The Elevation of Vocation is an Abomination

How do we define ourselves? In our culture today we largely define ourselves by our vocation. I don't know if this is right. This came to mind in one of my classes the other day when we were discussing the idea of God's call on a person's life. Someone asked how an aspiring minister can discern God's call on one's life. All of us in the class, and I suppose all of us in seminary, are there because we have discerned some sort of call on our life to serve God in a ministerial setting. But 90% of seminary is determining what sort of vocation that calling will become. I don't doubt that God calls certain people to vocations such as pastor, or other vocations such as doctor or lawyer, but I worry about our society when we wrap up our identity in those vocations. I raise this question because of all the things I've done in my life that I never felt a particular "call" to do. I've waited tables off and on for the last 8 years. Did I ever feel called to wait tables? Not really. But I felt called to pay my rent and have money to put gas in my car with. Was I somehow doing a disservice to God because I wasn't in ministry during those times? I don't think so.

Vocation, and in some sense a "calling" to vocation creates a hierarchy in life that doesn't need to be in the kingdom of God. I think this mainly because the only people I know who speak of a calling to their vocation are those in the seemingly respectable or noble professions. Doctor, pastor, teacher, ect... It's easy to define yourself as one of these vocations. But what do you do when life throws you a curveball? When your church fires you, when budget cuts eliminate your job? Are you less of a person in God's eyes because you are no longer doing the vocation you were "called" to? The answer is no. So I challenge myself and our faithful readers to define themselves and all those around us as more than just our vocation. Let us define ourselves as citizens in the Kingdom of God. Let our truest vocation be participation in the ongoing redemption of this world in the name of Jesus Christ.