Vocation

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.  --Fredrick Buechner

Having attended a Lutheran (ELCA) University the discussion of vocation has been an instrumental part of my education.  Throughout our years at Capital we are challenged to consider not only what we'd like in a career, but truly what is our vocation.  Our calling, if you will.  This discussion has had a profound impact on my future.  It has allowed me to move forward without fear for security and instead allow God to move me where I should go.  

I, like my fellow blogger Jordan, cannot pinpoint a moment where I decided that I would serve.  It was much the same for me as it was for her, a series of events, a precisely placed community that led me to grow, and a truthful consideration that nothing else made sense for me.  

I will be serving through the Lutheran Volunteer Corps.  I will be a full-time staff member at the Howard Area Community Center located in Rogers' Park, Chicago.   (More details on the actual program later). 

More than anything other one thing I can attribute my desire to my experience in a course at Capital entitled "Liberation Theology: Service-Learning" and the community I gained from that course.  This course was the brain child of a group of dedicated students that had already participated in the Liberation Theology course offered by my religion department (I was not one of those students, but they have since become some of my greatest friends and most sincere motivators).  The students were profoundly effected by the initial course, but felt that the course was missing a significant component: actual service.  The newer course was constructed around several readings by prominent authors, discussion by the group, and weekly service, as individuals, with one of three local agencies.  I chose to work with the Lutheran Social Services Choice Food Pantries in Columbus, Ohio. 

My time in actual class transformed me intellectually.  The readings and my fellow students deeply challenged the way in which I viewed the world.  Liberation Theology is a movement that began primarily in the Catholic Church in Latin America in the later half of the 19th Century.  As a theology it empowers the poor against the oppressive structures created by this world.  One of the most difficult experiences was to admit that I too was a propagator of injustice simply because I am a member of a ruling class that benefits from an oppressive system.   

My time in service transformed me as an individual.  The time I spent in the Food Pantry challenged any and all preconceived notions I had, especially those that I did not realize I had.  I still today recall specific clients I helped, the first person I ever took around, the woman that was unbelievably grateful when I just listened, the man that restored my hope in family.  These individuals were amazing people I am so blessed to have met.  I volunteered at one pantry throughout the school year and interned at another location throughout the summer.  The staff gave me hope in the ability to create change and also made me realize that we are all flawed even those trying to do good.  

Throughout this course, and the rest of my time at Capital, I realized I simply could do nothing other than serve.  To do more than “help,” as I have learned that when I am truly in community with others help is not mine to give, but rather I open myself to serve, and love as Christ did, and recognize that in many ways it is I that will be transformed.  

This is the next step of my journey.  Thanks for coming with me. 

Peace,

Amanda