I’ve asked Rev. Meg Jenista to be our guest writer today. Meg is the pastor of the Washington, DC Christian Reformed Church, where 20% of the congregation is directly impacted by the government shutdown.

You told us it mattered.

You told us to study environmental science so we could be prepared to take an active role in the creation mandate – to steward the earth.

You told us to study biological sciences because the human body is a complex tribute to the wonders of creation and so that we could find cures to diseases that stunt human health and flourishing.

You told us to study politics so we would be prepared to engage the conversation in the public square with an eye toward honoring the image of God in all people and working together for the common good.

You told us to study language and international cultures so that we could bring snatches of God’s reconciliation to global relationships around the world.

You told us to study the law.  It was good enough for John Calvin, after all.  And now we stand ready to defend law’s due process and take care of the least of these among us.

You told us to study astrophysics and earth science so that we might worship an unfathomable God in our work.

You told us it mattered.

You told us that, because of some guy named Abraham Kuyper, it all mattered.

You told us that “there is not one square inch of the whole of creation of which Jesus Christ, who is LORD over all, has not already proclaimed, ‘you are mine.’”

You told us that our vocation is a partnership – in miniscule fashion, I’ll grant you – in the work of justice, peace, restoration and reconciliation embedded in the “all things new” of Christ’s Kingdom.   

You told us it mattered.

So we joined the foreign service, we work for the State Department, the Departments of Defense and Justice.  Our calling is to serve in the EPA, the USDA, the FDA, the NIH and NASA.  We work on the Hill. We’re doing what you told us to do and you told us you were proud of us.

And then this past week, 80,000 of us lost our jobs.  It won’t be forever, I know.  There’s the hope of back pay for time off, I’ll grant you.  But it isn’t just that.  It’s that when you told us it mattered, we believed you.  And now we sit at home while miles of data about Mars goes unexamined.  Our petri dishes full of experimental medicine grow out of control. Opportunities for global diplomacy are cancelled.  Legal cases are drawn out and innocent people remain in jail.

Meanwhile, members of Congress talk about the shutdown in terms of “winning,” “losing” and “needing to get something out of it”

We can’t get on facebook without someone posting a status the equivalent to an eye-roll.  “Government,” you say with disgust.  “What do we expect?”

A small business owner in Iowa, interviewed by The New York Times said: “If we can get along without all these nonessential services, then maybe we don’t need them.” 

And, really, it’s all about the panda cam at the National Zoo, isn’t it? So what if the National Parks stay shut for a few days?

As the pastor of a Christian Reformed Church in our nation’s capital – wherein 20% of the congregation are government workers, not to mention retirees and contractors – I’m wondering if you really meant it when you told us vocation and calling matter.  Cause, if you really meant it then, where are you now?