.

You mean your minister has to put you forward and that you then attend the interview for suitability where asked to give an account of why you feel God is calling you to the Ministry?

The assesors consist of a professor of New Testament Studies, two parish ministers (one of whom is a past moderator of the General Assembly) and two elders, one of whom is a lecturer in English at Stirling University.

Were those who attended your assessment for suitability or are you saying there are the only assessors?

After several sessions with them in which, as a matter of fact, I DID disclose my membership of this forum, they approved my candidacy.
Again, I am amazed that you have hidden your skills as an assessor so well.

Again... God knows whom he calls and whom are chosen...
I am amazed you cannot see why God called fishermen and not priests to follow Jesus....

Not of the Old Covenant but the New Covenant...

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.


which is most important?

Sanctification of God?

King James Bible
That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

or man?

In truth we are already a royal priesthood chosen by God not the order of man.

1 Peter 2:9King James Version (KJV)

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Your answer shows that you think you can justify your position by the way of man and question my own position which God has already justified to you and all men.

A royal priesthood where we are all priests because we have one high priest and so no earthly priests in the worldly sense are required anymore.

If we seek perfection in any person we won't find it. NOT in you and NOT in I... But in Christ alone will we find our acceptance and perfection. It is the humbling of having no self-righteousness that allows us to examine ourselves and to speak as we feel lead by God.
None of us are exempt....

[BashfulAnthony]

Dear Jim,

Are you thinking about wearing a dog collar, I know your Church is having a recruitment drive at the moment.

Gonnagle.

He isn't ready for that calling.... because he cannot accept that the truth of God in man is about a change in life and not about knowledge possessed which is not scriptural....

-
I was blissfully in ignorance as to your qualifications for assessor, Sass.
Fortunately those who have such qualifications were of a differing opinion, and my studies start in September.
Thanks for the encouragement, though.

Congratulations, my friend, and good luck.

[Anchorman]

Again. and with respect, you misunderstand, Sass.
In the CofS, the minister is a 'ruling and teaching elder'; and he/she is only one of the Kirk Session - which he/she moderates.
This consists of elders - the 'ruling and teaching elder', and 'ruling elders'. I was ordained as a ruling elder in 1992, so I think I know a little abouut being an elder and service - though my service is never as good as I want it to be.
No-one 'puts your name forward', as you put it.
If one thinks that one is called to ministry, one indicates this to kirk Session or to Presbytery, and then voluntarily goes through a process of prayer, meditation and attachment to another congregation to see whether or not that call is still there. I didn't need the last bit - I'm already trained as a reader and authorised to preach.
However, I asked to spend six months with another inister in a nieghbouring town - a minister whose stance was different in many ways to mine, just to see whether or not I'd  still be able to 'fit inn'.
Only then did I put my name forward, with the consent of my Kirk Session and Presbytery, to the enquirers conference.
The whole process has taken around two years, in which I have been privilaged to conduct and assist in funerals, work with a part time hospital chaplain, and do prison visiting, as well as worship team duties in my own congregation.
My deccision was not taken lightly - nor should such a choice ever be made lightly.
I can't do this alone - if I could, my choice would have been the wrong one.
Without God's guidance leading, encouraging - sometimes giving me the kick in the backside that I know I'll need, I won't get anywhere with this.

[Hope]

Good job, I am here to remind you what it really means to Serve God in the community...

Sorry Sass, but I'm still waiting to see anything remotely resembling serving God in the community from you here.

As someone who has been involved in the selection process from both sides, both in regard to full-time ordained ministry and for work as a missionary overseas, I know what to look out for in a candidate, but I believe that I also know what to listen for in their explanations of call and vision.  I see few of those characteristics in you.

[OH MY WORLD!]

You don't know what you are talking about Sass. You actually think Anchorman doesn't know what he is taking on? You think he's been living under a rock? From what I've gathered over these few years, Anchorman already does a lot that an ordained minister does. And he is a very mild person compared to you or me. (expect when it's to do with the royals or the UK)

[Gonnagle]

Dear Jim,

Post 12, if I could offer a wee bit of advice, never forget that Our Lord has a terrific sense of humour, I am living testament to that, especially when I think I am smarter than he is.

Gonnagle.

[Hope]

What rigorous testing? How do you test Gods calling?

If you have to ask this question, what makes you think you have any credentials for questioning Jim's.

These tests include attending enquirerer's conferences, 1-1  interviews, counselling sessions, reports from various sources within the candidate's own church and Presbytery.

You mean your minister has to put you forward and that you then attend the interview for suitability where asked to give an account of why you feel God is calling you to the Ministry?

When I went through the process 30-odd years ago, I was interviewed by members of the PCC - I was attending a CofE church at that stage - who made up a ministerial recognition-type panel, and by two or three other groups within the church.  I was then interviewed by the minister, who then discussed me with those who had already interviewed me.  That process took 6 or 7 months.  Only then was my name put forward to the Diocese, and over the next 18 months I had interviews with the folk from their ministerial-recognition panel, sundry other diocesan officers and eventually the Bishop.  Only then was my name sent to central CofE office, Church House, recommending me for what was then called ACCM, and is now called a Bishops Advisory Panel.  That was an intense 3-day process in itself.  Because of circumstances, I had already been interviewed by 2 Theological colleges, both of which had given me a positive report.

This ain't no slap-dash process, Sass.  It can last up to 2 or 3 years even before you start one's traing, and even them one is assessed and re-interviewed during that training - itself a further 2 to 3 years - as to one's suitability and appropriate route once ordained.

I am amazed you cannot see why God called fishermen and not priests to follow Jesus....

Not of the Old Covenant but the New Covenant...

So, is this a rant against the concept of ordination, Sass?  Against the concept of training people to serve the Lord (something that Jesus eemed pretty hot on  )?  Remember that even that hallowed document of yours refers to people being called to various roles within the church - administrators, teachers, apostles, etc., etc.

Your answer shows that you think you can justify your position by the way of man and question my own position which God has already justified to you and all men.

And just how has God justified your position, Sass?  Perhaps you could elucidate.

A royal priesthood where we are all priests because we have one high priest and so no earthly priests in the worldly sense are required anymore.

If we seek perfection in any person we won't find it. NOT in you and NOT in I... But in Christ alone will we find our acceptance and perfection. It is the humbling of having no self-righteousness that allows us to examine ourselves and to speak as we feel lead by God.
None of us are exempt....

So a couple of references to 'a royal priesthood' trump Jesus' own clear belief that people had to be prepared for leadership of his Church?  Remeber that the Old Covenant priests were there to intercede with God for the people of Israel.  That role is definitely not necessary, and I doubt whether Jim regards that as a role he would have to undertake.  However, people who are going to teach and have a leadership role still need training.

[Enki]

Hi Anchorman,

From my point of view, the world sorely needs the input of thoroughly decent, genuine and caring individuals, and, from the evidence of your posts, that's how I see you. As you no doubt realise I am an atheist, but I hope this does not blind me from trying to see the good in each individual. I wish you every success with your calling.

Too old!!! I'm 74, and, at times, I feel as if life has only just begun