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Faith sharing is also
difficult for many of us because we have a limited
understanding of vocation. We tend to equate vocation
with job and career, and so we think our vocation is to
be a doctor, mother, pastor, and so on. What we miss is
that as Christians we all have one vocation: No matter
how we make a living, our purpose — our “real job” — is to
participate in what God is up to in the world. We are
called to be Christ for one another, to help make the
world a better place, to share God’s good news with
others. We receive this call at baptism and it is at the
very heart of what it means to be a Christian.
Jesus put it this way
when he was asked about the greatest commandment: “Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and love your
neighbor as yourself.”
He also gave us these
words to pray: “Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed
by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven.”
Would Jesus tell us
to pray this if it weren’t possible? I don’t think so.
God is at work in our world, bringing in a new kingdom.
And we know from the biblical story that God has always
called people to be a part of this work! That is the
purpose of our lives. Whatever we do “for a living,” our
true vocation is to let God’s will be done here, exactly
as it’s done in heaven. Ask yourself: What slice of
heaven does God want to create through me at work, at
home, at the grocery store, in class?
Picture this: My
daughter’s best friend came out about his sexuality to
his family and friends during his last year of high
school. You can imagine how difficult and scary this was
for a 17-year-old to do. Later he started college on a
pretty conservative Christian campus. He was horrified
when he saw students harassing one another for all sorts
of reasons, including race, religion, gender, and sexual
orientation. It would have been easy for him to pack up
and move to another school. After all, his “job” in life
right now was to be a student, right? But he knew he has
a Christian vocation wherever he goes and whatever he
does. He shared his concerns — and witnessed to his
faith — to the school administration. And they heard him.
This fall, he’s back for a second year and has been
asked by the administration to work with a new staff
person in charge of diversity on campus. He’s using his
gifts of enthusiasm and love of people, his smile, and
his willingness to share his own good news story to make
a huge difference on this college campus. He knows that,
as a Christian, that is his real job.
Sharing our faith
through our words and our actions becomes easier and
more natural when we get over the idea that Christians
who share their faith are scary, like that guy with the
microphone. It’s easier when we remember that church
isn’t a place we go but who we are. And it’s easier when
we reclaim our true vocation as God’s people through
Christ, no matter what we happen to do for a living.
We’ll find ourselves
sharing the good news everywhere we go!
Tana M. Kjos is the co-founder and
creative director of A.R.E: A Renewal Enterprise, Inc.,doing
consulting and leadership coaching for faith-based,
non-profit, and for-profit values-based organizations of
all sizes. |
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In both these stories, a bold
“closeting” of one’s faith served a greater purpose and the
characters remained true to their faith in profound and powerful
ways.
But our North American context is not so hostile, and we are taught
from Sunday School through adulthood the far more common biblical
mandate to share our faith. Shouldn’t it be easy for us? Not
necessarily. If we face no tension at all in living our faith
publicly, it might suggest only that our faith’s values are
identical to the values of the world. Yet we are called as
Christians to look critically at the values of the world rather than
accept them unquestioningly.
For the message about the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God. (I Corinthians 1:18)
In the gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, women are the first to discover the empty tomb where
Jesus was laid after being crucified. Though terrified, the women
could not keep something of such joy to themselves. The news was too
good not to share.
When Jesus died, along with
him could have died hope for a new reign and another way to live.
But the resurrection says that this new reign and this alternative
way to live are alive in spite of — even through —Jesus’ crucifixion
and death. It may look crazy, as Paul writes in his first letter to
the Corinthians, but it is the strange power of God. It is a
foolishness wiser than human wisdom and a weakness stronger than
human strength (I Corinthians 1:25).
I confess it was not easy to answer “yes” to the history guy at the
bar, but the strange and vulnerable power of God was at work in —
and in spite
of — my initial awkwardness. Later I thought of all the
things I could have said that I didn’t, and I wished I’d not said
some of the things I did.
Yet I learned in that experience, as I learn in so many, that there
is a hunger out there to hear good news through an alternative
story, one not like the dominant stories of our world in which lust
for power, death, sin, and hopelessness have the final say. Even the
gospel story’s whisper is loud enough to be heard above these other
stories’ shouting.
The courage and ability to
live and share our faith is a gift, “for God did not give us a
spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love” (2
Timothy 1:7). And the message about the cross is the power of God
and unexpected good news — news too good to keep to ourselves. But the
tension of living a public faith is something we, like our
predecessors both Jewish and Christian, all face.
There will be
times we are bold and times and we are afraid to risk sharing it.
There will be times of concealment and times of disclosure.
Regardless what time we find ourselves in, we are invited to hear
and be part of the alternative story, living into our
calling as
people changed by this message about the cross and the power of God.
Amy C. Thoren is pastor of
youth, family, and educational ministries at Diamond Lake Lutheran
Church in South Minneapolis. She is drawn to evangelism on the edge
and believes the Spirit dwells in daring and unexpected places. _________________________
When you and your friends, classmates, or co-workers meet to
discuss this issue of Café, try out the questions for
reflection on our study
page.
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