What Do You want to BE?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question that probably all of us have been asked at some time. It’s also a question that we may also have asked a young person we know. Maybe it’s not such a bad question to ask these days given that young adults today seem to be more intentional than ever about connecting what they want to DO with how they want to BE. Two unintentionally related articles that appeared on the same Saturday this past weekend in The Des Moines Register got me thinking about careers and calling and the difference between “doing” something and “being” something.

“Young mayor feels he has made a difference” (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090328/NEWS/903280325/-1/archive) is the story of Sam Juhl, now 21, who was first elected mayor of Roland, Iowa in 2005 at the age of 18. Although Juhl acknowledges that he isn’t clear about what career he will pursue in the future, you get the feeling that it will be one like his current role as mayor that will integrate his life’s work with his interest and passion around public service. Reflecting on his career as mayor, Juhl say, "In my little way, in Roland, I've made a difference."

The second article from last Saturday’s Des Moines Register , “You can be called to many careers besides seminary” http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090328/OPINION01/903280305/1035/archive is written by guest columnist Gustav Nelson, the director of Project 21, a program designed to identify and describe new models of congregational life for the 21st century. Nelson, a former executive presbyter of the Des Moines Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA, urges the Church to help members claim God’s calling in their careers instead of suggesting that a true calling is only lived out through a a career as a professional minister. Nelson writes that “The church today is operating on a pre-Reformation mode. It skips over the Reformation in urging members who feel called to ministry to enroll in seminary, instead of realizing that what they already are doing, even in tough times, may be what God has called them to do.”

So, what’s the difference between “doing” and being”? I think one way to get at the difference is to consider the root words behind “occupation” and “vocation” It may be telling that “occupation” come from the same root word as occupy – taking up space; while “vocation” comes from the same root word as “vocal” – to call or summon. What do you think? Do you feel like you’re taking up space in a job or have you been summoned to a career?