“Vocation”
A sermon by Sid Burgess
for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
Baptism of the Lord Sunday, January 13, 2007
Text: Matthew 3:13-17
Rub-a-dub-dub: three men in a tub, And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker . . . .
So goes one of the most beloved of Mother Goose nursery rhymes.
According to a story on National Public Radio, this little limerick
dates back to the 14th century, and might have been a bit risqué in
the original version, or perhaps a bit political.
As for me, I like this sanitized
ending to the rhyme:
Rub-a-dub-dub: three men in a tub. And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, all scrubbing their way out to sea.
Back in “merry old England” in Mother Goose’s time, a person who started out life in one of these three vocations was almost certain to end life doing the same thing. By contrast, the average person entering the work force today will work for five different companies and will have more than 10 different jobs before retiring.
People are changing jobs and careers so frequently that a venture has been created to help people tryout different vocational options. It’s called “Vocation Vacation.” For not a small fee, the company’s clients-- “vocationers” if you will--receive on-the-job, real-world experience “under the tutelage of expert mentors.” The company offers introductions into 130 different occupations. Among them are the dream jobs like actress, fishing guide, park ranger, and pit crew member. There are working-for-a-living jobs like long-haul trucker, real estate agent, and hair stylist. And then there are those out-of-the-ordinary careers, such as animal therapist, bison rancher, sword maker, and, perhaps, for me ring announcer for pro-wrestling!
Amazingly enough, with 130 careers to choose from, Vocation Vacations does not offer a single one that is church-related. No “vocationeering” with pastors, church musicians, educators, or youth leaders.
Ah ha! Maybe there is a business opportunity here! We could invite people to come do their “vocationeering” here at Edgewood Church. Spend a day with me, or Janice; spend a Wednesday evening with Amanda, or a Sunday evening with Patricia.
Come to think of it, you are already to doing this. You are already exercising your Christian vocation through Edgewood Church. And what you do here, week-in-and-week out is no vacation but every bit a vocation! You are exercising your Christian vocation as you sing with the choir and play handbells, as you serve as elder or deacon, lay reader and children’s sermon presenter, as you teach Sunday school, or serve as youth advisor. And all of you are exercising your Christian vocation as you faithfully participate in worship, and faithfully contribute your tithes and offerings.
This may come as somewhat of a surprise---that you have a Christian vocation. You may have thought only the clergy, only the church professionals had vocation.
This is not the case. Think about this: the word itself--vocation--comes from the Latin, vocatio, meaning a call, a summons, an invitation. That brings to mind the call--the vocatio-- of Moses at the burning bush, the call in the night--the vocatio--of the young Samuel, the call of the fisherman as disciples, and the invitation Jesus extends to all humankind: “Come to me all of you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens.”
Thus, each of us has a vocatio--a vocation--a call to serve “Christ and him crucified.” Long before we took up typing or teaching, nursing the sick or nurturing the children; long before we began to punch the clock or run the numbers, we had our principle vocation as Christian men and women.
Comes now the question, where do we practice our vocation? The answer to that question takes us from Latin to Greek, the language of the New Testament. The Greek word for vocation is “klesis,” found in our word “cleric.” “Klesis” is the root word for the New Testament word for church: ekkesia, as the church consist of those who are “called out;” that is, summoned by God for “service as well as for salvation.” This is our Christian vocation, as the term vocation was used by the early church fathers; and, as the Reformation summoned all believers to the priesthood. Every member of the church has a vocation--a call to receive God’s mercy and grace, a summons to serve in Christ’s name.
So, you have your vocation. You know the answer to the question: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” ‘I’m going to be what I am right now, a beloved child of God.’ “Well, what are you going to do when you grow up?” ‘I’m going to worship God, and enjoy God forever.’
This is our Christian vocation. To adore God, to respect and revere God--got that. And then, to take pleasure in the Lord our God. Take pleasure in the stories of the Bible, and the history of the church. Take pleasure in the rich theological heritage. Take pleasure in the community of God’s faithful people. Take pleasure in serving the needy, the poor, and the oppressed. This is our vocation--our Christian vocation.
And it all begins with baptism. We begin our Christian vocation with the waters of baptism, for it was here that Jesus began his vocation. Whether an infant beginning his or her life-long journey, or an adult redirecting his or her life, baptism is a beginning. It signifies our desire to see the world in a different light--that light which the darkness can never overcome. Illumined by that light, we see each other--even ourselves--in an entirely new perspective.
Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall writes: “. . . here (in the Church) a solitary creature, living always on the verge of being-alone (alienation) and being against (estrangement) . . . .” These are often our fall-back positions, aren’t they? Get disappointed, suffer rejection, get hurt or sick, we often retreat into the perceived safety of solitude and the stubborn stance of me-against-them. But here in the church, that “solitary creature . . .both wills to and is caused to be with all others-- God, humankind, and other kind.” This movement--from endless preoccupation with self into relationship with God, humankind, and “other kind”--begins with our baptism. Professor Hall continues: “Baptism thus (focuses on) the person--not elevating the person above others, but locating the individual within the total sphere of the communion of (all) creation.”
To be sure, our baptisms are intensely personal. Here at the baptismal font we are given a “visible demonstration of the assurance that God knows each one of us by name and has ‘adopted’ us to be God’s dearly beloved children.” In the sacrament of baptism we not only hear God’s blessing, we experience God’s love. Experience it through those who bring us, or who accompany us, to the font; through the church officers who pronounce God’s blessing, through the congregation that receives us and promises to support and encourage our journey with God in the world. All of which is to say, we experience God’s love through the community of God’s people. Baptism is personal, but it commissions us for a vocation that calls us out of solitude and into the community of humankind.
Now, folks invariably ask, ‘What do you do, or what did you do, for a living?’ Knowing the answer to that question, people can put us in a little box. Next, ‘Where do you live?’ And the box gets a little smaller. ‘Where did you go to school?’ Smaller still.
By contrast, the church asks, ‘Who do you live for?’ In our baptism, we respond, “Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!” That sacred response defies the tight confines of social convention. ‘Where do you live for Christ?’ Here, in the community of God’s faithful people. A community that begins in one particular congregation, but spreads out to the four corners of the world, and knows no bounds of time and space. No box, no border, no boundary for the exercise of our Christian vocation.
To Jesus Christ, who loves us
and freed us from our sins by his blood
and made us to be a kingdom,
priests of his God and Father,
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Rev. 1: 5,6
1
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/career.htm
2
http://www.vocationvacations.com/
3 Hall, Doulgas John, CONFESSING THE FAITH, p. 114.
4 Guthrie, Shirley, CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, p. 325.