Vocation : The Way I See It

The two book that I refer to in this post are:
Vocation -- Discerning our Callings in Life by Douglas J. Schuurman
The Way of Life by Gary D Badcock

This is an introductory personal essay a wrote for my class on Theology of Vocation. I would love to hear your thoughts!!!

Thinking about vocation is, for me, a new topic. I had always considered it one of those topics which were not in need of discussion. I believed vocation was what one chose to do to provide for their family. My dad, an engineer for Boeing and my mom, a nurse at our local hospital, taught me about vocation; not through words but thought their actions. They were extraordinary providers. I always had food on the table, a roof over my head, as well as, most the amenities a boy could want. This was, for my parents, vocation – A way to do something you enjoy and turn it into financial support for your family.

My understanding of vocation has changed since I was a boy. Up to reading Badcock and Schuurman I had never thought about vocation and calling as being the same thing. To me they were related concepts from different fields, secular and religious. When I was in high school I led a worship team at church. Though this experience I began to sense God’s calling to study music and seek a career as a worship pastor. Previously, I had believed I would be a firefighter and provide for my family that way. In my understanding, the former choice was calling and the latter was vocation. My call was not an over spiritualized experience. It came mostly in the form of a thought that went, “I could do this for the rest of my life.”

Since I began to pursue what I believed to be my calling I have changed my understanding again this time though experience and knowledge. My present understanding of calling is pulled somewhere between the middle of Schuurman and Badcock. On the side of Schuurman, I see my decisions to follow my “calling” to be a product of need, gifting, opportunity, and community discernment. I saw a need for better forms of worship the church; I was a gifted vocalist, guitar player, and leader; I had opportunities to travel with a worship band and attend a Christian music school; and my family and friends affirmed that to be my calling and direction in life. On the other hand, as I have read and interpreted the bible more diligently, I have found scriptures use of the terms calling and vocation more along the lines in which Badcock describes, to love. Christ’s command to, “Love as I have loved you” seems to be the context for most uses of calling in the New Testament. In the New Testament Christ called people to have faith in him and to love as he did. Therefore, my present understanding of vocation is a free choice founded on God’s call to faith and love. In this way, one uses his own perceptions of need, personal gifting, opportunities, and community to show the Love of Christ to all people and have faith in his transforming power.

My faith in God has been the most important factor in bringing me to this point of my life. When I say “faith” I do not mean having faith that God will bring the one and only girl for me or that he will make life smooth and easy. Instead, my faith in God is that He is good. This means He is who he says he is and he will do what he said he would do. This faith has given me the ability to understand my shortcomings as I seek to follow my calling. There have been times in life where I wondered; if I make a wrong choice will I miss my calling? My faith brings me back to the same answer. No, because God is good and this good God’s plan is above my ability to screw it up. That plan seems to me, to be closer aligned with Badcock’s description of “call” as less of a life blueprint and more of a leading to a “reorientation though repentance, faith, and obedience.” (9) I have found that when I truly put this kind of faith in God I no longer have to worry about petty issues of right or wrong decisions but instead I am free to love God and people in all sectors of my life and walk though the doors that are open for me in my career.

Social location, family, and friends have been the largest influences in my vocational decisions. My dad told me from an early age, “No amount of pay is worth doing a job you hate so find something you love to do.” This was a huge factor in my own sense of calling to music. I had been called to be a follower of Christ since the earliest I can remember and had always wanted to serve him in any capacity I could. Those factors combined with my gifting and love for music helped me realize there is nothing else I would rather do than play music for the Glory of God.

Growing up in the Lutheran church my understanding of “call” took a very Lutheran tone of life station as describe by both Badcock and Schuurman. Looking back, my own decisions toward music were out of understanding it as my life station though the gifts and opportunities I had.

After graduating from college with a music degree, I ended up making a lot of decisions to turn down high paying worship ministry jobs due to a change in my understand of God’s call for my life. Through influences within my community of friends I understood God’s calling to be more toward love and less toward music or even a specific ministry. Instead, I desired to use my passion to love God and love God’s people. Because of this I am working as an assistant coordinator at a coffee shop and joining a church plant that is beginning in Ballard, Washington that will find ways to love and care for the people of Seattle though the arts. In this way, I am able to fulfill my calling to love within our community and in the city of Seattle, as well as, use my gifts to play music and lead people to worship God in all spheres of life.
In using the arts to enter a conversation with the city of Seattle we begin to speak their language. When we speak the cultures language we are able to build relationship and love them in real tangible ways. By entering this vocation I believe that I will have more opportunities to love and care for those who believe God’s only aim is to tell them what they cannot do. This advances God’s purpose, to bring all people to himself. By putting faith in him to be the judge and transformer we then are free to be ambassadors for his purpose: calling people to a reorientation of life though faith in him.

Choosing this career path has been a difficult choice because as Badcock describes it is a risky venture. It does not pay and it does not bring with it any prestige. What it does do is afford me the opportunity to use my gifting of music, my vocation of living for God’s glory, and my call to Love, in service to God and his world. This is an understanding of vocation that I believe both Schuurman and Badcock could agree on.