‘What do you do?’ That’s often the first question people ask when meeting someone new. It can be difficult or even painful to answer, for example, if your role is difficult to explain to outsiders, if you’re unhappy with your work or life, or especially if you are unemployed. But more often than not, it’s a convenient way in towards finding out about someone’s day-to-day life, as long as you meet the answer with compassion.
In the media this week there have been a number of stories touching on how people end up in the jobs and roles that they do – and what keeps them out of others. How does Jesus’ calling of four Galilean fishermen help us to make sense of our answers to the question, ‘And what do you do?’
This week's news
A number of newspapers have dismissed recent speculation that the Royal diaries and a press office merger at the Palace were evidence that the Queen and Prince Charles would soon become job-sharers. However, the Daily Mail on Tuesday 21st said betting agent Coral had suspended all wagers on Her Majesty stepping down before the end of the year, after an unusually large bet to that effect was placed – in Windsor!
On Monday 20th, London newspaper The Evening Standard reported on a charity campaign, ‘Inspiring Women’, which highlights the difficulties faced by young women beginning working life. It says an estimated 50,000 girls in London live in workless households and ‘find it very hard to get insights into the world of work’, knowing only about jobs they see on TV and not knowing how to get them. The charity’s director, Nick Chambers, sums up the problem: ‘These kids don’t have the networks. ’
‘You won’t be an actor if you’re working class,’ reads the headline on page 21 of The Times on Tuesday 21st. The report includes comments by Call the Midwife actor Stephen McGann that the chances of ‘a messy kid from a council estate today’ making it as an actor are ‘a lot worse than they were’, backed up by research from The Times showing that ‘award-winning actors born since 1957 have been disproportionately educated at private schools. ’
In a Radio Times interview further discussed in The Times on the 21st, Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman, whose TV series on World War I starts soon, spoke controversially on the subject of National Service. ‘I’m not arguing in favour…’ he said, ‘but it might have been better for all of us if we’d been obliged to do something rather than choosing for ourselves. It’s difficult to comprehend today a society where people were expected to do things other than gratify themselves.’
And in the Central African Republic, Mayor of Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza, a Christian, has been appointed interim leader of the war-ravaged country, with the daunting responsibility of arranging elections before the end of the year and restoring the country’s administration.
Reflection
In Matthew 4.18-22 we are introduced to four men – Simon and Andrew, James and John – for whom the answer to the question, ‘And what do you do?’, would have been simple. They were fishermen. We don’t know whether the profession suited them or what they thought of it, but when it comes to the question of what led them to it, we can guess that James and John had followed their father Zebedee into the family business. The story was probably similar for the other brothers too. For some of us, our future seems mapped out from the start. Prince Charles is expected to follow his mother into full royal duties at some point, while at the other end of the spectrum those growing up in jobless households may expect the same fate to befall them. Breaking free of such expectations can be enormously difficult. When the kingdom of heaven is near, however, things can change unexpectedly, as it did for those four men in Galilee.
‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ wasn’t the place you would expect the Son of God to go to choose people to help him bring in the reign of the kingdom. It was a place ‘in darkness’ (Matthew 4.16) and held in ‘contempt’ (Isaiah 9.1). A fisherman’s son from Galilee was unlikely to have had the networks or privileged education to get a glittering career in government or the priesthood, just as a child growing up on an estate or in a jobless household might find the odds stacked against them entering many professions today. Sadly, opportunity isn’t equally distributed in the world. But Jesus chose men from Galilee. And in the kingdom of heaven, all of us are called to come, just as we are, fisherman or prince. The opportunity of the gospel is for everyone.
James, John, Simon and Andrew may have enjoyed being fishermen. But on the other hand it may just have been what they were obliged to do to make a living. We don’t always get to have as much control over our lives as we would like. But whatever our circumstances, we can choose how we react and respond to those circumstances. Indeed, it is often through faithful perseverance in difficult circumstances that we grow (see also Romans 5.3-5). This principle is perhaps what lies behind Jeremy Paxman’s comments that it might be ‘better for all of us if we’d been obliged to do something rather than choosing for ourselves’.
Whether it was by obligation or choice that they had become fishermen, Jesus recognised something in those four men that equipped them to do something else too, to ‘fish for people’. Sometimes, even if we cannot see it yet, the things we are called or obliged to do today are helping us to get ready for what God will call us to do in future. Whether that is a high-profile task like leading our people, as faced by Catherine Samba-Panza, or just the everyday challenge of trying to treat those around us with grace, we can all pray to hear and obey the call to follow Jesus, right now, today.
