Lent 2: Vocation

This week's portion of the Lenten disciplines asked us to reflect upon vocation.  This is something that I think about a lot, because I am engaged in an entire year's worth of vocational formation as I do this internship in parish ministry.

Author Frederick Buechner said that vocation is where your deep gladness and the world's deep needs meet.  I think this is my operating definition of vocation as well.

My understanding of vocation has also been shaped by Martin Luther who writes that vocation is not limited to clergy.  We all have a vocation, and that is to serve our neighbor.

So vocation is about knowing your gifts and how they can be of service to the world, while also paying attention to the needs around you.  I think it is this second part of vocation that is all too easy to forget.  When I lived in intentional community nine years ago with seven other young adults (wow, that feels like a lifetime ago!) we had a sign in our kitchen that read, "See the Need…Meet the Need."  It partially had to do with cleaning up messes in the kitchen, but also had to do with our lives outside of the Ogden Street house. Lives of service in organizations serving those experiencing homelessness and poverty.

Vocation: It is about seeing the need and meeting the need. Using your gifts to meet the needs of the world.