From April on Theology of Vocation

Last month we helped you to see the Four Realms and how a Congregation can support its members and the understanding of Vocation in each of those Realms (it may have been a lot). This month we are going to talk first about the Theology of Place, and then how this may help us better understand the Theology of Vocation.
The Theology of Place isn’t that complicated. It starts back in Genesis either with Garden of Eden where God is walking in the Garden, Jacob’s ladder to Heaven, Jacob wrestling with God, etc. It continues in Exodus as God establishes his presence in the place of Sinai or the place of the Tent of Meeting. Then further with the Holy of Holies throughout the Old Testament. Finally, the Theology of Place takes on a new character with Jesus being the place where God comes to be with his people.
So the foundation for the Theology of Place is that God has established or promised to be with his people in certain places. In Church on Sunday morning God promises to be with us. God promises to be with us when we celebrate the sacraments. Jesus has promised to be with us where two or three are gathered around his name. These are Holy places.
So does God promise to with Fathers and Mothers as they parent their children? Does God promise to be with children while they are in School? Does God go with mommy and daddy to work? Are these also Holy Places? We might not like to use the word Holy places, but they are Valuable places. God has still promised to be with you in these places.
Think of Jesus meeting the woman at the well, that became a Holy Place. Jesus meeting the widow at Nain, became a holy place. Jesus goes into Jarius’s house to raise his daughter, and it becomes a Holy Place. Jesus makes all sorts of places holy and shows that they are valuable.
You are valuable, not because of all your works or strengths. You are valuable because of what Christ paid to buy you back from Satan. God gave us vocations within the family because they are valuable. God gave us Employment, community, and Church vocations, because they are valuable to him and to our neighbor. All these vocations are valuable.
When mommy and daddy go to work, it is valuable and important to God. Since it is important to him, he is there with them as well. Similarly, when kids go to school, it is valuable and important to God. Even if they don’t have School prayer, God is there with the students. He is making these Holy Places (Places in which we can see God at work in our lives).
To extend this idea just a little further, these are Holy Places in which you are given the opportunity to share your love for God as you fulfill your vocation. As you lead a God pleasing life, you are sharing with others the mercy and love of God. In Baptism the Holy Spirit sealed you for the day of redemption with a mark of the cross upon your forehead and upon your heart. God has stamped you with his mark, so that all the world would see you and say that is one who belongs to God.
You are the Holy of Holies in which God comes to meet the World (the temple of God). You are the Ladder to heaven so people can see Angels ascending and descending upon you. You are Mt Sinai where God reveals himself to new people. You are Jesus to the world around you. 

The Theology of Place, or the understanding of a Holy Place, helps us to remember that each of our Vocations is a Holy Place. God has given us these vocations for a Holy Purpose, and he has given them to reveal his Holy Purpose of Salvation for the entire Creation. Next Month we will conclude with some final thoughts on the theology of Vocation.

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