Vocation or vacation?
If you believe that timing is everything or that all our paths are planned, or even that God has a great sense of humour, then any of these might explain why soon after being asked to write this piece I found myself on a morning in June sharing umbrella holding duties with a Methodist minister, Anglican Vicar (retired), Baptist Minister and a Reader in the market square in Hatherleigh*.
Is it possible, I thought, as the squally showers rained down, that anyone has been called to this particular ministry? I was tempted to search the concordances for references to umbrellas in the Bible. In terms of timing it was only a week or so later that our church home group was discussing the concept of our calling.
In the context of that conversation I’m not sure any of us would necessarily have described our current employment situations as a vocation (particularly those who are retired). There was however a consensus that we need to be mindful of the need to serve God in the circumstances in which we find ourselves; an awareness of using the gifts we have to the best of our ability and also a preparedness to explore opportunities as they arise/are given to us.
Which brings me to the position in which I now find myself. The Methodist Church employ me (although it is very much a ministry of all the churches), part-time, as a Rural Worker (Pastoral Support Enabler) in a beautiful part of Devon (and a little of Cornwall) that extends from Bideford to Bude and from Okehampton to the Bristol Channel.
The first task was to become a part of the local agricultural mart community which has happened with the active encouragement of the local auctioneers and the willing and, let us not forget sacrificial, help of local lay and ordained folks all of whom have either a background in or interest in the farming community. Other parts of the role include some one-to-one pastoral work, and developing and working with pastoral teams (this is where the enabling part comes in).
Unfortunately, in my experience the use of the word vocation tends to convey either some special selection process leading to a job that might be termed full time Christian work or a suggestion of a carefully mapped out career. If these are true then what I am doing now is definitely not a vocation.
Previously I have worked in the
agricultural sector and for a government regulator. All the different roles had their part to play in the development of both knowledge and experience, and probably in paving the path to where I am now.
Can it be that the real definition of vocation is doing the best you can in the place you find yourself, always ready to seize whatever opportunity God gives you?
The vacation bit of the heading is just an allusion to the fact that some see what might be termed a vocation as not a ‘proper job’, a Sunday only occupation devoid of the pressures of real jobs. Or, if the job is enjoyable then it must be some kind of holiday job. If the last point is true then perhaps I am on vacation. Maybe a vocation is doing ‘work for Jesus none but you can do’ in which case I hope we all have a vocation.
Andy Jerrard
* Hatherleigh is a market town that is nominally the centre of my universe (for work purposes). The umbrellas were to protect those who were participating in a sponsored read of Matthews Gospel in aid of the Bible Society.
24 www. countryway. org. uk
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