Of Vocation and Secular Life

"I'm a pastor."

I'm a little uncomfortable when people ask me what I do for a living. It's not really that I am scared of telling them I'm a pastor; it's more that I don't really want to do a whole lot of explaining. Some people are really cool and polite. They will follow up with asking about my job like they would any other person's job. And there are also people that pause for a second, have a confused look, and then ask a few guarded questions to try to be respectful.

It's actually sort of amusing. I don't really look forward to explaining my job, what it is, and how I got to doing it, because I don't ever want to assume people know about Christianity. So I've learned to give some really basic answers, and then I'll start trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.

You could say this blog post was inspired by a conversation I had today at the bank. I was depositing a cheque and taking out rent money when the dude asked me if I wanted to upgrade my savings account so that I could get a little more interest rate going on for it. I thought, "Why not? Day off, I'm in no hurry." After a minute, I was brought into a room to meet with a lady to set me up.

In asking for my ID, I accidentally gave her my health card, which looks identical to my driver's license. She asked if I had my license on me, and I realized I gave her the wrong card; so I said something about still getting used to these Vancouver documents and such. Then she made the remark of acknowledging that I'm from Alberta.

The conversation continues a little bit and she asks what I do. "I'm a pastor." The lady had a bit of a surprised look on her face, pretty typical from what I've seen. She then says, "I would've never pictured you to be a pastor." So we continue to talk, and she then tells me she's catholic. My thoughts were that it made sense because she had a good grasp on several faith-type terms and such. So I found it pretty pleasant to talk to her for the while.

About ten minutes later, the lady then tells me, "That's so cool! I could see you as my pastor - you're so easy to talk to!" Now, it was my turn to act a little surprised. Didn't she just tell me that I don't come across like one? Either way, I appreciated the compliment quite a bit actually. It just goes to show how much difference a few minutes can make in getting to know someone.

I know it was in a professional environment, but it's funny how the conversation with this lady made my day. Sometimes it's really refreshing to talk to some people that I don't see regularly, regardless of faith. I think she's probably no more than 5 or 6 years older than me, but I walked out of CIBC feeling pretty rejuvenated. I had a bit of a rough Sunday this past week, so I guess this was a nice way of getting back on my feet.

Anyways, this incident is really just one example of the several I've had in the last few years about my job. People all react differently, but also in a very similar way to when I tell them I'm a pastor - if that makes any sense. Reactions are unique, but all fall within the same spectrum. Usually, we end up talking about my age in relation to my job. I'm starting to warm up to this avenue more and more because I'm recognizing that traditional barriers are being broken in people thinking that you have to be old and archaic to be a pastor. My goal isn't to share the gospel when I talk to people in a secular context, but I want to be able to show them that I am who I am because of God's grace. You look at people nowadays, and you rarely feel hopeful and confident in the future of the world. But I hope that I can be a beacon of light to those that are curious enough to wonder.

I believe everyone has a spot in their hearts and minds to wonder about God. If I can draw attention to that, then that's fantastic. Not everyone will have a positive reaction, but if people can see a little bit of Jesus in me, then I'm doing what I need to do. I hope that I was able to do that for the lady I met today.