Holy Ground
One of the common phrases that many mothers say to their children when they act out is, “That was uncalled for.” That’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it? “Uncalled for.” It’s as if there is something outside of ourselves that calls us to be who we ought to be, and when we are acting apart from that, our actions are uncalled for. Christians believe that one of our deepest human hungers is to be called for, by someone outside of ourselves, to be who we ought to be. We believe that this summons does not come from within as some inner human strength, but from outside of ourselves. God does not stand indifferent to us and aloof from us, but communicates to us, summons us that we are called for something beyond ourselves. When Jesus sees James and John and calls for them, saying, “Follow me,” no questions were asked, they dropped their nets and followed him. So powerful is the call of God and so hungry is the human heart for someone to call for them that they stepped out of the boat and followed.
One day, a member of our church who was a frustrated businessman, came into my office for guidance. “I need a new job,” he said. “I’m working too many hours at a job I don’t like trying to maintain a lifestyle I don’t really care about either. But I can’t really change my lifestyle, so can you help me think about a new job that will be more fulfilling in the same pay range?”
“Why don’t you like your job?” I asked.
“It’s boring—numbers and documents all day. Boring and meaningless. I want to do something more meaningful than working for an investment firm.” Before addressing his use of the word “meaning” in relationship to secular work, I decided to have a little fun with this man.
“Here’s the problem,” I said. “You can get a new job if you want, but I think you’ll be back here in a year.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because that job’s going be boring too.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, because all the jobs that you can get that pay the kind of money you think you need, are all jobs that will feel meaningless. Jobs that feel meaningful don’t often pay enough money. And even worse, some jobs don’t pay any money and still feel meaningless. Those are the worst. What if you get one of those jobs?”
“I don’t want one of those jobs!”
“I know!”
At this point, he was thoroughly depressed and I reminded him that this is why pastoral care is free. So I said, “I think you need to consider the possibility that you don’t need a new job.” We looked at Exodus 3 and read through the Call of Moses and the Burning Bush. “What does this have to do with my job?” he asked.
“Have you ever considered the possibility that your office is a burning bush? The presence of God ablaze, calling you everyday to do your work to his glory? That your work is meaningful even if it doesn’t feel like it?”
“Well, I know I’m supposed to do my job with integrity and do a good job, and try to share my faith with non-Christians in the office, and that is pleasing to God, but I still want to spend my time doing something meaningful.”
Then I asked him, “Have you ever considered the truth that God not only cares about business people, but he also cares about business?” Then I quoted him Abraham Kuyper: “’There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!’ So, it’s not just whether you evangelize in the office or give your earnings to the poor that makes your secular work meaningful, the work itself is inherently meaningful to God. We labor to serve the common good in every sphere of life, with gratitude in response to God’s grace, and this is God’s will as it points to the new creation—the coming of heaven to earth and the renewal of all things.”The eschatology was a little heady for this man, but it was a start. I encouraged him to take a pair of sandals and place them at his desk so that he can remind himself everyday that he too, is standing on holy ground. Over time, this man’s internal motivations for secular work were transformed, and new surprising breakthroughs along the way helped him to see God’s hand everywhere.
This is precisely the kind of energy that Weber claims fueled the emergence of capitalism and a rational economic system for the world. Weber argues that the anxiety of Calvin’s doctrine of Predestination along with Calvin’s understanding of “calling” and living all of life to the glory of God, were two of the dominant forces of the spread of capitalism around the world.
Weber believed it was salvation anxiety that largely drove the desire to pursue secular calling in the world with rigor. It was the English Puritan literature that convinced Weber of this anxiety and uncertainty. Calvin’s God is transcendent, “Holy Other” and wholly unknowable. Add to the Doctrine of God, the Doctrine of Predestination, which was ironically intended to provide assurance not anxiety, and the Christians then found themselves in need of seeking signs of their election in the world. Weber argued a sort of influence of prosperity gospel on the Calvinists that drove their work ethic in that time.
It wasn’t really until the Calvinist Puritans emerged in the 17th century was Calvin’s notion of “calling” visibly translated to economic development. While other streams of Protestantism shared aspects of Calvin’s view of calling, such as Methodism and Baptist, Weber predominately focused on Calvin, who insisted that all people exist for the glory of God, who is sovereign over the entire cosmos. Every person created, therefore, has a calling in the world, and to pursue one’s calling is an expression of the Christian’s gratitude for God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ.
