Day Nine- 1/9/11 Closing Ceremony for Vocare

Day Nine: 1/9/11
New Thing: Closing Ceremony for a Vocare
Inspiration: Vocare #1
Cost: Free
Time: Several Hours
Bottom Line: “I have called you by name, and you are mine”. –Isaiah 43:1

 Reflection: Again, there is so much to say here and I will try to keep it on the short side.

This retreat truly was a new thing for me. Sarah and I had spent years preparing for it—including making trips all over the country. For us, it was a calling of our own and at times it was hard to be faithful to it. There were many obstacles, and we almost had to cancel it the week before it happened.  But through it all, we felt that it was important to help bring this new creation to the Diocese of Bethlehem since it was to be its first ever young adult event. I would be lying, however, if I said that I was totally convinced that it was going to work. There seemed to be too many moving parts that needed to come together smoothly and too few people to make that happen.

One of the highlights for me was having my sister there!

It seems that we need not have worried because the Holy Spirit took care of the parts that were too much for us. By the end of the weekend, the participants had done some amazing discernment and had come away with some concrete steps to following the calls that they were feeling. There were so many varieties of calls that it was inspiring—some felt called to green their church. Others felt that they wanted to be in touch with God more. Yet others wanted to find a community that they could worship in and be active in. But no matter the actually specifics of the calls, there was no denying the fruits of the Spirits which were coming to fruition. The weekend ended with a wonderful ceremony presided by Bishop Jack who called us all to be prophetic witness in the world to “do justice, love mercy and walk humble with God.” (Micah 6:8)