The following Vocare spiritual practice is featured in Church Anew’s Lent in a Box for 2023 and was developed by Rev. Dr. Charlene Rachuy Cox as part of the Nourishing Vocation Project of The Lutheran Center at St. Olaf College. We will be offering one piece of the Vocare practice each week. 

Vocare is an ongoing spiritual practice designed to help you discern and embrace your various callings so that you can more intentionally live life on purpose for the common good. 

Through guided reflection on personal life experiences via the lenses of values, openness, call, attentiveness, regrets, and experiences of God’s presence, the Vocare practice nourishes discernment of three primary questions. Who am I called to be? What am I called to do? Why am I here?

Vocare Practice: Called BY GOD

You are invited to focus on the many and varied voices that call to you each and every day. Some of those voices are literal. Others are metaphorical. Some are external, and some are internal. Some of the voices that call to us are life-giving, and while others are life-draining. Some are worthy of our attention. Others distract us and merit being silenced. Reflecting upon the voices that call to us helps us understand which voices we listen to and why. Likewise, it helps us consider which voices we would do well to preference and which it would be wise to dismiss or ignore. Use the time between the following guided questions for your own reflection and meditation. Bring to mind a one of the voices that speaks loudly to you. Is this a voice that builds you up, or is it a voice that tears you down? How has this voice shaped your life and its horizons?

Reflect upon your openness

• How do I typically decide which voices I listen to?

• What voices called to me today?

• Which ones did I listen to?

• Which ones did I not listen to?

• What do I need for tomorrow?

Prayer

Inspire me, O God, to trust in your call upon my life. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Check out our Instagram reel for a video version of this reflection.