What do you do? It's a question about your work and faith "God is stirring something up in me, and I don't know what it is." Sue Setzer heard those words recently from a client at the Career and Personal Counseling Service, Charlotte, N.C. The thirtysomething businessman had taken his church's youth group to camp so they could have a deeply spiritual experience. Instead, he had one himself and began wrestling with questions about his calling and career. "Should I leave the business world or stay and work with an attitude of serving joyfully?" he wondered. "How do I sort out these feelings?" Millions of people probably ask his questions. They're also repeated on television and in magazines, starting with Oprah Winfrey who regularly exhorts 22 million U.S. viewers and many millions of readers to "use your life" to help others. And we see news stories galore about people such as the millionaires who joined Microsoft young, cashed out and retired early — and now use their wealth to help homeless people find work, among other philanthropic ventures. Martin Luther published his answers to similar questions in A Treatise on Good Works in 1520. He said we must first strengthen our faith, the only source of all truly good works, and then work diligently in our earthly calling to please God. Luther specifically pointed out that, unlike popular misconceptions, one job isn't more important than any other in terms of service to the greater good. He wrote: "In faith all works become equal, and one is like the other; all distinctions between works fall away, whether they be great, small, short, long, few or many. For the works are acceptable not for their own sake, but because of the faith ...." We must know our vocation, however, and know what we are called to do. "Because we tend to restrict our understanding of vocation as a divine intervention that is heralded by a prophetic message, most marketplace Christians conclude that God has not brought them to the place they now occupy," says Robert J. Banks in Faith Goes to Work: Reflections from the Marketplace (Alban Institute). "This affects both their understanding of the value of their work and how it contributes to God's kingdom. In part this explains the frequent disjunction that is observed between people's faith and work." How to serve? Some people will be called to combine faith and work by serving as pastors, church employees or full-time employees of charitable organizations. Others may work on temporary projects to fulfill a need to serve. Still others might be employed in "secular" businesses Monday through Friday and volunteer on weekends for a church or community group. No matter the work — "even if it were so small a thing as picking up a straw," Luther says — finding affirmation in what you do is what's important. Denny Bender lost that affirmation after more than 25 years in the public relations industry. The vice president of the largest PR counseling firm in Michigan says his job had its successes. But, he admits, "there was a certain hollowness in what I was doing." When he had time, Bender enjoyed fellowship with his family and at his church, Hope Lutheran in Farmington Hills. But the extreme pressures of his job caused what he calls a "gradual erosion of his spiritual completeness." After being unable to resolve a year of conflict with his partner over the direction the agency was headed, Bender says, "It became apparent that God was challenging me to look at other ways to use the professional gifts I'd been given." He walked away. In a quest for fulfillment, Bender, 53, questioned whether he was a candidate for seminary, among other options. In the end all roads led to Americus, Ga., and Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian housing ministry. Bender, who heads up Habitat's communications office, prayed with his wife, Joan, about the big issues anyone deals with when making such a life change — relocating, changing one's lifestyle and a possible pay cut. The Benders had to leave friends and family in the Midwest, Joan had to find a new teaching job, and Denny's salary was reduced by more than half. "It may seem like sacrifices, but we feel much richer now," Bender says. "We've accepted the change. And God has found a way to make the transition in lifestyle enriching." Carol and John Bisbee also made quite a life change three years ago when she quit her job as a church music director and he took a leave of absence from teaching biology at Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, N.C., to "do something more." Says Carol: "When it came down to it, deciding what we wanted to do was a leap of faith." Carol, 56, and John, 57, members of Beth Eden Lutheran Church, Newton, N.C., thought their skills would fit best with Catholic Charities. They were assigned to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. For the first six months, John worked at a warehouse where used furniture is donated to people in need. For the second half of the year, John wrote grants for the warehouse, worked with a community law center and helped develop a volunteer corps for seniors. Carol's entire year was spent at a post-adoption agency where she supplied genetic histories to adopted children if the birth family had provided the information. In changing their lives, the couple answered the same lifestyle questions as the Benders did, even though their experience would be for one year. Their kids were out of college, the mortgage was paid and they don't live expensively, so finances were stable. They rented their house to John's replacement, so that income paid their bills. Plus, Catholic Charities, like similar domestic organizations, paid the Bisbees' medical insurance, housing and transportation, and gave them each a $200 monthly stipend. Now John is back teaching. Carol works part-time as an elementary school math tutor, accompanist for a high school choir and director of two children's choirs at church. They say they now have a new perspective on life. Among other things, says John, "we learned we don't need all the things we have." Adds Carol: "It reminded me never to complain about my lot in life." Like many other people, Harold Wolverton, 69, retired at a standard age and continued his volunteer work with his church and community groups. He worked for the federal and state governments in Alaska after moving there 42 years ago. He has held every office at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Anchorage, taught Sunday school, assisted in worship and coordinated the youth group for 17 years. In addition to church activities, he now volunteers as a site superintendent for the local Habitat for Humanity and gets sent to disaster sites by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a community relations liaison. Wolverton found affirmation in his job and now in his retirement activities through an attitude that he says his congregation also espouses: "If you're endowed with talents and resources, you're expected to do with those according to the abundance you have. If you don't believe that and respond accordingly, you're selling yourself short and not answering God as completely as you can." Having a relationship with God is the first thing you need to consider when thinking about vocation, says Setzer, 55. The candidacy committees of five denominations, including the ELCA, refer clients to Setzer's agency for evaluation for ministry. The agency is affiliated with the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Six years ago, Setzer, a diaconal minister and member of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Charlotte, co-wrote What Shall I Say? Discerning God's Call to Ministry for the ELCA Division for Ministry. It's required reading for all candidates for ELCA rostered ministry, as is 1 Corinthians 12, for them to reflect on the call to every Christian to "live out one's faith in service to the church and the world": There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all. Setzer offers this advice to anyone who, like her client at the beginning of this story, wrestles with vocation and the desire to do good works: "Take time — a lot of time — and do a lot of testing, in the sense of volunteering in a lot of roles. Wait until clarity begins to emerge." And remember your faith in God and your relationship with God and God's people. "When you have that," she says, "then you want to do good work, it flows." Help for your search Reflections that can serve as appropriate exercises for people who are trying to determine their vocation are included in What Shall I Say? Discerning God's Call to Ministry by Walter R. Bouman and Sue Setzer. Here's a summary of an exercise on ascertaining gifts: Begin to develop an autobiography. Jot down key events or people that have shaped who you are. Focus on times you were aware of God's presence.Write summaries of accomplishments that filled you with a sense of joy, achievement or growth. Include all parts of your life, from school and work to leisure time and relationships. Include summaries of any difficult times in your life. Note moments of grace, as well as times when you experienced the absence of God or testing of faith. With another person, look for patterns and trends. Some will be skills you've acquired, others will be gifts. List the abilities and traits you think may be gifts from God to you. "Once you have identified possible gifts that are central in your life over time and circumstances," the authors say, "you will be better prepared to discern the setting to which God may be calling you." Required reading for ELCA candidates for ministry, this book is a resource from the ELCA Division for Ministry and available from Augsburg Fortress; ISBN 0963663011. For further reading * 'Available through Augsburg Fortress, Publishers (800) 328-4648; www.augsburgfortress.org What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles (Ten Speed Press). * Making a Living While Making a Difference: The Expanded Guide to Creating Careers With a Conscience by Melissa Everett (New Society Publishers). * Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer (Jossey-Bass). * Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community by Suzanne G. Farnham, Joseph P. Gill and R. Taylor McLean (Morehouse Publishing Co.). |
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