Kruse Kronicle

Best of It: Vocation (Part 1)

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Today we begin Chapter Seven in John Stackhouse’s Making the Best of It. This chapter deals with vocation.

The word “vocation” comes from the Latin word vocare, and thus means “calling.” In history, however, this word has become bound up with the category of “work,” albeit in three different ways. (221)

Work is vocation – Especially true of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, where “vocation” is a call to a religious career … monks, nuns, priests, and such. Others are sometimes said to have “secular priesthood,”  … for example, medicine, law, or education.

Call of Christ to every Christian – Work is not vocation. Our call is to particular Christian activities (like evangelism or charity) disconnected from an entire life pattern (like being a priest) or to economic labor.

Stackhouse was raised in this tradition and said there were only practical pieces of guidance for him:

… avoid sin (such as lying or gossiping at work, stealing office supplies, cheating on taxes, and so on) and evangelize co-workers and customers as often as possible. (221)

It sounds like Stackhouse and I have similar backgrounds.

Work is part of vocation – The root word from which we get “saints” means “to be set apart for special use.” “…Each of us are set apart by God for service.” Stackhouse notes the pervasive tendency to make distinctions between heroes and ordinaries, religious and secular, or saints and non-saints. The Reformation aimed at these dichotomies. He writes:

With this eradication of the two-tiered system in the Reformation then, came two positive teachings: all (legitimate) work is blessed by God, and vocation is more than work. Vocation is the divine calling to be a Christian in every mode of life, public as well as private, religious as well as secular, adult as well as juvenile, corporate as well as individual, females as well as male. Thus to be a Christian in every mode of life is to show something of what it means to be a (redeemed and renewed) human being as well.

From these basic considerations, let us proceed to analyze vocation in nine sub-categories: two sets of three, and then a third trio that affects the first two. (222)

In case you hadn’t noticed, Stackhouse is embracing option number three.

Another pairing that immediately comes to my mind is “clergy” and “laity.” In the fall of 2005, I wrote a post addressing this issue. In short, the adjective “laity” (laikos) is not in the Bible. The word has the connotation of being from the profane common masses. It was a synonym for idiots, meaning nonprofessional … it is also the word from which we get idiot. 🙂 “Clergy” comes from the word kleros. It means “inheritance.” Whenever it is used, it refers to the entire people of God (laos tou theo). The entire community is God’s inheritance, not a select specialized few. There are no “clergy and laity” or “clergy and the people.” Only the people are the clergy, and from among the people, some are called and gifted for leadership.

Okay. I’m off my soapbox now, and we can move into Chapter Seven.

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Comments

2 responses to “Best of It: Vocation (Part 1)”

  1. Travis Greene Avatar
    Travis Greene

    The bogus clergy/laity divide also instantly came to my mind. Does Stackhouse address this?

    Reply
  2. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    Not directly. I don’t think he ever uses the words. However, he effectively dismantles much of the clergy/laity dualism in this chapter.
    In my experience, when the dualism is directly addressed, many hear it as an argument that there should be no positions of authority in the church. I don’t know that he had this specifically in mind but I think he effectively addresses the issues while avoiding the often unfruitful framing of clergy/laity.

    Reply

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