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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Theology @ Work - Creation

Work is a Good Thing! Let’s all get that straight in our minds. It is not a curse (though it is associated with a curse that makes it harder – we’ll cover that in a couple of posts’ time). The Bible begins and ends with God’s work of Creation. The Bible begins in Genesis 1 and 2, with God creating everything and we know it was work (Genesis 2:2 “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work”) and that it was good (we’re told this over and over again – see Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). These verses are full of action, creativity, thoughtfulness and purpose – full of work of the highest kind.

The Bible ends in Revelation 21-22 with God’s creation of the new heavens and new earth – a restoration of Creation to the potential and vision that God had in the first Creation (but with a solution to our propensity to mess it up!) “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5) He says, and a glorious vista of His new Creation opens up to us.

Surely the fact that work frames the whole Bible like bookends is enough to prove that work is indeed a Good Thing and extraordinarily important to God! But what does this have to do with us? If God presents Himself to us as Worker, and shows how good work is, then there’s a message for us. And in the midst of His creative burst in Genesis, He creates us – not just like the other animals, but with the most extraordinary difference. He says "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”. If we’re made in His likeness then we’re also made to be workers, and our work is to be a Good Thing.

More on this in the next Theology @ Work post (an occasional series of posts that will try to lay out the foundations of my conviction that work is God’s precious calling to every one of us, and that our work life is something that is profoundly interesting to Him, and that He is intimately involved in it)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Fruit of the Spirit @ Work – Joy

Have you noticed how much easier it is to be joyful on Sunday than on Monday? My friends at Vocari (see link to the left of this post) have a motto “Thank God It’s Monday”, but most of us are still at TGIF. And yet, Paul calls on us to be constantly joyful: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) Easy for him to say – he didn’t have to deal with my boss (or co-worker, job stress, boredom, or whatever else it is that saps your joy the moment you step into work).

Yet joy is another of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. If we’re filled with the Spirit at all times, then somewhere in us is the capacity for joy at all times. That’s what Paul knew and demanded that we live out – not just when we feel good, not just when everything is going well.

Joy is a rather elusive concept. For me it is a profound sense that God is in control, that he loves me and has uniquely created and called me, and that He is wherever I am. Circumstances may be challenging, my moods may swing wildly, I may be far from happy, but these things don’t change. Neither does the presence of the Holy Spirit inside me, so for that reason there is joy at all times. When Paul tells us to “rejoice” he is saying we need to let this joy out – not to pretend or conjure it up, because it really is there – it is the fruit of the Spirit, whom we have, so it is there already.

What are the things that make this joy flow out through us? Closeness to God for starters. Prayer, Bible Study, fellowship – all things that we do on Sunday but not so often on Monday. As a practical matter, that’s why it is essential for me that I start my day with God, find times to pray and give thanks during the day, and maintain the perspective that I have this amazingly cool calling to be God’s ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20) in the workplace.

What an impact it would have on the lives of others if we maintained and expressed this joy that is God’s free gift to us, while working our way through work crises, dealing with difficult people, or taking on tasks that we’d much rather not do. I wish I could say I’m consistent about this. It seems as though the moment my eyes drop from God, I’m back mired in my own native misery! But there are moments, and people notice them. They don’t necessarily rush up and ask what makes us so wonderful (!) but the mood, the perspective, and the joy itself have a tendency to rub off. Surely this is what God wants?

Friday, March 26, 2010

Smiling @ Work

Most mornings at Montgomery BART station in San Francisco, a BART employee holds up a sign imploring us all to smile. The holder then models his request and offers a cheery “good morning” to any who will receive it. I have to confess that there are many mornings I don’t feel at all like smiling. This morning, for example, I have a couple of difficult Court hearings and some real concern about our ability to file a critical document in our bankruptcy cases, in addition to the usual cash, employee, and other challenges. (We have a number of companies, some of the largest of which are working under the protection and demands of Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. I recall all the things I’ve said or thought about deadbeat bankrupts! Now that raises an ironic smile!)

So this morning I’m sure I wasn’t smiling when I saw my new friend. But his example brought a smile to my face, and as I returned his enthusiastic “good morning” I was so thankful for him and his modeling of cheerfulness. This post isn’t another in my series on the fruit of the Spirit (I don’t see cheerfulness in the list) but it is clearly related. There is, in fact, so much to smile about when we consider the gift of work. Yes, it is hard and we shouldn’t be surprised about that (I plan soon to explore what the early chapters of Genesis have to say about work and its difficulties). But it is still a gift. When I sit in Court today, it will be as one called by God to play a part in His redemption of the world. Some things in company that employs me didn’t work out as they should have, and now we have an opportunity courtesy of US Bankruptcy laws to set them right. Many investors appear to have lost large amounts of money, but the law’s protections buy us time to try to recover some of their life savings.

