Feeling less than alive

I was sitting in a seminary classroom, trying to twist my left-handed self into one of those awkward right-handed desks. I was taking part in an internship program, and the professor was waxing eloquently about calling. It was all good. She quoted Frederick Buechner and Howard Thurman, and described vocation as our deep gladness and what makes us come alive.

But then, I wanted to protest. I had interviewed three people for the internship position, and all three of them stated outright that they didn’t feel called to work with children. I know they didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into a Christian Education job. But still. It was a church with a lot of kids and we needed to focus on them. The interviews made me terribly uncomfortable.

Children are an integral part of the church and if a person is not willing to work with children, then they have no business being a pastor. I cannot imagine going into a call committee and saying, “I really don’t feel called to work with anyone between the ages of 55 and 65.” I would be (rightfully) thrown out of the interview on my ear. Why would we think it would be different for working with kids? A child is not some sub-human thing walking around that we ignore. We work with children. We all work with children. Sadly, there are plenty of churches that they can go to where they will never have to work with a child, but hopefully the pastor going to that church will even be more called to work with kids—so that children will be attracted to the congregation.