If someone asked you to explain what you do in life, what would you say? How do you talk about it? How we describe what we do often points to the meaning we either assign to it and/or gain from it.

I’m a college chaplain and an ordained minister, which means I had to talk about my calling a lot when I was discerning this work. The process for being ordained is not for the faint of heart. In grad school twenty years ago, a theological school that educates and trains clergy and meaning makers, we were constantly asked to talk about what brought us there. 

Today, anytime people find out I’m a minister – quite often it happens on a flight when I’m trapped – they want to know, “How did you become a minister?” On a flight that question is either asked with deep sincerity or skepticism and surprise.

When I was going through the ordination process in the United Methodist Church, it felt like I told my “call story” a hundred times. In ministerial circles, a “call story” is the story of the way you came to be a minister. Clergy call stories, like anyone else’s are varied. Some have lightning bolt or Damascus Road experiences (see Acts 9 in the Bible), while others of us have more nuanced stories that unfold over time.

For me, the beauty of having told my story repeatedly is that I discovered themes or patterns that highlighted important moments and people in my life. I learned how central mentors were, especially clergy mentors. Both local church pastors and college chaplains shaped my journey in deeply formative ways. It is no surprise to me (or others) that I am a college chaplain today.

In their new book Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the Twenty-First Century, Wendy Cadge and Shelly Rambo say that “chaplains need to be able to facilitate practices of meaning making and to navigate worldviews in public settings” (pg. 5). This description fits me like an old, comfortable pair of jeans. In my own setting and beyond, I constantly find myself in very public spaces offering gestures and words meant to help those gathered (a very diverse lot in my setting) make meaning – out of life, the day, that moment. 

There’s a wonderful scene in my favorite Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where Professor Slughorn steps into the role of chaplain. Slughorn is a professor who values fame, and he’s very much interested in Harry, which pleases the headmaster Dumbledore. Dumbledore desires a specific memory from Slughorn and employs Harry to help him obtain it. 

Luckily for Harry, he finds Slughorn and draws him out of the Hogwarts castle to visit the game and groundskeeper, Hagrid, which is where Harry hopes to get Slughorn to give up the memory. When they arrive, Hagrid is outside grieving his long-time friend, a visibly sad and shaken and after a few questions and extracting some of the spider’s venom (with permission), Slughorn asks Hagrid if he would like for him to say a few words.

With just the right background music and a beautiful setting, the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher offers a moving eulogy, which Hagrid describes as “beautiful.” This is an impromptu funeral. We don’t know if any one there is religious or spiritual, but we know they’re all human. Slughorn responds in the moment and makes meaning for all of them while demonstrating the importance of the spider’s life and its connection especially to Hagrid and the earth. It’s a beautiful moment that I highly recommend watching or watching again.

In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he gives us a glimpse of his own call story. “If I preach the gospel, I have no reason to brag, since I’m obligated to do it” (CEB I Corinthians 9:16). I did not choose the ministry; it chose me, he seems to be saying. For Paul, it is the message of the gospel and what it means that draws him into ministry.  

What’s your story? What gives you a sense of meaning and purpose in life and moves you and your community toward flourishing? Today is as good a time as ever to dig deep and figure it out if you haven’t already.

The Rev. Dr. Lyn Pace is a United Methodist minister and college chaplain who lives in Oxford, Georgia, with his spouse and 9-year-old.