Here we are at vocation. Again! Vocation is a big idea here at Calvin College. It was the conclusion of prelude. It’s the last chapter of Plantinga’s book. It’s the focal point of the reformed perspective. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and now Consummation or Restoration. Christians as followers of Christ are here to aid God in his plan of restoration. Creating shalom here on earth. Anyone in the reformed perspective has heard this countless times. I’ve already said this very thing several times in my blog posts. I am here to be an agent of renewal and the area where I do this is my vocation. As it was put in prelude where the worlds hunger meets my deepest gladness. Plantinga as everybody else points out that this can be in any area of life. Lewis contended and I agree that this needs to be in every area of life, culture, and the world. There needs to be Christian librarians, fireman, newscasters, and athletes. We need children’s books written by Christians (Narnia Books!). This restoration effort must consume every corner of creation so that as Plantinga discusses”Thy Kingdom Come.”
Plantinga brings to my attention the need for passion. This vocation is one of passion. That’s why it is where your great gladness meets the worlds hunger. In order to truly change this world we have to be passionate about this mission. We have to be passionate about creation as I have discussed (Recall the discovery channel song). Without passion we don’t convince the non Christians around us. We aren’t really helping the cause. I’m not sure that I have enough passion in my own life. We are taught vocation as what we are going to go out and do with our Calvin College degree, but in actuality we all chose to come here and have a mission of restoring student life. We were asked in Prelude how can we find a way to study that is pleasing to God? How can we find a way to party that is pleasing to God? We are in a vocation of our choice right now. College is ours to transform. We can be better study partners, better listeners of our hard working professors, and better people to live with. Let’s serve our vocational calling today.
Great reminder to be passionate about every vocation that we have. There is so much that we can be passionate about and so lets find those things that really intrigue us fascinate us or bother us and go out and do something about it. As that discovery channel song says "Boom de yada!"
ReplyDeleteI think its also important to note that vocation can extend outside of our "jobs". Part of our vocation may be finding a church where we can help as well as be spiritually fed. We also need to realize that there will be times when our vocation really stinks. We may get discouraged, but eventually, we have to realize that God is using us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about our vocations in college. Right now our vocation is being students, and we should focus on that. I think that God wants us to put our whole hearts into being students right now, and then when we get into our careers later on in life, He will want us to be passionate about our job then.
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