1.1 Work as Your Calling.
Down the path and across the water from where I live is an unconventional war memorial from 1922, crafted by Walter S. Allward, who was famous for the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy. The two lone figures represent a call to arms and a higher call to peace. Many responded to the call to arms when the “war broke out” – a phrase that encapsulates the complex times of The Great War. They were called out of their communities for a singular purpose, a mission.
At the centre of our lives is the work we find ourselves
doing. This is sometimes called our job, our career, or our profession (which
is that thing which we profess). This used to be more commonly known as
our vocation. Vocation is our word for the Latin word vocare, which
means “to call.” Our vocation is our calling. But what is the work that you have
been called to?
Why do we work? Money? Meaning? Purpose? Mission? Is our work a curse? If we had enough money would we abandon our vocation, our calling? We have a social orientation towards our work and a shared understanding of it. But there is a tinge of disorientation, and disorientation may lead to finding a new orientation, a new way of seeing.
What if my work was not about me? St. Paul of Tarsus suggests, 2000 years ago, that one of the purposes
of our work, the goal of work, was that we might be able to have something
to share with others. This is true whether have a great abundance or a great
lack of abundance. Seeing work in this way, as sharing for the benefit of
others, is a new and different orientation.