God at Work: Chapter 1 - The Christian's Calling in the World

"For Luther, vocation, as with everything else in his theology, is not so much a matter of what we do; rather, it is a matter of what God does in and through us" (9).

Veith prefaces God at Work with an explanation of what compelled him to write a book about "the paradigm shaking implications of the doctrine of vocation" (Ibid). It was reading Gustaf Wingren's Luther on Vocation that opened up his eyes to things he had never seen before, helping him to see his Christian life in a completely different way. And, I can say, the same is true for me. I am convinced that reflecting on Luther's teaching, through the thoughts of Veith and Wingren, has begun a work of transforming how I view calling/vocation and - in a broader sense - how I live my Christian life.

Chapter 1 - Introduction: The Christian's Calling in the World

Veith notes that Luther observed that when we pray the Lord's Prayer and ask God to give us this day our daily bread, it is by means of the vocations of others that God typically does this. Even though God is ultimately responsible for giving us our daily bread (i.e. providing for our basic daily necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, relationships, community etc), he does so through other human beings.

God has chosen to work through other human beings, who, in their different capacities and according to their different talents, serve each other. This is the doctrine of vocation. (14 - emphasis mine).

Even though work often appears meaningless, and can be a boring, thankless and oppressive task from our perspective, it is more than just the means to our survival. We can let it consume our lives in this fallen world, or we can allow the doctrine of vocation to reform and transform perspective:

The doctrine of vocation amounts to a comprehensive doctrine of the Christian life, having to do with faith and sanctification, grace and good works. It is a key to Christian ethics. It shows how Christiians can influence their culture. It transfigures ordinary, everyday life with the presence of God. (17 - emphasis mine).

I love that last sentence. I think that this is the key point for me. I have somehow imbued the view that my work is disconnected from my faith and spiritual practice, yet Veith is arguing that the opposite is true - it is actually in "ordinary, everyday life" of work, friends and family that the presence of God is truly to be experienced.