When I read Amy Sherman's book, Kingdom Calling, it felt like the lights turned on for me. As I read, it became more and more clear that God wants to restore healing and wholeness in our world, not merely through spiritual vocations like pastors and missionaries, but through every vocation. Every kind of work is a way by which we love our neighbors and bring shalom into the world.
In this episode, Amy Sherman unpacks the first part of Proverbs 11:10, which says, "When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices." Why would a city rejoice at the prosperity of the righteous? Wouldn't they be envious? And yet... There's something about the prospering of the righteous, both in the ancient world and the present day, that causes people and cities to rejoice!
THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
- Amy Sherman is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Faith in Communities at the Sagamore Institute. Amy is also the author of Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good.
- The key verse on which Kingdom Calling is Proverbs 11:10a, which reads, “When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices.”
- The “righteous” are, in Hebrew, the tsaddiqim. These are people who are so in love with God and so committed to his purposes in the world that they understand everything they have been given as blessings to be poured out for the sake of others and in worship of this God.
- The tsaddiqim understand that they have been blessed to be a blessing.
- This is different from the prosperity gospel, which teaches that our prosperity is for our own enjoyment, rather than for the common good.
- We can think of “righteousness” as “set-rightness.” God longs to set all things right. And this reminds us of that wonderful Hebrew word shalom.
- God wants flourishing not only for our souls, but also for our bodies.
- Peace with God is part of a fourfold shalom. You can find out more about the four-fold nature of shalom in episode 3 of Spiritual Life and Leadership, The Fourfold Nature of Shalom.
- Vocational stewardship refers to “the intentional and strategic deployment of all of the dimensions of our vocational power to advance foretastes of the kingdom of God.”
- Life in the new heaven and new earth will be marked by such things as intimacy with God, perfect justice, peace, security, safety, health, beauty, and joy. We are called to steward our vocations in ways that lead to all these things for our neighbors today.
- Amy Sherman shares two present-day examples of people who are living as the tsaddiqim today. The first is a contractor who builds homes and neighborhoods designed to foster shalom. The second is an interior designer who focuses on designing spaces that are for everyone, especially in regard to accessibility and mobility.
- You can find out more about Amy Sherman and her work at www.vocationalstewardship.org.
RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:
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