Lutherans use the word “vocation” to refer to our various 社会 roles.
我结婚了，照顾丈夫是我的使命之一. I am also a father, a son, a brother, a neighbor, a professor, and so forth. 每一个角色都是上帝赋予我的职业. 然而，“voca- tion”这个词来自拉丁语vocare，意思是呼唤. 所以我的职业不仅仅是上帝赋予我的角色, but arenas in which he calls me to love my neighbor as he first loved me in Christ.
但是上帝怎样呼召我们去爱我们的邻居呢? 他当然是用圣经来做到这一点的. 然而，他也以另一种方式呼唤我们. 想想一个婴儿. 绝大多数人都会照顾自己所生的婴儿. 他们喂他们，给他们洗澡，给他们换尿布. I would venture to guess that a majority of the people in the world do so without having read the Bible. 事实上, 他们在婚姻中保持忠诚(正如他们所理解的那样), 支持他们的家庭, 建立并维持友谊, 为所在社区的政治生活做出贡献, 给那些需要帮助的人, and help the injured—all without hearing God’s call in the Bible to love their neighbors.
This suggests that God calls us to love our neighbors not only through the Bible but also through the needs of the people we encounter in our various roles in life. The suffering of others evokes compassion within us, and the needs of others move us to action. 这里的“我们”指的是我们人类，而不仅仅是基督徒.
为什么会这样?? One explanation is that God himself is moved to compassion and action by our human need and suffering. It was for us and for our salvation that the second person of the Trinity came down from heaven and was incarnate as man and was crucified. It was for the hungry and the grieving and the demon-oppressed that our Lord Jesus exercised his divine power during his earthly ministry. And it is this loving, compassionate God who created us in the first place. 这爱, compassionate God created Adam and Eve to care for one another—in fact, 来表现他对彼此的爱.
这是合乎情理的, 然后, that we who were created by this loving and compassionate God 来表现他对彼此的爱 should be moved by the needs of others. 因为堕落，我们的反应确实被罪所破坏, but most human beings are still moved to compassion and action by human needs and suffering. 对他人需求的敏感是我们被创造的天性的一部分.
事实上, God’s call in the Bible to love our neighbor is rather general. God did not give us a procedure manual with step-by-step instructions for navigating every situation we might encounter in each of our vocations. 相反，他通过耶稣基督赦免了我们的罪. 有了宽恕, he sets us free—free to love the specific individuals we encounter in ways appropriate to their unique circumstances and our own. 甚至基督徒, 听到上帝在圣经中明确的号召去爱我们的邻居, are still moved to action by the needs and suffering of our fellow human beings.
这意味着我们所有人, 不管是不是基督徒, hear God’s call to our various roles in life through the needs and suffering of our fellow human beings. 此外, God blesses our work in these vocations whether we are Christian or not, for he uses our work to accomplish his providential purposes in the world. Through the work of both Christian and non-Christian parents, God cares for children and raises them. 通过基督徒和非基督徒会计的工作, God gives companies the financial information they need to maintain sustainable business operations and pay their employees, 供应商, 和供应商. 通过基督徒和非基督徒护士的工作, 神医治和照顾生病和垂死的人.
God uses our ordinary work to bring about a certain kind of flourishing in the world. 正如他降雨给义人，也给不义的人, so he also uses the work of Christians and non-Christians alike so that all people can enjoy the fruits of this beautiful world he created for us.
《十大正规赌平台平台》中关于创造的叙述讲得很清楚, God created the natural world in part to provide food and meaningful labor for us. 即使在坠落之后, he continued to bless the labor of Adam and Eve and their descendants so that we human beings could enjoy the fruits of the earth and the benefits of society. 即使在洪水之后, he declared that “seedtime and harvest” would not cease so that our physical needs are met (Genesis 8:22 ESV). 耶稣为迦拿的婚礼祝福, a sign of his blessing not only on marriage but on all the 社会 structures in which God meets our physical, 情感, 社会需求是通过他人实现的.
Luther even argued in the Large Catechism that Satan tries to under- mine human 社会 and political structures not just to counteract the preaching of the Gospel, but also to deprive human beings of the other blessings God gives through stable societies (LC, 主祷文, 第三个请愿书, 80 - 81行). God’s left-hand reign in this world aims at human flourishing—physical, 社会, and 情感—and he accomplishes it through both Christians and non-Christians alike.
这一信念是康考迪亚大学欧文分校使命的根源: 欧文康考迪亚大学, guided by the Great Commission of Christ Jesus and the Lutheran Confessions, empowers students through the liberal arts and professional studies for lives of learning, 服务与领导.” 我们录取所有合格的学生, 不仅仅是基督徒, because all people are called by the needs and suffering of our fellow human beings to love their neighbors. We prepare all students because God uses all people to help their fellow human beings flourish physically, 社会, 和情感上.
But 在欧文的康考迪亚大学 we also understand something that secular universities do not: God also wants people to flourish spiritually through faith in Christ. 出于这个原因, even as we prepare all students to follow God’s call to love their fellow human beings, we also share the good news that God loves each of them so much that he gave his Son Jesus to give them eternal life. Everyone is called to love, just as every- one was first loved by Christ.
牧师. Dr. David Loy是 基督学院，民政事务总署署长 FaithWorks中心，以及 哲学, 神学 尔湾康考迪亚大学伦理学教授. 这篇文章是基于 洛伊2021年的Trembath讲座.