And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:8

You may not be aware of this, but the Sacramento Presbytery has now merged with the Stockton Presbytery and the new merger name is North Central California Presbytery (NCC).  Last Saturday, NCC had a presbytery meeting to examine three new ministers coming into new churches.  It was really interesting listening to everyone’s statements of faith and what they believe and their sense of call.  

As I was on this zoom call with the presbytery, I was also on a second zoom call with some local women clergy.  There was a young woman who joined us that I had never met before. She is going through the ordination process and was talking about her sense of call.  So for nearly three hours last Saturday, I was marinating in conversations around ministry and why we do what we do.  A colleague of mine then asked me if I had any advice for this young woman beginning her ministry.  I cleared my throat and said very candidly, “If there is anything else that you can do then do it because ministry will break your heart.  But if this is the only thing that you feel called to do and this is the only thing you can do then stay in the game and preach the Good News and keep your “eye on the prize” which is Jesus.  Always remember why you are doing ministry.  Because once you have been bitten by the “Jesus” bug there is no going back.

Ministry can be tiring and hard and at times exasperating.  And at the same time ministry can be glorious and powerful and fulfilling.  It’s in those hard times when sometimes you want to quit that you just have to remind yourself over and over and over again why it is what you do and why you are here. It’s in those times when I feel hard pressed on all sides that I remember the scripture from Isaiah 6:8 when God says, “Whom shall I send?”  And through the thick and the thin I have always said, “Here I am Lord…send me.” So it is with my fellow clergy siblings in this presbytery, we are here to support one another in our connectional ministries.  I really like this photo above, because we are celebrating a colleague’s acceptance into the NCC presbytery as they begin their new call.  May we all examine our own personal calls, whether it be in the pulpit, or prayer team, or cooking or coffee hour, or church maintenance, or children/youth ministry, etc. and where God is leading each and everyone of us.  Here we are Lord…send us.