What is Vocation?
By Mark Oakley, Sunday 2nd March, 2008
There is no text available from Rickard Stenberg’s talk. However, some people have asked for the text of a contribution made by John Nicholson during the discussion. John has kindly provided the following:
“At the beginning of what he said, Rickard made a connection between vocation and salvation. I like to make a link between vocation and creation. This has to do with the fact that we are human beings before we are human doings.
In the English translation of the story of Creation in Genesis 1, God doesn’t issue a whole sheaf of commands to do this, that and the other. God says: “Let there be…” – “Let there be light”, and let there be sky and let there be space for plants and fruit trees and so on. God creates by standing aside, so to speak and making space for other things to come into being. Let there be Rickard, let there be John……, let there be the unique personal creation which each one of us is called to be. And what we are called to be takes a lifetime of discernment to discover, in the course of which we may do a whole number of things which help us to become what we are. In this perspective salvation in relation to vocation has to do with rescuing our humanity, rescuing us to become the truly human beings we are meant to be.
And priesthood in relation to this? I remember a priest-worker friend of mine saying: “I think what my priesthood is about is giving the priesthood back to the laity so that we can all participate in the priesthood of Christ.” We are to share with Christ in embracing the whole creation and offering it back to God. That is Christ’s priesthood and ours.”
