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| photo by Abraham Bates |
Weekend Wedding
I wrote a blog post on Sunday about to to flourish in justice, peace, and relationship. This had been mulling over in my head. I intended to post the following on Monday morning. Unfortunately, my wife Nancy went into preterm labor at 30 weeks. We (including our three kids) spent a sleepless night in the hospital. She is doing well. The labor has subsided. And now I am able to write.
This weekend I stood before two people, one friend, the other his life-time-chosen covenant marriage partner. They repeated prenuptial vows, kissed the marriage kiss, and agreed to be in a bonded relationship for the rest of their lives, “...or as long as they both shall live.”
What is it you are called to? What is your thing? What is the thing you are called to do more than anything else in the world?
I didn’t choose this calling on my own. I didn’t wake up one day and say: “Hey, I think I’ll be a pastor.” I know guys who’ve done that; it's usually a train wreck. The calling to be a pastor comes from God. He looked through the world and said, “Abraham, I need you to be a pastor.” “Okay, Dad,” I said, “You got it!”
You are called to do something. You are called to flourish in that thing you do. Mine is pastoring, leading people to Jesus through the Bible. What’s yours?
Flourish in Community
The wedding went off like a smash (meaning it was great). I had plenty of older seasoned ladies come up to me afterward the ceremony and tell me, “that was the most beautiful wedding I think I’ve ever seen.” The look on their faces told me they’ve been to many weddings in their well-defined lifetime, so I take their words as compliments on a job well done.
But here’s the trick, I could not have pull off officiating a wedding, much less pastoring if is wasn’t for the community of people who surround me. First of all, there’s Nancy. If it weren’t for Nancy I’d be some drunk artist hiding in a downtown city loft being a "self-proclaimed" narcissist. By God's grace I'm in community with her, through which God has called me to something bigger than myself.
Second, there’s my friend Adam (who I work with at River West). He officially trained me on how to officiate a wedding. I could not have done it without him. His coaching set a high bar for how to perform a beautiful ceremony. Third, the couple I married - Visal and Lindsey - have such a pure and beautiful love for each other. They're love made the wedding outstanding. Just by standing on stage, two of them in the spotlight, holding each other's hands, and looking into each others eyes; they made the event spectacular.
My point is simply this: by ourselves we fizzle; in community we flourish. A better question than: “how am I flourishing?” is “How is the community surrounding me causing me to flourish?”
The community of people you surround yourself with matters a great deal. What does yours look like?
Flourish on Mission
In addition to finding ourselves by God's calling and a strong community, we are also to flourish on mission. Downtown Portland is where I met Visal a number of years ago. We’ve since then gone on to live on mission in two totally different contexts: him to the West side of Portland and me to the East. We've staying in contact grabbing coffee every now and then. This weekend we reunited in downtown to officiate the greatest change in a man’s life beside salvation.
Now he is being called to live on mission in another city on the coast of California. I am being called to Lake Oswego. Between the two of us, including our families and communities, we are called to live out the gospel in the places God’s put us for the sake of His mission. And there, by God’s grace, we will live and speak faithfully about the one whose given us everything.
As I wrap this up, I want you to ask three question:
- What is your calling?
- Who is the community around you who supports your calling?
- How are you flourishing on mission in the place God's put you?
AB.
*written by Abraham Bates - Photography by Abraham Bates - Copyright AbrahamBates.com
