The calling we have from God can be subverted by others who doubt our abilities, but can also be subverted from within by overestimating our abilities. Ego can be a killer when it comes to serving God, making us think more of ourselves than we ought. It is a warning never to see the calling as God serving you, but God recognizing how you can best serve.

On a day which represents the ideals of the American experiment, we are reminded about the nature of the calling from God. In the same way detractors attempt to disqualify America because of its past failures, so others attempt to disqualify us because of our failures. But failure is more of an asset than a problem, because it shows us where the true strength lies in completing the task asked of us.

Part of protecting your own calling from God means protecting the calling of others. Our purpose and mission given by God also depends on others to guide, inform, and lend experience to what you are going through- as well as you to them. Giving assurance where it is needed, calling out the silencing of others, and lending aid in other’s uncertainty is how you learn to be comfortable and live where God has placed you. It is also how you set up for the next person who comes after you in a similar calling, and not discrediting any work which may proclaim the goodness of the gospel.

Dealing with the presumptuous thoughts and judgements of others might be the most difficult thing with living your calling from God in the world. Everyone thinks they know what is in your heart, and think they know your life. But part of being true to God’s work is learning to trust and stand firm in what you know and have been shown. Peer pressure is real, and it can make us doubt a lot of things. But having a hard resolution in your given task can help you demonstrate what is real, and show others what the real obstacles which are facing them.

The toxic problem of power and control we face today makes us think that our decisions are better than God’s. It makes us feel like we can own and control the world, that we can be like God, all the while doing down a road taking us further away from him. But we are reminded of the power and control of God to pull us back into the wonderful, new creation of Christ, and remind us of who truly sees and understands our intentions- even while we are completely blinded by them.

In society today, we are facing a unique problem. It might be one seen to be as old as time itself, but emerging in a way hardly seen before. A toxic attitude that seeks to redefine our society, our identities, and tempts us to think we have more power than we have. But in this season of the Church, we pay special attention to a specific chapter of Israel’s history, in how we might avoid and overcome this problem.

All of us have some knowledge or understanding of God we think is good and proper. But most of the time we end up forcing that view and understanding onto others, causing them to be pushed further from God as a result. Are our understandings and knowledge all that important? Should that be the basis for our proclamations of Christ? How do we inspire knowledge and acceptance of God without putting the spotlight on us?

Christians celebrate the Sunday of Pentecost as the birth of the Church, of God granting to the followers of Jesus Christ a place to belong. But for what purpose? Does the Church exist just to be a meeting place for God's people, just to be an institution to enforce and oversee the directives of God, or for something else entirely?

The end of the Easter season for the church comes with an event as miraculous as the one which started the season. The Church calls this day, “The Feast of the Ascension”. Remembering the act of Jesus ascending into heaven to take his place at God’s right hand. The disciples rejoiced and were happy when this happened, but should they have been? Isn’t losing your master and teacher something to feel anxious and fearful over? Or, was the reason why Jesus ascended to heaven the reason they had joy?

We depend upon sight and proof in almost every aspect of our modern lives. Our pursuit of knowledge depends on our ability, and willingness, to see how the world operates. But in the resurrection, Jesus challenges that what we see and figure out rationally might not produce the result we want. How is it better to just depend upon faith and belief in the resurrection, and what does that do in our attempts to live and proclaim what we know?