As a way of introduction, I’d like to share my story with you.

According to my executive summary, I am, “committed to making the world a more beautiful and compassionate place. I am a creative business owner and an empathetic pastoral counselor and speaker.” What is your executive summary? What’s your vocational mission statement?

In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, we are introduced to a scrawny shepherd kid who will become the most famous king in the bible. We see in our text that God calls the unlikely candidates and raises them up for very important work.

If David had LinkedIn out there on the pasture, I wonder how he would have written his executive summary. “David, son of Jesse. Scrappy and resourceful shepherd. Small in stature, but large in dreams. Leads a flock of sheep today, but will lead a nation of people tomorrow.”

We create profiles and curate content to sell ourselves as successful, capable, beautiful products. We curate and create ourselves as products, attempting to convince our audience that we are good enough for the job. But we read, “the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’”

Recently, I met with a pastor about guest speaking at his church. He asked me to share my story of being bivocational. This invitation thrilled me because as someone who has two very distinct and very different callings, I often feel weird and out of place. My two vocations are Pastor and Artist.

Pastor Grace is someone who went to Luther Seminary and completed four years of full-time coursework. I specialized in Pastoral Care and Practical Theology. I wrote a thesis called “Restoring Shalom: Welcoming People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Faith Communities.” I worked as Pastor of Spiritual Development and Care at a non-denominational church. Now, I preach two times a month and provide premarital counseling for engaged couples. Pastor Grace is someone who listens deeply and practices Nonviolent Communication.

On the other hand, Artist Grace completed a post-baccalaureate fellowship program in art. I am trained as an art historian and painter, but now co-own a ceramics studio with my husband. I work in clay, apply glazes and screenprints, do sales and marketing for the business, teach classes, pack, deliver, and ship orders. Artist Grace is an entrepreneur and a business leader. I go to networking events and attend business strategy workshops.

My pastoral world rarely collides with my artist world. Sure, my theological training informs my artwork, and my creative experience informs my understanding of God, but often, the people I work with in my artistic community have no idea that I work as a pastor. And likewise, the congregations of the churches I speak at probably haven’t been to my studio, taken any of my ceramics classes, or purchased my work.

I usually feel like I am two people. I do this to myself. I like boundaries and categories. I like clean lines and boxes. I like clarity and predictability. And yet, God didn’t make me as two halves of a person. No, God made me as one Grace. One Grace called according to his purpose. And God has done the same for you.  

Because this pastor asked me to talk about my work as an artist as part of my sermon, I was encouraged to merge these two halves and consider myself as one whole person.

So, I’m curious. As you read my story, and you read the story of David’s calling, do these stories resonate with you in any way? What are the different worlds you serve? What is the unique way that God has called you to serve?

We could be tempted to see that our calling is just our job. Instead, looking at Luther’s theology of vocation, we see that, “Vocation is our calling in our situation in life…” We have vocation beyond specific occupations. If we were to take Martin Luther’s writings on vocation to be authoritative, we would say that even the term “bivocational” isn’t accurate because God’s call isn’t limited to specific occupation, career, or job.

What difference would it make if in all the tedium of life, we were able to see our tasks as serving God and serving others? What difference would it make if we realized and believed that everything we do serves a high purpose and was a way to participate in our calling?

God doesn’t ascribe worth or importance through salary or a tax bracket. The God we serve, the God who has called us, took a scrawny shepherd boy and turned him into a king of a nation. Our God doesn’t limit his calling to important or powerful people. The God we serve wants us. Just regular us. You and me. We might not think we are special, certainly not by the world’s standards. But God has a special calling for each of one us.

Because we remember that “the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’”

If God has called us to this place of service, then God has provided the gifts, the skills, the talent, and the resources to do so. We live and serve from a place of abundance. We no longer tell ourselves, “I can’t do this.” or “I’m not as important as that person.”

Soon, we will see God’s creativity at work. We will honor those of other vocations. We will be creative in how we we seek to participate in our callings. We will become creative in our generosity and we will become creative in our service.