2022.01.23 | Pandemic Epiphanies
“Pandemic Epiphanies”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 23, 2022
Luke 4:14-21 | [Español]
Today’s gospel lesson is set in the synagogue in Nazareth, the town where Jesus was raised. According to Luke, Jesus went to the bema in the synagogue, unrolled the scroll of Isaiah, and read the opening phrases from Isaiah, chapter 61. The passage reads as follows:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. . .
In my view, these are some of the most beautiful and hopeful words in our Judeo- Christian scriptures.
Biblical scholars often refer to this later portion of Isaiah, which begins with chapter 61, as “Third Isaiah.” They generally agree that these chapters were originally directed to the Babylonian exiles, while they were still in bondage, and the purpose of these words were to convey God’s promise to the exiles that the day was coming when their exile and their suffering in body, mind, and estate would end.
To the average person these words, no doubt, seem eloquent and hopeful. But imagine how salient they would be for you if you had been a prisoner of war, who had lived the majority of your life as an indentured servant in your captor’s homeland. Imagine hearing this proclamation of liberty and the promise of release from captivity, and then imagine allowing these words to seep into your soul and to believe that they were meant for you and your people. Imagine!
And if you can imagine hearing these words read from Isaiah 61 as a Babylonian exile living in the 6th Century BC, imagine hearing them read at the turn of the first century AD, in a synagogue, in a city, in a nation that was under foreign occupation.
Imagine further that one of the young men from your hometown, whose name was Jesus, reads those words from Isaiah 61, from the bema in your synagogue, and punctuates this reading by saying, essentially, I’m that guy. I’m the messenger.
In the words of our youth, that experience must have been “mindblowing” for the congregation who heard him make this declaration.
Next week, my sermon will explore the congregation’s reaction to Jesus’ statement, “Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Today, my message is about Jesus’ bold affirmation of his calling as messiah, and my encouragement to you to follow Jesus’ example by discerning your own vocation, and boldly embracing it.
II
The concept of vocation has been a lifelong interest of mine. I’ve not only been interested in exploring and reflecting on my own call, which I guess is normal for most pastors. But I’ve been interested in how others, particularly laity, discern their callings and embrace them — or not.
My views on vocation have been primarily influenced by the 16th Century Reformation theologian, Martin Luther, who taught that vocations were not the sole purview of those who pursued a religious leadership role, like a priest or a nun. A vocation, a calling, is something that we can all potentially have.
In Luther’s view, one's vocation was more than a job. It was a way of life. For example, he taught that all people were called to a life grounded in faith, and that each person has a calling within that call, such as a marriage partner, parent, and citizen. So the challenge for Christians, then, in Luther’s view, was not to discern whether one had a vocation, but rather to clarify what one’s vocation was, and to embrace and fulfill that calling.
My interest in the topic of vocation has been piqued recently by the widespread trend of a significant number of people leaving their jobs during the C-19 pandemic. Organizational psychologist and Texas A&M professor, Anthony Klotz, calls this phenomenon “the great resignation.”
No doubt you’ve heard the phrase used in the popular press. National Public Radio, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Bloomberg, and several national papers including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post have written prolifically, in recent months, about the epic number of employees who have resigned their jobs.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people who quit their jobs in 2021 exceeds all previous records in recordkeeping history. Two fields in the service sector, in particular, have suffered significant losses during the pandemic. These are food service and recreation. Jobs in these fields tend to pay less, and require employees to work in environments where they are at higher risk for contracting the virus.
Others, like healthcare workers, have quit due to burnout from having to work longer shifts, with lower staffing levels for a larger number of patients.
Meanwhile, some others have dropped out of the workforce temporarily or indefinitely to care for young children whose schools have shifted to distance learning models, and/or to provide primary care for elderly or dependent loved ones, because nannies and private duty caregivers are in short supply, or because of the high COVID-19 risk factors associated with moving a loved one into a congregant living situation.
In addition to concerns about health and safety, professional burnout, and the need to care for loved ones, another significant portion of those participating in the mass exodus from the workforce have done so, says Professor Klotz, because of a “pandemic epiphany.”
In an article posted on the Texas A&M website, Klotz explained, “During the initial lockdown, many workers experienced pandemic epiphanies, a moment of reflection that resulted in making a major life change.” The SIP created a pause in most people’s routines that allowed the time and opportunity to reflect on how they were spending their lives: was their work meaningful, did they have a sense of work-life balance, and what else, besides work, was important to them?
Those who answered “no” to these questions about meaningful work and work-life balance voted with their feet last year. They quit.
III
Just how many people stay out of the workforce, temporarily or indefinitely, and how the shift to an “employees’ market” affects the nature of work remains to be seen. But one thing, I’m sure of is that the degree to which people find meaning in their jobs and their vocations will largely depend on whether and how their sense of calling aligns with the mission of the groups with which they affiliate.
Writer and theologian Fredrick Buechner describes this phenomenon best in his book Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, published in 1973 by Harper & Row in New York City. Here Buechner explains that the term “vocation” comes from the Latin vocare, to call, which means that the work a [person] is called to by God. He goes on to explain:
There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.
By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either.
Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
My prayer for each and everyone of us is that we may discern what we most need to do, and what the world most needs to have done, and that we hold fast to that knowledge, and never let go of our vocations. Amen.