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Do you know that you have a calling? Have you been listening for the God-whisper “I have a gift for you!”? It is not true at all that only those of us who have gone into “professional” ministry are called. Each of us is called. Each of us is given gifts by the Spirit. Each of us is tasked to do our own part.
Callings can be big, and callings can be small. Some are splashy, and some are quiet. But they are individual, because they have to do with us—each one of us.
Paul exhorts us in his letter to the Ephesians,
“I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
(story from M. A. Appleby’s book “Winnie the Bear”—as told in Seasons of the Spirit, April 26, 2015)
About a hundred years ago, there lived a man named Harry Colebourn. Harry loved animals. He loved animals so much that he had moved from England to Canada, where there were more animals than people. He loved animals so much, he studied to become an animal doctor. And when he graduated, he went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada—right in the middle of the country. He loved animals so much, that once he was there, he set up an animal hospital so that he could help sick animals.
Then a war started. A great war. People from all over the world went to join in the war in hopes of making peace. A hundred years ago, people still used horses in wars. “A war is no place for a horse,” Harry thought, “they could get hurt.” And because he loved animals so much, he went to take care of the horses in the Great War.
A hundred years ago, there were still trains that took people and horses over long distances. So Harry and the horses got on a train in Winnipeg, headed for the Atlantic Ocean, which they had to cross to get to Europe, where Harry was going to look after the horses in the Great War.
On the way, Captain Harry (now) insisted the train stop from time to time so that the horses could get out and stretch their legs and run about.
It just so happens that one stop the train made was in a small town in northern Ontario called White River. There, on the train station platform, just as Harry was getting off to exercise the horses, he met an old trapper holding a baby bear. Harry had only seen bears in zoos before. “Can I hold it?” he asked. The poor, old trapper eyed Harry’s smart new uniform and smiled. “For twenty bucks you can have her.”
“What about her mother?” Harry asked.
“Mother’s dead,” the trapper said. “She’ll die too if you don’t take her.”
Hary was so excited to have his own bear that he named her “Winnie” after his new hometown. Keeping a bear hidden on a train is a hard thing to do. And soon all the soldiers had met and fallen in love with Winnie. They all had many happy weeks together on the train, and later on the ship that took them across the ocean. Finally, when it was time for Harry to turn his attention back to the horses, he took Winnie to the London Zoo. “A war is no place for a bear,” he told her. “You could get hurt.”
Because Winnie was already a beloved star, her friendliness made her an even bigger celebrity at the zoo.
There, among her many admirers was a writer named Mr. Milne and his animal-loving son named Christopher Robin. The rest, they say, is history.
For those of us who love the stories of Winnie the Pooh, this is wonderful background. But today, I see it as an illustration of exactly what Paul was pointing to. Harry had a gift for loving animals. But he had no idea that his love for animals would bring so much joy to children and adults all over the world when he rescued that bear cub, named her “Winnie” and deposited her at the London Zoo. A A Milne was a writer of humorous verse and plays. How could he have known that stories he made up for his little boy, Christopher Robin, would become beloved to so many others, young and old, as well?
Harry and A A (Alan Alexander if you need to know) used their gifts and helped bring more smiles, more chuckles, more warm fuzzy feelings into our world. They contributed of themselves to others (be they human or animal) and helped build up the world in love. That is all that Paul wants us to do as well. To find our gifts, and share them—like the little boy shared his bread and fish last week. After that, it is up to God.
I can hear someone now murmuring—but I don’t feel I have one of those gifts Paul enumerates, to be an: apostle, or a prophet, or an evangelist, or a pastor, or a teacher. Do not limit the imagination of the Holy Spirit!
Paul didn’t have enough room to add story tellers, and hand holders, and those who make others smile, and brownie bakers, and those who clean up, and gardeners, and every other possible way to be the body of Christ.
Paul says each of us was given grace, according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Grace to grow.
Grace to link ourselves to others
like the human body is linked together
by ligaments.
Grace to do our part,
(as Paul put it
“each part working properly”).
Grace to be amazed at the result
which is Love.
Today we need to ask ourselves—
What is our special calling?
Are we ready, with God’s grace,
to do our part?
May it be so. Alleluia, Amen.
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