What's so special about a fig tree?

For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Roth's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

One time at a women’s retreat, I was asked to tell my call story. I told this woman the whole, convoluted story—about serving as a missionary in Japan, about being restless in my work and volunteering for leadership roles in my church, about discovering old journals where I had written about my desire to study theology, about my memory of sitting in church as a teenager and hearing the pastor give the sermon and saying, “If I was a man, that is what I would want to do.” I told her that it had taken me a long time, but I finally realized that God was calling me to be a pastor.

She was not impressed. The look on her face made this clear. She didn’t quite come out and say, “Is that all you have?” but it was close. She was looking for a very particular kind of experience, with very particular criteria, and I did not have it.