Next class: Dec 17, 2007 - Christmas party

We voted last week that the Sunday December 17 class, next Sunday, will be a Christmas lunch. We passed around a sign-up list and took a collection of $5/person in class today. If you haven't RSVP'd yet, please contact myself or Alicia. Class is cancelled Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Hope to see everyone next Sunday for an informal time of fellowship.

Why tentmakers are arrogant

Consider someone who has the ability to earn a $50K/yr salary but chooses instead to be a tentmaker. This person only works half-time and can live on $25K. This is classic tentmaking. However, if instead this person earns the full salary and gives away half, someone else can live on $25K and work full-time in ministry instead. Since the tentmaker only can minister half-time, the tentmaker must be twice as good to be just as effective as the person who ministers full-time. Thus tentmakers are arrogant to think they are so good at ministry.

The point of this illustration isn't an exercise in micro-economic theory. We all must be good stewards of our income. Sometimes, God just wants us to work hard. To paraphrase Spiderman, with great earning power comes great responsibility. Likewise, the tentmaker must carefully examine his or her motives and truly understand God's calling.

Calling & work ethic

We continued our discussion on calling and clarified that while there is only a single calling for all, that does not mean we all do the same things. It's one body with many parts. While a pastor may have different responsibilities, we are all equal before God.

The idea that there is only one calling is one of the points of the Reformation and has implications beyond work. If we are all called, we can all approach our God directly without the need for special priests. Conversely since work is equally holy to God, secular work (i.e. tending to creation) is not a second class endeavour. We are to treat creation, i.e. the environment, with as much care as we treat our "Christian" work.

Our main group discussion question was "What is your calling and how do you know?" The emphasis is on the "how do you know"? As most of us are likely to be living within the will of God, the struggle is in knowing God. Just like school, the answer itself of what is our calling is only worth part-marks; we need to show our work on how we got the answer. Furthermore, the elements of a calling are in essence elements of knowing God's will. We concluded the same process applies to major life decisions such as marriage or moving.

After her visit last week, Tanya received that week from her seminary this newsletter on calling. Very appropriate for our discussion.

We then discussed how if work is part of our calling, we must work hard. This is the root of the so-called "Protestant work ethic". Verses exhorting us to work hard are available on request. It is important to have a balanced view of the work ethic and we disussed some of the limitations.

One test of whether we are working hard enough is to take money out of the equation. Do we work as hard as we did when we were in school and weren't paid? Do we work harder when we get a pay increase or prospects of a promotion?

In a separate post I'll summarize "Why tentmakers are arrogant" as a application of work ethic and the understanding of our calling.

Calling

We brainstormed on what it means for a pastor to be called into ministry. Elements of a calling that were jotted down on the blackboard were:

• Scripture
• Affirmation of our community
• Circumstances
• Personal gifts, passions and experiences
• Rarely, special visions or "fleecing" (Judges 6:36-40)

We had Pastor Tanya as a special guest. She shared how her calling came about. With her help we clarified the points on the blackboard.

How does a pastor's calling relate to us working folks? We concluded that there is a single calling applicable to all. The implications and applications are obvious.

The original definitions of the words "profession" and "vocation" are rooted in our Christian faith. We looked at Eph 4-6 and Rom 1:1-7 which showed all are called. 1 Cor 7:20 asserts our calling is for our current situation and thus implicitly states we don't have to all be pastors to fulfill our calling.