Speaking in the sermon slots at morning services today in both Tarleton & Rufford, Danny told us that he would not have gone forward for ordination had it not been for a fellow parishioner nudging him to do so. Danny was speaking at the close of the Blackburn Diocesan time of prayer for Vocations.

Listen to the full sermon here

Or read Danny’s Sermon in Full:

As a training ordinand, I am heartened that this month, the Diocese of Blackburn is encouraging people to think and pray about Vocations to the Church and within the Kingdom of God, and asking people to answer the question – “What’s your story?”. This morning, I have been invited to preach, and I want to share my own story with you, to hopefully inspire you to ask the question yourself, and to then pray into how God may be calling you to serve His Church.

My own journey into a vocation within the Church began at the age of 24 and after a huge answer to prayer, which resulted in me falling to my knees in a public toilet in gratitude, I felt I owed it to God to give this church thing another go, and it was at an Anglican church in Burscough where my faith exploded into life, and my entire life was transformed in the space of 2 years. It was in this space that I first discerned the voice of the Lord calling to me to explore vocations in the Church. Except it wasn’t through the clouds opening and a booming voice of God saying “Come Danny to the ordained ministry”. It in fact came from a fellow congregant, who gave me a prayer card for ordination day, and said “I am convinced you will be saying this prayer in the future at your own ordination”.

What?!? I didn’t even know what ordained meant! But I soon found out. And it terrified me. How could I, who was someone who was so awkward, shy and introverted at school, and who hated any kind of public speaking, be a public figure, speaking every week, and most of all, be a priest?! I said no, no chance, won’t see me in a dog collar!

The old saying goes “Give God your plans, He will laugh at them, and then give you His”. Not a truer word has been spoken. Because His voice grew stronger, and stronger and He pushed back against my resistance through a variety of different vehicles. In the end, I felt God speaking directly to my heart through a sermon I heard in Glasgow visiting Georgia, to just trust, and He would show me his provision by helping me to deliver my first ever sermon. I wasn’t enthusiastic about this, but I eventually submitted, and on NYE 2017 I preached to nearly 70 people at my previous church. I was nervous to the point of feeling physically sick, but as I stood up to preach, an indescribable sense of peace came over me and I preached as if I was talking to myself in a mirror. It was incredible, and afterwards, I felt God say to me “Told you… now I need you trust me even further because I have a plan for your life, and you’re going to have to trust me – I want you to explore ordained ministry”.

I knew I needed to listen to God, and so in obedience to Him, I nervously began conversations with the diocese of Liverpool. After a discernment process of nearly two years, to my disbelief, I was recommended for ordination training in July 2020, beginning my training in September 2021, and here I am today! I have to confess, I finally feel like I am stepping into what I am meant to be doing with my life, but this doesn’t mean I feel ready, or even the right person.

——————————————————————————————

Throughout the discernment process, and even now, I felt and feel like a fraud, not the sort of person God would ever want to use in this way. I ask myself the question, “why does God want to use me; a sinful, damaged, hugely emotional and a huge overthinker (to of course name some of my better qualities) as a priest in His Church”? And as of this morning, I can confirm that I don’t yet have an answer!

But perhaps that is exactly the point; I am not meant to know. Because perhaps if I knew, I would either run away from the challenges that lie before me, or my ego would become so inflated that I would become self-righteous. However, while I may not know the answer, God does. He knows every little thing about me, and why it is that He has called me. And while that in itself is a great comfort, it is also more than a little bit irritating, as it would be nice to know sometimes!

Our human condition as fallen creatures is not a barrier for God to use us, and while we think we may know ourselves well, it is only God who knows us fully. What we may not recognize in ourselves, God can, and does, and he can use other people around us to tell us! God doesn’t need us, but He does choose us. He does so because He loves us, and wants to see us flourish into who He created us to be. But how can we serve the Almighty God? The clues for how, lie in two of today’s Bible passages: the book of Acts and the Gospel according to John.

Firstly, in the book of Acts, Paul responds to a vision in verse 9 to cross over to Macedonia, by immediately getting into the boat and making the crossing. Shortly after his arrival, he meets with a woman named Lydia, who listened to Paul intently and the Lord opened her heart to receive salvation through baptism into Christ. Therefore I want to claim that the two most important attributes for discerning the call on our lives are here in this passage; listening intently and obedience. These two attributes found in this passage form the backbone of discerning Gods call on our lives, but they have to begin with us, through prayer, conversations, and being open to what God wants to say and do.

In addition to these discipleship demands, in verse 26 of John 14, Jesus reassuringly tells his disciples that the Father will send the Holy Spirit in his name to be their advocate, who will accompany them on their discipleship journey with Christ. The Holy Spirit is absolutely crucial to our discipleship today, as without him, we cannot perform the works given by Christ for us to do, as we simply aren’t capable in our own strength, and therefore the works done will not be those that point others to Christ. Subsequently, we must pray regularly for a filling of the Spirit, to receive him regularly in the Eucharist, and be humble enough to ask for his help.

——————————————————————————————

The Church is not something we come to every Sunday, but is something that we are: a body of believers who are called to serve the risen Lord, and we all have something to offer to the life of the Church. The good news is that we are not required to perform that which God calls us to in our own strength, and it may take time to discern exactly what that is. But the slightly more irksome news is that we are required to listen to God and to respond in obedience, to be attentive to the voice of God all around us, and to simply trust that His plans and purposes are perfect for us. God doesn’t always call the equipped, but He always equips the called.

So, what’s your story, and what may God be calling you into in the life of His Church?