Today’s scripture: Luke 12: 42-46 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Robert Ferguson):
I have a job that I go to every single day during the traditional work week. I am grateful to have this job because I realize that life would be very different for me without it. However, there are times when I become discouraged because my job is just that, a job. I admire people who have the courage and, dare I say, the faith to leave their jobs and forge out on a journey to create a career and do that thing in which they would gladly toil for no pay at all. In my mind’s eye I have always considered doing work for a paycheck to be called a job; but doing work that brings personal satisfaction and glorifies God, well that to me, could justifiably be called a career or one’s vocation.
We are all familiar with the concepts of “job” and “career,” but “vocation” is a much misunderstood term. The word comes from the Latin vocare, or “voice,” meaning to follow the voice of God, or to do what we are called to do. There is a movement underway to redeem the original meaning of “vocation” as work that calls us to connect our God-given gifts and passions with God’s activity in the world. A vocation is a calling that merges our mission in life with God’s mission on earth. As Frederick Buechner puts it in a well-known passage from Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC: “The place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” That intersecting point is your calling, your vocation.
So frequently my prayer to God has been, “God, I believe you have called me to leadership and service to your church. When are you going to move me from behind this desk to a position in ministry where my gifts can be better utilized?” Have you ever wondered when God would come and make a move?
In today’s passage, the steward that Jesus holds up for acclaim is not doing something particularly flashy or creative. He is a worker tasked with handing out rations. He just continues to do his duty, day after day, without fail, without forgetting, without unexplained lapses. His virtue is faithfulness. You can count on him. In my mind’s eye I can imagine this lowly manager praying to God and saying, “When, Lord, when will I be promoted to do greater things for your Kingdom?”
As I ponder today’s reading, I hear God saying, “This ordinary work is important to me.” When we approach everyday tasks in the right spirit, there comes the understanding that even in the absence of some divine summons we actually can impact the world and transform whatever we do into important work for the Kingdom. What is the difference between a carpenter and a Christian carpenter? Between an historian and a Christian historian? Between a father and a Christian father? Between an artist and a Christian artist? Between a soldier and a Christian soldier? Not much, other than the spirit with which they carry out their work. When we realize that God considers all work good work, we are well on our way to making the divine summons largely irrelevant. Whatever work we want to do, we’ll just call that our vocation.
Thought for the day: Get ready, stay ready, and keep working until God says move!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.