A Colossal Network

Vocation is Calvin College's favorite word.  Yes, that is a bold statement.  But let us think about how coming to such a conclusion makes sense.  To start with, we have all of the beginning of the year quest orientation, in which you are ensured that you have time to, but need to choose your vocation.  Then students are moved on to Prelude in which they are taught a lot about integrating faith, school, and a liberal arts education.  All of which end up pointing to vocation.  Even now for another required course, all incoming students are reading a book in which it vividly explains vocation.  Let me be clear by taking a standpoint here, which is that I am not against calvin doing this.  In fact I would say all the talk of vocation actually is helpful to the average student, but that does not change my initial point.  Vocation is the word of Calvin.

When comparing the different ideas of vocation through each of the forms of education, I gather a sort of combined idea of what vocation needs to be in our lives.  So here goes:

From Quest I have learned that vocation is not definite.  God does not always say "This is what you will be doing for the rest of your life."  It is very rarely as simple as that.  When in a meeting with most of the sociology and social work professors, they went around the room explaining where they had all been before teaching at Calvin.  The variety of each one was immense!  There really was no framework for them to follow, each took a unique path.  If we choose to follow, God may not lead us down a direct path, but He will take us to where we should be.

From Prelude I have learned that vocation is something that needs faith and prayer.  Faith is sort of a given in vocation.  That is, our "destined position in the future" is based on our faith in God.  Faith is hard though, and sometimes prayers don't seem to be answered.  But praying is a necessity in this equation.  Learning to pray to God for guidance and advice is key.  God talks to us in the strangest of ways.  Prayers are often indirect communication, but sometimes are even a direct way that God will tell us where to go.

From Developing a Christian Mind I have learned that my vocation is something that needs to fit with other's.  Plantinga is a clear writer in that as images of God we have responsibilities (those being vocations), but that they should learn to coexist with those of other Christians.  We should not be easily broken standpoints that bend to the will of those around us, but with discernment at our sides, we should use each vocation as one small part of a gigantic web.  Let us stop thinking of vocations as career paths, and start to see them as organic journeys into a colossal network.