Description
Vocation
EXODUS 3: 11- 4: 17
In my seminary in England, most students had already been accepted as candidates for ordination, but in my seminary in California many more people come not sure what ministry they may seek or even what denomination they belong to. So we have an Office of Vocational Discernment and Career Services. I find myself in conversation with students wondering whether pastoral ministry will suit them and whether it will be a context where they can exercise their God-given gifts and find fulfillment (or even just find a job). There is nothing wrong with that question, though I feel uneasy about attaching the word “vocation” to it, if we think it has much to do with the way vocation comes to Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, or Paul. In origin, vocation meant calling, and calling meant summoning. It presupposes the relationship of master and servant. When a master summons a servant to go and do something, it is not designed to be a way for the servant to find fulfillment, nor something the servant has an option about...