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Exploring the Meaning of VocationWhat is Vocation?Traditionally in the secular culture, the term "vocation" frequently alludes to one's job or career, or a reference to occupational trade skills. In the context of a liberal arts education at a college of Lutheran heritage, vocation represents the process of discovering an individual's unique gifts and discerning how God calls him or her to offer those gifts in service. In the biblical witness the word meaning "to call," is
explicitly associated with a call from God. The Latin Vocare,
the root for vocation and for voice, continues this tradition.
The calling of God always proceeds from God's grace and is an invitation
to participate in the blessings of God's creation through that same
grace. It is not a call out of the world but into it.
In Hebraic understanding, the fundamental calling or purpose of human
creation is to give glory to God, humanity's creator, which is principally
done in this life in one's community. God's purpose for the
creation is shalom, which is peace actualized in love through
justice, a love providing all that is necessary for life. In
the New Testament this actualizing love incarnated in the person of
Jesus Christ as the complete embodiment of this biblical vision of
vocation. As it was for Jesus, the call by God to fulfill the
promises of God is the foundation upon which the understanding of
vocation rests. The Christian receives a call to trust in this
promise of God through faith and to live out this faith through loving
service to one's neighbor in the world. Vocation and Higher EducationThe primary purpose of colleges and universities is to provide a meaningful and effective education for their students. The purpose of Christian higher education is to conduct that education in the context of the Christian faith, where learning is related to faith in order to provide a meaningful religious narrative with which students can create an informed understanding of vocation. Vocation connects personal meaning with practical engagement in life and leads to self-transcending service to others. Christian colleges assist this meaning-seeking, identity-forming process of vocational discernment by creating an environment in which vocation can be explored through significant mentoring relationships. The purpose of Lutheran Higher Education is the cultivation of such an understanding of vocation in an educational setting where faith and learning are kept in dynamic interaction. The creation of a climate where students feel encouraged to discover their call to serve is dependent on a secure support system in which such exploration takes place, namely the faculty and staff on the college campus as well as the broader community in which the college, as an institution, holds citizenship.
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