Being called to a vocation—for instance, to music ministry—does not mean that the path is smooth, or easy, or always pleasant. Far from it. There are days, weeks, months when the prophet Job’s lament resonates all too strongly:

If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

I could tell you one horror story after another of competent, talented, effective pastoral musicians caught in bad job circumstances, or dismissed unfairly, or slandered—or worse. But there are good stories, too—of musicians who have served their communities for long years in good times and bad. Others move on to less rocky pastures, bringing their well-honed skills and creative ideas to fulfil the needs of a different community.

Sadly, some wind up leaving ministry. Some go into related fields, such as teaching, in order to pass on their hard-won knowledge to a new generation of pastoral musicians. Some even feel they must leave the church they love, the church they have served so faithfully. Though the loss to their communities is tragic, that may be exactly what God is calling them to do. God is the one who does the calling. We follow as best we can for as long as we can.

As psalm 147 says, “The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem … he heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. The Lord sustains the lowly.”