My second post on “vocational sacraments” at TGR looks at a definition of what a sacrament is to consider how the sacraments are vocational. Here’s one of the takeaways:

When I do my daily work, I am to do it with Christ at the center of my cosmology; it is in Christ that all things, including my work, hold together. I am to hear this calling proclaimed by the institutional church; this does not mean I am hostage to the limited vision of any particular pastor who “doesn’t get it,” but it does mean that in seeking to discern my vocation, I cannot say to the institutional church “I have no need of you.” And I am to think of myself as an actor in cosmic history; I participate in the story that began with Adam and Eve, reached its shocking surprise twist with the first coming of Christ, and will conclude (no doubt with equally shocking surprise twists) with the second. When Christ instituted the sacraments, he located their meaning within redemptive history – looking backward in remembrance and forward in missional hope – and our daily work is to do the same.

Let me know what you think!