God’s calling to God’s people across centuries

Years ago, I was on my way back from a business trip when I caught a little of the conversation of the two people sitting next to me. They were on their way back from a mission trip, and were talking about how they were changing the world for God’s Kingdom. I got a little excited and, when they finished their conversation, I introduced myself and talked about my own love for missions. That was the disappointing moment when I found out that they had no interest in talking to me about this. It was in that awkward silence that I noticed that everything they said had been in the past tense. They had gone halfway around the world to do God’s work, but once they left that far-off land, they were essentially off-duty. God’s work wasn’t something that extended to the airplane.

Now, I’ll be honest: like most people, I’m really burnt out right now, and I can kind of relate to that. An ongoing pandemic, supply line issues, worker shortages—these are all hard things, and they make things harder for all of us. I’m a manager at a large advertising agency in Kansas City, so in addition to keeping myself together, I need to help my employees keep it together and make sure my projects keep it together. Everything feels harder right now, and that has the cumulative effect of making everything feel even harder. So reading Peter’s words—that we’re not just children of God, we’re a kingdom of priests—it’s not easy for me to feel that right now, in the face of all the stress I’m facing everywhere else. So I imagine the two people on the airplane I tried to connect with all those years ago were going through some similar exhaustion.

Looking back on the times I’ve helped people, much in the way a holy priest would, it’s a little interesting that many of those times, I wasn’t really on “priest duty.” It’s not like I’m a taxi driver and I light up my little sign so people know they can come to me for help. Many of the times I’ve helped people, I’ve been decidedly off-duty, but the opportunity presented itself, and I chose to respond. On some level, I suppose I’m glad that my capacity to help people isn’t tied to my capacity to feel priestly, but it illustrates the larger point that I never really had off hours to begin with.

If you asked me what it meant to feel like a Kansas resident, I’d probably have some vague reply about our ideals, but the reality is that it just means I live in Kansas. God’s Kingdom is much more than that, of course, and my status there is much more important than my status as a resident of Kansas, but regardless of how overwhelmed I feel, my status in the Kingdom of God is the same: I live here.

Peter’s words in today’s passage have meant different things to me at different times in my life. Sometimes they’ve been really aspirational, calling me to do greater things. Right now, they’re more of a reminder that I’m never really off duty, even if I’m having trouble feeling priestly. More than another tiring responsibility, though, it’s a reminder that no matter where I am or when it is, I’m always in a position to help someone.