Thursday, September 10, 2026
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge
you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to
this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that
you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2
Throughout my life I have despised my own personal tendency towards the
“chameleon” safe way of fitting-in with the company with which I find myself. As an introvert, it did not take long in life
to discover it is easier to disappear into the wallpaper pattern that way,
inoffensive, unimpeachable, and embarrass-proof to all minds, except He Who
created me to be unique, useful, and truthful.
Parker Palmer’s book took form over a decade as essays delivered to
various groups of graduating students as well as educational publications. What I discovered in this short book helped
push me to shed the chameleon skin for a set of wings – to let my voice finally
speak what my inner-held thoughts had been ruminating for so long. And those thoughts are the basis for any
believer of living the life for which we are all created. Fleshing-out Paul’s words to the Roman
church, we are all, by the mercies of the living God, to NOT be conformed to
this world’s systems, but to be transformed, with the goal of being recreated
in the image of Jesus Christ, by the renewing of our minds, presenting mind,
body, and soul to God in response to that calling (or voca) offering a
reasonable service to God. That’s a
mouthful, but hang with me for a few moments.
An Inkling to the Voca
My first clue that “speaking up” would be a calling on my life happened
in a canoe with Mr. Redding, who was a member of our church. It was 1960, and our Pastor, along with a
couple of brave church members like Mr. Redding, took a dozen of us young teen
boys on a canoeing/camping trip through the Adirondack mountains for ten
days. Mr. Redding was my canoe buddy
that day, and it was serenely quiet as we paddled along the edge of a calm
pond, with water shimmering, glass-like, not a ripple, except for what our
paddles stirred as we gently stroked our way along. Finally, Mr. Redding broke the peaceful
reverie. “What do think a man ought to
do if he wanted to quit smoking?”
Honestly, that a man with children my age should ask a 13-year-old boy
for spiritual advice hit me like a ton of bricks. I gave him an answer, kind of churchy,
religious, safe: “I guess you should
commit to prayer and tell God you can’t stand it anymore; you want to be a
better witness.” Mr. Redding nodded from
the front of the canoe and said “Right!”
And we paddled on quietly, both of us wondering what just took place.
Some years later I found out from my parents that when we all got back
home Mr. Redding had told them, “I think you’ve got a preacher on your hands.” At the time I didn’t want to hear that. However, over the next few decades it became
clearer that those words were the first “confirmation” to me, since I had come
to faith in Jesus 5 years prior, that the drawing of God’s Spirit was so real,
and it was pointing towards pastoral ministry.
It became clear to me that pastoral ministry was in the local church,
not leading a Wesley-ish movement or Graham-ish crusades, but a local parish
ministry of helping and proclaiming.
A Dilemma – of Sorts
Letting the voca speak and living a chameleon existence are two very
different pathways. The chameleon gets
along with everyone, because he offends nobody, disagrees with no one, and just
fits-in, untroubling, and untroubled. That
existence often demands playing loose with truth, while the other means
speaking, living, and moving with that voice from within, and responding to
that voice from above, prophetic/powerful, sometimes troublemaking, often
comforting, always pursuing and proclaiming truth. In the words of a preacher I once knew and
admired, there is no wrong way to do right, and no right way to do wrong. You can live a comfortable life if you don’t
offend other people, but your insides will lie to you about the so-called
comfort of that life. On the other hand,
without a commitment to truth, the first lie is to God who calls us to live in
truth. And when you value your comfort
above God’s command to be truth-filled, you’ve just run afoul of the first
commandment, to not put anything in higher priority than Almighty God.[2]
So, the dilemma in which I found myself was that it is much less
complicated to always demand truth from myself, but it is
uncomfortable. I had to make a choice
between the chameleon’s comfort, and God’s calling.
So, how are you doing with that truth, whole
truth, and nothing but the truth thing?
Sorry, did I just put you on the witness stand? Well, there is a judge, you know.
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title and Other Images: Hugo Ataide from Pixabay Unless noted, Scripture from Christian
Standard Bible©
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