Hopefully with this in mind, I’ll go into Court with a smile on my face!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Fruit of the Spirit @ Work - Love

Pretty much every Christian will agree that God wants us to love everybody, even our enemies. But most of us kind of cross our fingers behind our backs, knowing that some people are simply unlovable. The workplace is a great place to find them! Think of your difficult customers, your competitors, those colleagues or employees you’d rather not spend time with, or your over-weaning boss! The trouble is, “love one another” and “love your enemies” aren’t optional. Not only that, but the kind of love Jesus talks about is way beyond anything we’re used to receiving or giving (read 1 Corinthians 13:5-8 if you doubt that!)

This post is the beginning of a series on the fruit of the Spirit in the workplace. Ephesians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Many of us are familiar with the list, may even have memorized it, and treat it as a nice theoretical ideal. When it comes to living this way in the workplace, though, it seems quite impractical. I plan to explore each of the nine attributes of the Spirit’s fruit from a workplace perspective.

Here’s the bottom line: this is impossible. For us. But not the Spirit. This isn’t what we’re supposed to drum up in ideal occasions, but how the Spirit wants to overflow through us in the workplace.

Love is the overriding element, of course – in fact we could say that love is the summary and the rest of the list is the detail. At some point I’ll explore 1 Corinthians 13:5-8 and each of the elements of Christian love (the Greek agape) as they relate to the workplace. But for now, suffice to say that the Kingdom of God will be most evident in the workplace when we see every individual, no matter how “nice” they are, the way God sees them. Every customer, colleague, supplier, employee and boss is a person created uniquely by God, in His image, loved by Him unconditionally, and of enormous value.

How do we see people that way? I’ve struggled with this just as much as you have. The only solution I’ve come across is prayer. It has become essential to me to pray regularly for everyone I come into regular contact with, to pray when people upset or annoy me, to pray for the needs of the most difficult people I meet with. In my prayer, I am getting to see them a little through God’s eyes, and inevitably love starts to grow. Without the Holy Spirit in me, though, I simply can’t do this. Love is the fruit of the Spirit – my prayer is that God will unlock this love and let it flow through me daily to those I work with.

On a practical level, this is a love that puts others before me, that considers their extraordinary value as people even when I’m dissatisfied with their work, and that listens to their challenges and joys with empathy and prayer. There’s more to come on this, but even this will make a surprising amount of difference in working relationships, in the atmosphere of a workplace, and in our perspective on work.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Discovering God @ Work (part 2)

I thought I’d done so well, accepting God’s will against my own, and going to the workplace He wanted me, not the one I thought was best. But apparently, as I was to learn in lesson 2 of God’s remedial teaching, I didn’t exactly have it worked out. I described in my last piece how I accepted what to me seemed clearly the inferior of two job opportunities. God preferred me to be CIO of a small commercial mortgage lender, as against defining how technology could be used worldwide to further the mission and impact of one of the largest poverty relief and community development organizations in the world. Point one for me – I obeyed. Points two, three and more against me – I obeyed kicking and screaming. The fact is, I just didn’t get it. I could certainly rationalize that my new employer was contributing to society in the way that finance provides the fuel on which the economy depends. But I couldn’t get my mind around how helping this already excessively rich country get richer was part of God’s Kingdom.

It took my wise wife to show me that I hadn’t really accepted God’s will at all. I was like the boy who, upon being told repeatedly to sit down at the dinner table, finally sat but said “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing on the inside”. Our attitude to God’s calling may appear on the outside to be submissive and obedient, but if we’re still “standing up on the inside” then we’re simply not letting God have His way with us. Now my wife knows better than to tell me I’ve got my theology and spiritual motivations all wrong. Instead she simply pointed out that I was coming home every day and complaining about the stress, the difficulties of the job, how I disliked the work, and so on. Eventually I got the point.

This can be one of our hardest challenges as Christians in the workplace. Once I realized how wrong my attitude was I knew I needed help. I talked to a couple of close friends, and a group of men I meet with regularly, and shared the issue with them. That immediately created an accountability group for me. And I confessed to God what I had been doing. My prayer had to become that God would show me how He was in this company and its people, and how He was using me (and them) in His Kingdom work. Things started to fall into place – a realization of cultural change occurring, opportunities to listen to and pray for people in need, the beginnings of a difference being made in how the company operated. I’ll share more of those later. This was just a beginning of my understanding how God works in the workplace, the beginning of a journey. I hope to share more over the coming months.


