Student ID: 93380

Essay #1
COMM 494
10 November 2021
What is Your Vocational Calling?

“Vocational calling” has always been a phrase that I have struggled to completely

understand. Throughout my time at Wheaton, I have come to know the definition of vocation as

another word for “calling,” so putting the two together seemed redundant and difficult to explain

in an academic way. However, when I step back and think about how I would like to live a good,

purposeful, meaningful Christian life, the subject of vocational calling makes a lot more sense. A

few of the class readings this quad have really helped me think about vocation in a different way.

For example, N.T. Wright’s book titled After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters

touches on the idea that, in popular culture, the general accepted idea is that Christian living

ought to promote things like,

“Be yourself; don’t let anyone else dictate to you; don’t let other people’s systems

or phobias cramp your style; be honest about what you’re really feeling and

desiring. Get in touch with the bits of yourself you’ve been screening out; make

friends with them and be true to them. Anything else will result in the diminishing

of your true, unique, wonderful self” (Wright, 2010, p. 51).

This way of thinking has become part of the wider cultures across the world, and even in

churches. I believe that this way of thinking is destructive, as there is no discipline of the self. It

means that anyone can do anything if they believe it is fostering their true selves. This way of

living does not help a person to live a meaningful, purposeful life for others, as it is very self-

focused instead of others focused. As Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own

interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” To me, this type of living for others

constitutes the “Good Life” because when you live for others, you aren’t thinking as much about

yourself and your own vanity.

Wright also says that Christian behavior involves “doing things which bring God’s

wisdom and glory to birth in the world” (Wright, 2010, p. 71). In my opinion, that is at the base

of living a purposeful life. If we live our lives to honor God, while still enjoying whatever it is

that we are doing, then that seems to be where we can find our true vocation. In a similar way,

Placher cites the novelist Fred Buechner in Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on

Vocation when he writes about vocation, saying that God calls us to “the kind of work (a) that

you need most to do, and (b) that the world most needs to have done… The place God calls you

to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” (Placher, 2005, p.

3). Placher then adds that the belief that there is a good and wise God that is in charge of things

also implies that there is a “fit between things that need doing and the person I am meant to be.

Finding such a fit, I find my calling” (Placher, 2005, p. 3). I believe that the combination of

Wright and Placher’s ideas summarize my own feelings about vocation, in a concise and clear

way. When we can a) focus on providing for others’ needs and b) enjoy the manner in which we

do so, then we can live a truly purposeful life.

One more way that I thought about this question was by considering themes that I studied

in previous classes. After taking time to do this, I remembered some of what we learned in my

Digital Society class about technology causing a divide between people and facilitating a lack of

physical interaction. A big takeaway I had from the class was that a meaningful, purposeful,

“good” life includes forming real relationships with people and entering into their lives in a way
that is not just through technology. It is important to have true friends and people we can talk to

in this world, because while we may be trying our best to live for others and prioritize their needs

in order to serve God well, life can be challenging and knock us down at times. That is why I

believe that part of living out one’s vocation includes investing in good, quality relationships

with others who can both share in our joys and our pain. If we have a good support system, it

will be much easier to find our true vocation and live it out joyfully.
 References

Placher, W.C. (2005). Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation. William B.

Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Wright, N.T. (2010). After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. HarperOne.