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October 28th.
2009
CALL
Thy will be done.
It was a beautiful, late-Sunday, summer afternoon and I was puttering
around in the yard when my phone rang. It was the good folks, who I had
spent almost two years working with as a consultant, phoning me to tell
me that they believed God was calling me to be their priest.
I asked for sometime to say some prayers. As I hung up and started
praying, the phone rang again. This time it was my long time friend and
Bishop, calling to see what I said to the folks in the Valley. “I am
praying – I’ll call you when I am done,” I said to Bishop Terry. He
laughed and said, “Let me know when you and God are done chatting!”
As I prayerfully looked out at the beginning of the setting sun over our
fields, horses frolicking in the pasture, the words that came to be
were, “Okay God, if this is your will I will help you.”
I never imagined that I would be called to the Spokane Valley to help
start a new faith community. Yet, with every fiber of my being I believe
God called me to do so. And the experience continues to be one of the
biggest blessings of my life. Time and time again I get to be a part of
witnessing God’s grace doing amazing things on 8th Avenue and through
each of you in the world.
When I first received the call to ask if my name could be submitted I
said, “Really?! ...Minnesota?! …Actually, I feel very called to serve
where I am.” Then more calls and emails came. Enough so, that I felt
compelled to have a conversation with the Lovely Mrs. Prior, my
spiritual director, our bishop and a couple of others who I lean heavy
on for council and advice. Almost to a person they recommended that I
open myself to what God was doing.
I have since answered a significant number of questions, had numerous
conversations, and this last week spent 30 hours on a bus traveling over
a large portion of the Diocese of Minnesota. We now come to the place
this Saturday to see what God has in mind.
We believe that we have in good faith opened ourselves to the stirring
of the Holy Spirit. We now prayerfully wait to see where God leads us.
Is God calling us to go serve in the Diocese of Minnesota? Is God
calling us to continue to serve with those we deeply love and have come
to know as family at ECOR?
Thy will be done.
Blessings,
The Rev. Brian N. Prior, Rector
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