Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
First, the terminology…
“Vocational“ may refer to occupation or employment generally, however its more accurate use is drawn from the Latin root, vocare, meaning “to call,” referring to an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are especially suited, by gift or by training. The term originated within Christianity, with specific reference to God’s call, referring sometimes to clergy-type ministry, though not exclusively so: it may refer to any role within society, carrying with it the idea of serving God and humanity through commitment to a role that produces common good.
“Responsibility” means having a duty or being accountable for performing an act or service; the opportunity, ability or obligation to undertake something or behave in an appropriate manner in respect of something particular.
So, vocational responsibility as key component of Christian life: what is in view here?
I like the term vocational, used in its fullest sense because it helps to break down essentially false barriers between clergy and laity, full-time ministers, Christian ministry and any other labels we choose to put upon religiously defined categories. What these labels tend to do is to perpetuate a dichotomy, a division, that effectively promotes some vocations as being ‘holier’ than others.
Of course, we can readily maintain such a dichotomy if we deliberately compare some nefarious activity—let’s say drug-dealing—with, oh, let’s say, doctoring. But it’s a false dichotomy. If we want to examine drug-dealing, we need to refer to the whole field of commerce, since it is essentially a form of buying and selling. Is all commerce dishonourable? Are even all drug-dealing businesses dishonourable? Tobacco companies were once considered quite acceptable, even though that is much less true now, they are still legal. What about medicinal drugs? Generally fine. What about those that are tested on animals? What about those that use research carried out on human foetuses, then?
Clearly there is a continuum. There are wonderful examples that can be found of commerce that not only produce excellence in terms of their products, but which also pursue virtuous outcomes for customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders, such as local communities, effected by their work. So commerce can be a viable vocation.
Likewise, if we want to compare the vocation of a doctor, we could compare, for example, “plastic surgeons’ who make sacrificial choices to cure cleft palates amongst the massively under-privileged, who would never otherwise be healed, with those who choose to make a great deal of money pandering to—and effectively perpetuating—the insecurities of the most economically wealthy within the so-called beauty industry.
The point is that no vocation, in and of itself, is ‘holy’, nor necessarily unholy. It is the context and the manner in which a vocation is pursued that has the potential to make it either one that contributes richly and virtuously to the wider community, or one that consistently undermines virtue and dignity in human society.
Every human being, in fact, has a vocation. Part of Christian reality is discovering the unique gifts we have been given and the context in which those gifts can optimally operate. Optimally not simply in terms of the highest salary, the greatest individual economic reward, but optimally in terms of promoting a whole range of human values including dignity, family and community.
This was brought home with great force recently in an interview I undertook with an African man who worked within an NGO—non-government organisation or charity. He pointed out to me how far his duty extended beyond his ‘job description’: he felt a responsibility towards his family and his community. His car, he explained, was not his car alone, even his bank account was not his own. All his blessing were, in his view, his in order that he could be a blessing to his family and his community.
He was quite clear that he would far rather have nothing in the bank and yet be able to look out his window and see an impact he had made amongst his society and people, than to have a million dollars in the bank and yet have made no discernible impact upon the communities amongst whom he lived.
Whatever we do in life, we are called to do it, above all, in covenant relationship with God and with others. For those who are not in such a relationship, this does not mean their vocation is to be regarded as any lesser, however. It is a matter of observation, for those with the eyes to see, that there are many with no great religious affiliation or even affection, who go about their work, their vocation, with virtue, honesty, dignity, pragmatism and a great deal of humanity and compassion, promoting those values to others by the way they live and act. While at the same time there are also many whose religious affiliation makes the manner in which they conduct themselves—without humility, grace, compassion nor any noticeable measure of self-distrust or critical examination of their manner and underlying assumptions—a source of shame and confusion for those who might otherwise take an interest in their faith or religious outlook upon life.
Vocational responsibility, then, means to take up the challenge of the whole range of work to which we are called—not merely our employment, but also amongst our homes, families and local communities—and to seek to do it in a manner that dignifies not only ourselves, but also those affected by our work. Incidentally, I was changed myself, and know other people to have been, by this little adage: “I used to resent the interruptions to my work, until one day I realised that the interruptions were my work.”
James Fowler put it this way, in his book, Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian:
There is no personal fulfilment that is not part of a communal fulfilment. We find ourselves by giving ourselves. We become larger persons by devoting ourselves to the common good.
From the standpoint of vocation, fulfilment, self-actualization and excellence of being are by-products of covenant faithfulness and action in the service of God and the neighbour.
We find ourselves by giving ourselves…to the common good: that is vocational responsibility, carrying with it its own, innate reward.