Prayer
A prayer framework for intercession:
Almighty God, ruler of heaven and earth,
we ask you to help those who are called to govern, lead or take high office,
to do so with wisdom:
[Name leaders appropriate to your congregation and any topics you have covered, for example:]
the royal family, the Prime Minister, the Taoiseach,
Catherine Samba-Panza in the Central African Republic…
Lord, hear our prayer.
Father, Counsellor, Prince of Peace,
we ask you to be with those who are called to times of suffering,
that they may find courage, peace and strength:
[With permission, name those who are on the minds and hearts of your congregation, for example:]
those who are unemployed or unwell,
those who are struggling with jobs that they find difficult
or that don’t quite bring in enough to make ends meet,
those who face worries about an uncertain future
or who are excluded from opportunity.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Jesus, Shepherd, Teacher,
we ask you to be with each one of us
as we try to work out our calling to follow you in our daily lives.
And so we bring to you the challenges and joys that we face this week.
[Pause for a moment to allow space for personal concerns to be offered up.]
Lord, hear our prayer.
Amen.
A prayer to say together (based on Psalm 27.4 and 14)
Lord, let me live in your house all the days of my life.
Let me see your beauty, today and every day.
Let me spend time in your church,
learning about you with your people.
I will wait for you, Lord.
How I long to hear your call!
Help me to be strong.
Fill my heart with courage.
Help me to wait for you, Lord,
today and every day.
Amen.
See also the meditation / reflection in the Action section.
Questions
- What do you feel is your calling? Do you feel equipped to meet its challenges?
- How could others help you in that calling?
- Have there been times in your life where you have noticed how your past equipped you to face later challenges?
- How does your daily life reflect your spiritual calling to follow Christ? How could it reflect the kingdom even more? Remember, you can work for the kingdom wherever you find yourself!
Action
Meditation/reflection
Either within the service or privately during the week, set aside some quiet time to lay your current situation before God, whether that be working in paid employment, homemaking, volunteering, studying, searching for work, retirement, coping with illness, or some other situation. First tell God in prayer how you feel – whether that be grateful, angry, afraid, or something else – but then allow time to reflect and wait on God. To help you make the move from expressing your feelings towards listening for God’s voice, read aloud or to yourself Psalm 27 verse 4: ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!’ Then, in silence, wait. It may be helpful to set aside a fixed time to wait, even if only for a minute, to help prevent you from getting too distracted or discouraged. At the end of the time read from Psalm 27 again, but this time read verse 3 as well as verse 4 and read it as a promise to yourself and to God: ‘I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!’ Some may find it helpful to repeat the exercise over a period of time; others may only want to try it once and then to move on. Either way, sometimes the wait for a call or an answer can be a long one, but God is there with us even in the times of waiting. Take courage.
Explore
The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity sees its mission as equipping Christians for ‘whole-life discipleship’; in other words, learning how to follow Christ in everyday life, in the home, the workplace or school, the job centre – wherever life takes us. They describe these places where we spend our time as our ‘frontline’ and have a DVD course available to help church groups explore how to be effective followers of Christ on our own frontlines. They also provide a wide range of resources for exploring how we live out our faith with regard to the world of work. There is also a booklet on redundancy.
Young People
Talk with the young people in your group about their hopes and fears for the future. Ask them if there is anything the local church could do to help them. Use this discussion as a finding-out session and afterwards try to discover if there are appropriate people in your congregation who could help them practically by talking about particular jobs or sharing skills, or perhaps providing work experience placements, looking over CVs or undertaking practice interviews, depending on the age and situations of those in your group. If you’re not sure who could help, try asking directly, in a church magazine, on a noticeboard, or via the minister or pastoral team at your church. Make sure, though, to filter all offers of help appropriately and to follow your church’s safeguarding procedures with regard to any follow-up introductions made or meetings held.
If it is appropriate for your group, it would also be good to pray with and for the young people, for peace in facing the future; for wisdom in decisions over school and college/university subjects and jobs; for courage and perseverance in tackling the challenges they face; and for the ability to hear God’s call to each of them.
Rebecca Froley was the launch web editor of ROOTS. Currently working as a website manager for an investigative journalism start-up in London, she is being made redundant in February and hoping for God’s help in working out what she is called to do next.
Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by ROOTS for Churches Ltd.
PostScript is also available via Twitter (@ROOTS4Churches)