Last Saturday and Sunday many men and women were ordained both as priests and deacons in Blackburn Cathedral.

It was a fantastic weekend of celebration; a milestone in the lives of people who had felt a calling or vocation to serve God in a particular way.

Vocation can be defined in many ways, some use words such as ‘urge’, ‘impulse’ or ‘inclination’ when trying to explain the feeling they got that they needed to follow a particular path in the future.

And it’s not all about becoming a priest. In the Bible God calls people to all sorts of futures including being a mother, being a king and being a writer.

For the past two years I’ve been invited in the autumn term to spend a day with year 11s in a local high school. The day is all about chatting with young people and together thinking about the future. The session I run starts with the clichéd question ‘what do you want to do when you’re older?’ but we go on to discuss what the young people want to be when they’re older.

We think about values that might define them, things like patience, kindness, humility (for a longer list see Galatians 5: 22-26 in the Bible).

Many people who feel called to ministry in the church see it not as a job but as a life. So often we get caught up in what we ‘do’ and the way we see ourselves is rightly or wrongly tied into our job (or previous job, or lack of job).

If people describe us, our occupation is often quite high on the list but they might also talk about some of our characteristics. They might call us loving or they might call us peaceful, for example.

What might you be called by others? How does this connect not only to what you do but also to the person you hope to be? For more information about vocation for young people go to callwaiting.org.uk

Kat Witham, Diocesan Youth Officer Church of England in Lancashire