LIVING MISSIONALLY: Vocation
by Dr. Case Thorp
In order to make this document imminently practical, we gathered the wisdom of Kim Allen, Dr. Case Thorp, and Rev. Tanner Fox to address the specifics of missional living in FAMILY, VOCATION, and NEIGHBORHOOD. These lists are not exhaustive but will give you plenty to think on as you continue to shelter at home.
*Please note: We are not encouraging anyone to break the social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines given to us by state officials.
Rethink your job during a time of societal crisis.
How does my vocation (remember, all work, even that which is non-compensated) help alleviate the spread of the virus or promote it? An operations manager at Magic Kingdom has a very different answer for this than a call center operator, as does a retired professional, or an accountant. And yet, each needs to weigh the impact of their work in the greater picture of restoring societal order, a necessary component of flourishing.
If my vocation doesn’t clearly promote or alleviate the virus spreading, how can my vocational energies help bring order back to society with certain behaviors like self-imposed quarantine, new, innovative products or services, or more?
Consider the impact on business and employees with our daily patterns on pause.
Are you compensated for work that demands a physical presence that may be restricted at this time?
How will you save, adjust expenses, and prioritize differently through this period?
Will you let your needs to be known to others and readily accept help? Will doing such induce shame, and can this be an opportunity to reorient one’s identity in Christ and not our own sufficiency?
What does being generous through your vocation look like?
Can you provide an interim job to those most impacted?
Can orders be readjusted to benefit local providers and rekindle vendor relationships?
To what degree can you be transparent with your employees, colleagues, staff, or superiors about risks and opportunities during this time?
How can you be generous to yourself and your family by letting off the accelerator at work and reinvesting in relationships?
What colleagues at work might benefit through assistance services in the Christian community -- can you help make the connection?
Practice a new liturgy of rest and work, play and worship.
Almost every job will be impacted, if not in the immediate, the long term pending an extended time of quarantine and economic stress. In what ways can I be mindful about the impact and leverage my role to restore order and bring about flourishing?
Might this experience lead you to reset your rest and work liturgy, or lead you to consider a new vocational call that has needed such a time to launch you in a new direction?
Where is the place of prayer and the spiritual disciplines in your work, and could this “pause” provide space to pair such practices with a new working arrangement?
As we work to find new norms, adjust priorities, and innovate in this time of interruption -- a reminder of our invitation as Christ followers: to co-labor with Him towards a world of peace, justice, and love.
Jesus died for our sins, not so that we could sort out abstract ideas, but so that we, having been put right, could become part of God’s plan to put his whole world right.
-- N.T. Wright, Theologian