Calling, Vocation, and Discipleship (Tuesday, July 14, 2009)

In session 6, will continue our discussion about calling, vocation, and discipleship. Our hostess and host, Kristen and Michael, have invited us into their home, where we will meet at the usual time, 7 pm. Contact them, Brooke, or Anthony for address or seeking to carpool as needed.

We will continue to discuss Spiritual Gifts and calling. In our fifth session, we chose at most 3 of the spiritual gifts listed by the UMC as gifts we exercise. As we shared those, the group added to each list as the Spirit moved us. For the next session, please take the spiritual gifts assessment on the UMC web site and bring the results with you to our meeting. Furthermore, consider what God calls you to be:

The United Methodist Church believes all, ordained and laity, are called to be ministers. To what is God calling you (however abstract or detailed)? Are you still searching? How did you come about your "calling"?

We will also continue to consider the questions posed in our fourth session. Brooke has an activity planned as part of this ongoing conversation.

• If we get them to the table, what will be the menu?
• What will be the cost of the meal

Last but not least, please read the texts below and consider the questions that follow them.

Text: Mark 9.33-37

So they came to Capernaum; and when he had gone indoors, he asked them (the disciples), "What were you arguing about on the way?" They were silent, because on the way they had been discussing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them "If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all."

Text: Mark 10.41-45

Jesus called them (the disciples) to him and said, "You know that among the Gentiles the recognized rulers lord it over their subjects, and the great make their authority felt. It shall not be so with you; among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Questions:

1. What 'grabbed' you? What did you notice?
2. Is there a question you would like to put to any character in the story?
3. Did you have a 'feeling' reaction at any point in the story?
4. What did the passage say to you?
5. What do you think the passage says to us?
6. Summarize the passage in one sentence.