The Puritan Calvinists imagined an ethical form of Capitalism, and a set of ascetic practices, whereby wealth was to be reinvested into society rather than used in the pursuit of luxury (so as not to become an idol). Weber, however, noticed that these ethics and ascetic practices were lost in the godlessness of the Industrial Revolution.[1]
While salvation anxiety may not serve society at any time in history, Calvin’s (and even more, Kuyper’s) understanding of the secular callings of Christians, needs recovery today. Even in my Calvinist Presbyterian congregation, most people are not able to make any connection between Sunday morning and Monday – Friday. At best, they think their calling as Christians is simply to be honest and to evangelize their friends. But to recover a theology of vocation for Christians in the modern Western world, is an opportunity to bring ethics and commerce back together again, to give meaning and therefore joy to the lives of most Christians in America, to improve the equity of society, and to give the opportunity of faith for non-believers who also don’t find meaning in their work or consumption.
[1] Bruce Gordon, “Calvinism and Capitalism: Together Again?,” Reflections: A Magazine of Theological and Ethical Inquiry from Yale Divinity School, 2010. https://reflections.yale.edu/article/money-and-morals-after-crash/calvinism-and-capitalism-together-again (accessed March 8, 2018).
[2] Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and The, trans. Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), 1.
About the Author
Chris Pritchett
5 responses to “Holy Ground”
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Chris,
Thankyou for the “called for” introduction, that was brilliant!
I am pondering the Calvinist idea of “salvation anxiety” you mentioned. Does the Holy Spirit create what Weber calls anxiety to seek Christ? Or, is it conviction, desire, hope, and what your introduction seemed to point to as an inner calling or yearning to know the creator. What do you think?
How does Paul’s tent-making for the Romans to pay his way so he could go into the marketplace on the weekends and share the Gospel of Christ fit into Weber’s Protestant tenet? I think in God’s economy, it can all conditionally fit, if we are seeking Him first and walking in His will for our lives. Those are 2 big conditions for sure, but possible, absolutely!
Stand firm,
M. Webb
I loved your conversation with the businessman, and how you helped him to see meaningful work from a different perspective. I also loved your line…”At this point, he was thoroughly depressed and I reminded him that this is why pastoral care is free. ” (next time you can send him my way if he wants the expensive kind of counseling 🙂 lol) Interestingly, I actually talk with tons of people who are seeking meaning in their life and I’m always asking them what impact they want to make on this planet, and they always look at me sideways with a blank look. They rarely have a vision for their life that makes a meaningful impact. Way to give wise counsel Rev. Pritchett, and great blog as usual.
Chris,
A brilliant post. Thank you, especially for the story. It helped me see better where Weber was coming from. And any time you can quote Kuyper, I’ll be applauding.
Best quote: “Your office is a burning bush.” I think if we can see that ourselves and help others to see that, that this endless quest by this generation for “meaningful work” will begin to recede. It’s all meaningful, if only we have eyes to notice.
Chris,
I had not considered the need to retain or reconnect vocation with faith for contemporary Christians until your post. It’s clear from your conversation with the businessman that he needed some help in recognizing his own calling to find meaning in his work. Perhaps that is why many of our parishioners appear so jaded and discouraged. They work to gain financial security and accumulate ‘stuff’ but don’t recognize the higher calling their work has or that it is possible to dedicate the work itself as an offering to God. Perhaps if we helped them make that connection not only would they find some meaning but they would not be as strongly bound to the consumeristic tendencies.
Thank you, Chris!
This post had a sermonic tone to it, which drew me in and also illuminated the point you were trying to make. I think your use of the personal/pastoral as well as ideas from Kuyper and Calvin were right on.
Like others, I enjoyed your opening: “Christians believe that one of our deepest human hungers is to be called for, by someone outside of ourselves, to be who we ought to be”. In a way, it seems like this is the stuff you wanted to be talking about and the book just came along for a ride :). But that’s a good skill to have, take the text, and engage it through your frame, your hermeneutic. When can I come listen to you preach?