For most of us, doing the work of the Kingdom is like a part-time job. We go somewhere or do something once a week, once a month or several times a year. In between it may feel that we have a lot of down time. Lately, I have been asking the question, “what if I want do to Kingdom work today or right now?”
A friend the other day told me of some who seem to have an identity of a minister. They may or not have an official title or station within the church, but they are always sharing Christ’s love and care with others. For them, pastoral care is not something that they can just pick up and put down again when they retire. It reaches the chore of their identity.
Perhaps what I am wrestling with is an idea of vocation. Unfortunately, in most of the churches I have been in, vocation is limited to a few people on the church staff. Furthermore, many of those staff members experienced their work as more of a job than a vocation.
Every once in a while, there comes along someone like St. Francis, whose sense of vocation changes the world and creates a new category of calling. Wisely, the church affirmed this vocation, but it could have just as easily gone the other way. What would the world be like without the Franciscan family today?
Perhaps the church needs to be a little more creative in this idea of personal vocation. I wonder how many times the church has missed the opportunity to come along beside someone on whom the Spirit has his hands. What if, instead of the church’s asking where someone could fit into their plan they asked, "where is the Holy Spirit already working in this person?" What if most churches felt free to create new categories of vocation?
Creating these categories of vocation would necessitate empowering those to do the work to which they are called. These new ministers may need new tools. Our old manuals may have to be supplemented. Professional clergy would have to be willing to share the work and the blessings.
I can almost see a church with many orders: orders of artists; orders on hospital pastoral care givers; orders of teachers; and orders of sages.
