By Bishop Ann Svennungsen
Grace and Vocation. Two words. And, yet, if you know them well, you’re probably a Lutheran. Much of Lutheran theology can be captured in these two words. (Though, if you were Martin Luther, you would explain them with at least two million more words.)
Think about the baptismal service. It’s all grace – the radical welcome of God; our loving union with Christ; all a free, unconditional gift from God.
“Are we living out our vocations each day, so the neighbor is served?”
And, then, knowing that we’ve been joined to the Light of the world, we are called, given a vocation: “Let your light so shine before others.”
For Luther, the most important way we share the light of Christ is through our many vocations – all done in service to the neighbor. Am I serving the neighbor in my vocations as grandmother, mom, wife, friend, bishop?
THERE ARE TWO overarching questions about vocation. First, are our vocations a means to love the neighbor? Vocation – because it’s a call from God – must have serving the neighbor as its primary goal.
Second, we ask: Are we living out our vocations each day, so the neighbor is served? I can have a great calling as a bishop; but if I lead with impatience, envy, pride, then the neighbor is not served. Two simple questions: Are our vocations a means to love the neighbor? And, do we live them out each day so the neighbor is served?
“Are our vocations a means to love the neighbor?”
Finally (which, I guess, is really a third overarching question), does our love for the neighbor include seeking justice? God calls us not only to acts of compassion but to acts of advocacy – speaking up in the public square so all our neighbors experience justice and equity. That is love for the neighbor in the public square.
Grace and Vocation. Both shape and form the Christian life. And yet, at both the beginning and the end (and everyday in between) grace is the final word. For we’ve been joined to the Light that nothing can overcome.