I have a much longer (and more personal) post brewing on the topic of vocation and its sacredness; however, tonight, I am sharing excerpts from the genesis of such thoughts, Chapter 8 of Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture, (by Michael Frost) to wet your appetite and possibly spark some introductory conversation. Over the past month, Chapters 5 (another brewing post) and 8 of this book have aided in sparking critical growth for me as a church planter.
"[Followers of Jesus] will be devoted to their work, knowing that they can be called by God to work in a factory or a law firm or a school or the home every bit as much as someone can be called by God to minister as a priest or pastor. Like Daniel and Joseph, exiles will work hard for the host empire, and while doing so, they will be promising, 'We will work righteously.'" (p. 177)
"For too long the church has fallen into the dualistic pattern of seeing someone's job as a secular endeavor while valuing his or her role within the church as holy or righteous." (p. 180)
"Many churchgoing people get the impression that what they spend the bulk of their time doing every week is unimportant to God in comparison to what they do for a few hours each week in the church." (p. 181)
"God is present and interested in our work life as in any area of our lives. [Followers of Jesus] need to wriggle free from a church that devalues the righteousness of their everyday work lives as well as from a world that sees work simply as the means to make money." (p. 181)
"One of the simplest ways of [working responsibly and not contributing to the suffering of others] is to see that our personal sense of mission involves what we do for a living just as much as what we do for our church activities." (p. 181)
"We earn money at our jobs, of course, but our primary motivation as exiles is to do our work as an expression of our relationship with God." (p. 181)
"We routinely talk about the 'world out there.' What else can that mean other than that we, the church people, are 'in here?' This dualism has, over 1,700 years, created Christians who cannot relate their interior faith to their exterior practice, and this affects their ethics, lifestyles, and capacity to share their faith meaningfully with others." (p. 185)
"[Followers of Jesus] will be devoted to their work, knowing that they can be called by God to work in a factory or a law firm or a school or the home every bit as much as someone can be called by God to minister as a priest or pastor. Like Daniel and Joseph, exiles will work hard for the host empire, and while doing so, they will be promising, 'We will work righteously.'" (p. 177)
"For too long the church has fallen into the dualistic pattern of seeing someone's job as a secular endeavor while valuing his or her role within the church as holy or righteous." (p. 180)
"Many churchgoing people get the impression that what they spend the bulk of their time doing every week is unimportant to God in comparison to what they do for a few hours each week in the church." (p. 181)
"God is present and interested in our work life as in any area of our lives. [Followers of Jesus] need to wriggle free from a church that devalues the righteousness of their everyday work lives as well as from a world that sees work simply as the means to make money." (p. 181)
"One of the simplest ways of [working responsibly and not contributing to the suffering of others] is to see that our personal sense of mission involves what we do for a living just as much as what we do for our church activities." (p. 181)
"We earn money at our jobs, of course, but our primary motivation as exiles is to do our work as an expression of our relationship with God." (p. 181)
"We routinely talk about the 'world out there.' What else can that mean other than that we, the church people, are 'in here?' This dualism has, over 1,700 years, created Christians who cannot relate their interior faith to their exterior practice, and this affects their ethics, lifestyles, and capacity to share their faith meaningfully with others." (p. 185)
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