Part 7: Vocation
Community Guide
The Community Guide below is based on Sunday’s teaching for our current series: Future Church. As your whole Community gathers (online or socially distanced), use the Community Guide below to give shape to your night together.
Practice For The Week Ahead: Revisiting your Rule of Life for Vocation (10 Minutes)
This week, continue revising and working on your Rule of Life Chart, keeping in mind that the goal is not to fill in every box, but to come to a good balance and rhythm in each category.
As you work through the Vocation section, consider what your existing practices are in this area and write them down. Take some time to consider and pray through what your next step in vocation might be, and what God is inviting you into in this season of your life. Remember, aim to start where you are, not where you think you “should” be.
Below are a few ideas to get you started as you brainstorm and pray through your next step on vocation.
Entry-Level Practice: The Hebrew word kavanah refers to an act done with holy intent. Kavanah is when we bring our full presence and a motivation of love and excellence to our work or any ordinary task in order to “reweave” the manifest glory of God into the created order. This week, whatever your current expression of work may be, commit to practicing kavanah in a few specific acts.
Baseline Practice: For the baseline practice, spend some time coming up with a list of values that make up your vocation. Or, if you already have one, spend some time going through it again. Some helpful questions to get you started may include: What is something that you feel like you were made to do? Based on your gifts and skills, what is something you have to offer to the world around you? Even if I don’t have my dream job, how can I be practicing my vocation where I currently am? (Remember that your “vocation” isn’t necessarily something you get paid to do.)
Reach Practice: Make a practice of revisiting your vocation (or values that shape your vocation) with a close friend or mentor who knows you. This could look more formal like a Quaker-style clearness committee or just coffee with someone who knows you well. Alternatively, if you are not currently in what you would consider to be your vocation, begin to craft a practical plan for how you hope to get there.
Again, the goal is not to adopt a regimented practice of vocation for the sake of checking a box, but for the purpose of being someone who day-by-day is becoming transformed God and freed from the culture of careerism.