Our son, Nathan, graduates high
school this June. In fact, his graduation ceremony is the morning of Saturday,
June 9 in Indianapolis…when I am supposed to be leading the last day of the
2012 Indiana-Kentucky Synod Assembly in Covington, KY.
Do you ever find yourself in this
sort of vocational conflict?
Interpreting scripture, Martin Luther spilled a
good deal of ink on the concept of vocation. As baptized people, marked with
the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit, our central and primary
vocation – or calling – is to shine the light of Christ in the world: “Let your
light so shine before others that they see your good works and give glory to
your Father in heaven.” Other vocations, or “callings,” spring from and are
means by which we express this central calling: parent, child, student, spouse,
sibling, worker, friend, steward, activist, caregiver, diaconal minister,
bishop…
In fact, one theologian has said
that, “Seen through the lens of vocation, all human work becomes a means to
participate in God’s creating and sustaining activity on earth…Luther is fond
of saying that one’s own roles and relationships surely give one more than
enough God-pleasing work to do without having to look for more.”[1]
Yes, indeed, there is more than
enough work to do! We know that well. We are sometimes overwhelmed at our more than
enough “callings” to shine the light of Christ. And, sometimes those more than enough
callings conflict with one another, forcing us to make a decision about which
one to give priority at any given moment. In some ways that is the dilemma of
our often over-busy lives. How do we balance all these vocations, these
callings?
We pray. We weigh the various
aspects of each situation and related consequences. We seek the counsel of
others. We tend to the primary relationships God has entrusted to us. And then we
take a leap. We “sin boldly” by following the leading of God’s Spirit to
privilege, at least for the moment, one vocation over another in service to the
one overarching calling, and we entrust ourselves and our decisions to God’s
amazing, forgiving, transforming grace.
So this year, leadership of the
last few hours of the Synod Assembly will be in the very capable and generous
hands of our Synod Vice President and others. That Saturday morning, I will
rise early to drive back to Indianapolis just in time to sidle up next to my
wife, Janet, and daughter, Kira, to beam with parental pride while Nathan strides
across the dais into his future.
May God grant us all
continued grace with ourselves and with one another as we tend all of our
more than enough vocations.
Bishop Bill Gafkjen
[1] Kathryn Kleinhaus, “The Work
of a Christian: Vocation in Lutheran Perspective,” Word and World,
Volume 25, Number 4, Fall 2005 (download at http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Vocation/Word-and-Service.aspx)
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1 comment:
Good decision. There will always be another synod assembly but not a high school graduation. Pam & Marty Mielke
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