PRIESTS - The Priesthood of All Believers as a Deconstruction of the Sacred / Secular Divide

A cross hanging from rosaries with a blurred background. priests is written on the picture.

The other day I read a story about a primary school teacher who started running the Sunday school in her local church. Before her first Sunday, the church called her up to pray for her. The thought she had as she stood there was ‘that’s great that they pray for the 30 minutes I lead Sunday school. But what about the 25 hours I spend with children each week at school? Are they somehow less important?’
In the scriptures, the apostles talk about how each person within the church is a priest. Martin Luther called this ‘the priesthood of all believers’.
It was his belief that there should be no divide between the clergy and laity, between those working full time in the church and those who have chosen other vocations. Each individual can commune with God.
When each member of the church is seen as a priest, then there is no divide between the ‘sacred’ work and the ‘secular’ work. Between those who are ‘called’ into ‘God’s work’ and those who choose to work ‘in the world’.
When we view all things as spiritual and understand that we are made in the image of God we understand our chosen vocation in the light of this. We understand that the refuse collector is creating order out of chaos (just as God did), that the graphic designer is tapping into God’s creativity, that the educator is helping people to reach the full potential that God has blessed them with.

So may you today know that your chosen vocation (including all those vocations that are not traditionally seen as vocations) is in keeping with the creator God, may you know that your vocation matters and may you know that our faith is not a two tiered system.

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