The Village ILWIDIot

Walt Wiltschek 

“The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us.” —1 John 1:2, CEV 

Someone on the keynote panel at the recent Potluck Experience event in Peoria—I think it was Mary Jessup from Springfield First—said, “When we’re called to something, we see things differently.” 

That phrase stuck with me in the days after the event. We DO see things differently when we recognize a call in our lives. We step over a threshold into those new places of being and doing, and we feel a synergy with our purpose in God’s creation. It doesn’t always feel easy to be in those places, but it does feel right, sometimes in ways we can’t put into words. 

I’ve been delighted to see so many people in our district stepping up and answering calls of various sorts, including a number of people answering calls to congregational ministry. We now have about half a dozen people in the district discerning or doing ministry training, plus a number of others who are part of shared ministry teams in their churches or sharing messages in pulpit supply. From what I’ve heard, the people and congregations who are engaging in that intentional discernment and sharing of gifts are indeed seeing things differently, and they are experiencing new life because of it. 

As we find ourselves approaching Holy Week and Easter, the ultimate expression of new life on the Christian calendar, I hope that others will experience that new life individually and congregationally, too. How might God be calling you—to preach, to visit, to do community outreach, to teach, to work with youth, to serve at camp, or any number of other things? 

The disciples who answered Jesus’ call and lived through that journey of Good Friday and Easter saw their world in a whole new, life-giving way. Perhaps we can, too.