y last official task as bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon made me happy. I appointed a young minister to his first parish. I felt like I was introducing good friends to one another. I like Quenton and his fiancée Martha, and I am fond of the people in the four congregations he will serve in east-central Saskatchewan. There were some practical considerations. Quenton acquired good training for the ministry during three years at theological college in Ontario. He also found a lovely fiancée when she came to play the harp at the College Chapel. The bishop needed to find the young couple a pleasant rectory for their first home.
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It is not always easy to be the clergy family, but I am not worried about Quenton and Martha. They will be warmly welcomed. I can imagine the tasty casseroles that will appear at the door of the parsonage the first weeks after their marriage.
Quenton is excited about his assignment. “I can hardly wait to be a country parson.” Passion and enthusiasm will serve Quenton well. They may be the most important attributes he will bring to his first charge. He has learned to lead worship services and to preach sermons. He has some idea of the administrative responsibilities required when leading four congregations. He also knows he will succeed or fail on the basis of relationships with the church members. They will judge him on his interest in them, their families and their lives. Caring, community involvement and a sense of humour will determine his success in ministry.
What would motivate Quenton and Martha to take up a challenging assignment in a rural area far from the city? What motivates anyone to make choices which do not yield the greatest amount of money, security or prestige? I believe the explanation is a sense of call or vocation. A vocation is not the same thing as simply doing a job. A job may seem dreary, routine and humdrum. Alternately, if you feel needed, and are happy with your work, your passion will rub off on others. You will look forward to your daily tasks, and you will feel good when your day’s work is done. This is vocation. It is the reason many people farm when they have other choices.
An American preacher, Frederick Buechner, says that if a person is truly called to a vocation, their work will give a great sense of satisfaction — happiness in fact — and will also be of benefit to the world. Buechner illustrates: “Take for instance, a person who writes deodorant commercials. The man really loves his work, but are deodorant commercials one of the world’s deep needs? On the other hand, there is a woman who is a physician in a leper colony. Now here is one of the world’s profound needs. But she hates getting up and going to work each day. Neither the writer of deodorant commercials nor the doctor in the leper colony has discovered a vocation.” Buechner concludes, “One’s vocation is where one’s deep joy and the world’s deep needs meet.”
Jesus talked about losing our life so we might find ourselves. I think he was saying that true joy comes from finding meaning and satisfaction in our lives, and doing something for others. If you are doing work you really enjoy, and it is work the world needs done, you have found a place where your joy and the world’s needs meet.
Suggested Scripture: Luke 17:33, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon.