Monday, March 22, 2010

God’s Perspective @ Work

I started my day in usual fashion, bombarded by issues, wondering where the cash is going to come from, anticipating staff personality conflicts, and all the rest. And again I asked myself, how do I see this from God’s point of view. After all, my head is very aware that “the earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). I know that what I’m dealing with is part of God’s overall plan. I know that He has called me to this job to be a participant in His Kingdom. But right now, today, it is so easy to be overwhelmed by the issues, to be blind to His presence, and to let the stress and worry take over.

What can I do to be closer to God’s perspective? Because that’s what it is – an issue of perspective. There is a familiar old Indian story that my help. In various versions of the tale, in which a group of blind men touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one touches a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then compare notes on what they felt, and learn they are in complete disagreement. In one version, the blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe (Taken from Wikipedia article “Blind Men and an Elephant”).

The way we view things at work can be like this too. We see just one piece of what is going on, but God sees the whole picture – the whole elephant. There’s only one way I know that get God’s perspective on anything – prayer (preferably prayer informed by Bible reading). So I’m trying to develop the habit of prayer throughout the day. It isn’t easy – I forget, get distracted, lose my way constantly. About all I consistently manage so far is to pray every time I go to the bathroom! Yes I know, but I really don’t think God cares! It’s a start anyway.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Celebrating God @ Work

I must admit that Deuteronomy isn’t exactly the first place I turn for insights on workplace faith. But I was struck the other morning by Deuteronomy 12:7. As the new generation of Israel stand on the edge of Canaan, Moses reminds them of all God has taught them. In the middle of a discussion about worship, he says this: “There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.” Their worship is to be a place where they all go, with their families (and their food!) and celebrate before God all the ways in which God has blessed their daily work. A key part of their worship is rejoicing at the fruits of their labors. Does this describe your Sunday morning service?

I am reminded of the first disciples, after Jesus has sent 72 of them out into the world to participate in the message of hope and reconciliation that Jesus brings. They return full of joy, marveling at what God has been doing amongst and through them. They’re amazed at God’s sovereignty and victory witnessed by them in specific, personal ways (not just in theory in sermons!) “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’" (Luke 10:17) One imagines a child coming back home after a first weekend at camp, full of excitement, thrilled that they were able to make it without mom and dad, and bursting with all the stories that they have built.

Does our corporate worship encourage such wide-eyed enthusiasm? Sadly, for most of us, I think not. Perhaps it’s because we don’t go out into the workplace with the expectations of God’s blessings. Perhaps it’s also because in our churches we don’t challenge one another, encourage one another, and share the joys and tragedies of our work environments with one another enough.

What do you think?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Discovering God @ Work (part 1)

Three years ago I was offered my dream job, and I turned it down. This wasn’t a great noble act, turning down a powerful, lucrative position so that I could provide acts of humble service. Actually it was more like the opposite. The job I turned down was as Director of IT Strategy for World Vision International. After a long career in IT management, and a growing passion for alleviation of global poverty, and with a great appreciation for World Vision’s community development and poverty action vision, this was a match apparently “made in heaven”.

Except that apparently it wasn’t.

The job I turned it down for was with a bunch of money-grubbing real estate lenders. After so long working for a commercial bank, it was clear that God would want me to “give back” to the community – no longer in the materialistic financial world but now working for communities.

Except that apparently He didn’t.

Through a series of events and conversations, especially with my wife (much wiser than I, of course) it became apparent that, for whatever reason, God was calling me to the mortgage lender and not to the global charity. I was obedient on the outside at least, but it took me a few months for that obedience to seep through. Lesson one: our ideas of what Kingdom service looks like will frequently not match God’s ideas.

Around this time I discovered that work is God’s blessing to us. (We often misread Genesis 3:17 where God does not say that work is cursed, but that it will be hard: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”) I had been learning more about God’s Kingdom, whose arrival Jesus announced at the beginning of his ministry (e.g. Mark 1:15). As Reformed theology likes to say: the Kingdom is already now, but not yet – it is here and we’re called to part of its development, until its ultimate fulfillment in the new heaven and earth. So I had started questioning how my work fits in this “already now” Kingdom of God.

Now it was time for God’s first lesson for me. His Kingdom is everywhere – in a mortgage lender as well as a global charity, and He was choosing to co-opt me into His plan in real estate lending. Go figure!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Introduction to Faith@Work Blog

Welcome to the Faith@Work blog. I've been struggling for years with seeing God's plan and His intentions in my daily work. There are so many questions, so many challenges, so may ways in whch I'm messing up. Why on earth did He put me here anyway? What does He expect of me? What is He doing? This blog will attempt to address some of these questions. I have more questions than answers, of course, but will try to work some of them through. I hope you'll join me on this journey.