Lutherans believe that your job matters – no matter what that job is (as long as it is not flagrantly and inherently in conflict with the Word of God). People in the Lutheran movement recognize that God has called all Christians to be a part of His Body. That means that the people in our churches that are pastors are no better (or worse) than the people in our churches that do other things – like tattoo people or serve you food or teach you self defense or do your taxes.
Lutherans believe that when God redeemed you by the blood and suffering and death of His Son Jesus, that He redeemed your job too. He cares about what you do. Because He cares about who you are.
But He doesn’t just care about your job. When you look deeper into God’s care for you, He cares for all of your roles because they are all a part of who you are. He cares that you are a son or daughter, a sister or brother, a citizen or a sojourner. He cares about the stuff of your life, because He cares about you.
Because God cares about you, He brought you into the Kingdom of His Son Jesus Christ. When He brought you into that Kingdom, He brought all of you – your roles and your jobs and everything else. He called you into His Kingdom to be you. God isn’t a boring casting agent who called you to see if you fit into a narrow pre-determined role. He called you to be you, to be the you that you can be when your sins are washed away. It was more like He saw you and your talents and said, “(Your name), come here, I can put that (role/job) to work in my kingdom.”
God needs firefighters and chiropractors and fast food workers and all sorts of people in His Kingdom, because His Kingdom is people. There is a direct correlation to the thing that you do and the way that His Kingdom works because He made you a part of that kingdom.
And here’s some really good news – you don’t need to be all super religious about your job once you’re a Christian. Martin Luther once said that a Christian shoemaker doesn’t do a better job because he carves little crosses in his shoes, but rather because he makes good shoes. God cares about quality because God is quality. And He calls you to bring quality as a part of His Kingdom – the quality that only you can bring.
Vocation means “calling” – it comes from the Latin “vocare”. God is calling and has called. He has made you everything you need to be in His Son.