Thinking About "The Call"

"There are similarities between an arranged marriage and a man's call to his first (or second) congregation. If a man's call is from God, and if he is to work in the kingdom of God and not his own program, then he knows that this is where the Lord wants him to be. Thus, it behooves the pastor to make it work. And, through the power of Word and Sacrament there is no reason why it cannot work. If a man instigates his own call like he instigated his own marriage, then he has at his fingertips a whole host of built-in excuses for an unsuccessful pastorate. His excuses sound like a tape recording of the proceedings in a divorce court: he made a stupid choice, or he didn't have all the facts, or the congregation didn't live up to it part of the bargain, and other such horizontal considerations. But if a call is initiated by the Lord of the Church himself, the man can find a built-in impetus for obedience and action, and so can the congregation. A candidate for minsitry may think to himself that he would not have chosen a place like his first call, and in a sense he is right, because he didn't."

Dr. James Bollhagen