The word “vocation” sounds awfully fancy. When you translate it a little, though, you find that it means “calling”. That is a little clearer, but sometimes even the word “calling” can be a little confusing. We maybe start to think of God calling little Samuel in the tabernacle, or Samuel later anointing David, or some other calling that seems big and fancy and mysterious and maybe even a little magical. Because of all of that, I have heard people differentiate what they do and what I do as a pastor. They say stuff like, “Oh, well, I just graduated and got a job, but you have a ‘calling’.”

While it is true that I have a very specific calling to be a pastor, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a calling. Quite the opposite, you probably have more callings that you know about. A “calling” is literally a thing that you get called. So if someone calls you “my lawyer,” you have a calling. If someone calls you “my student,” you have a calling. Other callings can be things like husband, wife, dad, mom, son, daughter, boss, employee, teacher, mentor, friend, assistant, etc. We could probably sit here and brainstorm callings all day long..

The thing about our callings is that they are inherently relational. If I graduate from the seminary, but I’m such an awful person that nobody calls me “pastor”, then I don’t get to use that title because I don’t have the calling. Likewise, I don’t get to be called “daddy” until I have someone for whom that title fits. That means that the lack of a healthy relationship can lead to the lack of a vocation. 

This is at least a part of why it is important that we are baptized. In Baptism, God does something special: He calls us His child. He establishes our vocation as His children, the followers of His Son, a part of His Kingdom, and a part of the Body of Christ. Our Baptisms are our primary vocations, our callings. God renews that calling again and again.

Even when we commit sins that should mean that we no longer get to be called sons and daughters, God  still calls to us. He calls us to repentance, yes, but the mere fact that He calls us means that we still have a “vocation” with Him. We are still His, and He will never stop calling us.

So celebrate your vocations this week. See if you can enumerate your vocations this week. And especially thank God that He has called You His child in baptism, making that your primary vocation.