Jesus told Peter that he should forgive not just seven times, but seventy times seven. But surely an employee can’t keep making the same mistake? How does this square with workplace realities?
There’s a delicate distinction here that we could easily hide behind in the workplace. I had an employee once who consistently failed to carry out an important part of his responsibilities adequately. We would discuss it, he would seem to show understanding of the failure, then turn around and fail at it again. This got very frustrating – needless to say that I as his manager bore the responsibility and the consequences of this failure, particularly since it was something I couldn’t just pick up and do myself or give to someone else. Ultimately disciplinary action was unavoidable, and he had to find a job to which he was better suited – this was just a not fit for him.
The distinction that is really hard to make is between the managerial accountability for effective employee performance, and the personal responsibility for the individual employee. Because this employee’s repeated failures impacted me professionally, each time it occurred I got more and more frustrated, and it impacted my view of the person. I kept a record of his wrongs, not just as a manager but also as a fellow-human. The first was OK, and the second was not. Disentangling them is really hard though.
The different roles in which we inter-relate with people make some of these statements about love quite difficult to work through. In a non-work relationship we often have a hard time treating each new “wrong” as though it were the first – forgiving for the 7th or the 490th time. Hurts don’t go away just like that and with the best will in the world they build on one another to the extent that we simply don’t know how to treat the 7th occurrence the same way as the first. Perhaps that’s not the point though. God has observed and been offended or hurt by each one of our sins, our disobedient acts, our ignoring of Him, denying of Him and all the other ways we turn our backs on Him. And yet, His forgiveness of our latest slight is every bit as full and unconditional as the first. It is this behavior we are to model, and this behavior that is represented in keeping no record of wrongs.
At work we cannot ignore this call to model true agape love, 1 Corinthians 13 love, even while we meet our occupational responsibilities. I guess it is a variant on seeing the sin not the sinner … in this case seeing the person behind the worker, and valuing God’s image behind the imperfect employee. It’s a struggle sometimes, particularly when we’re under deadline or performance pressure, but it’s a struggle that can be addressed by prayer. Note to self …
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Technology @ Work – Dependency
My computer had a huge temper tantrum yesterday, throwing all its toys around, then locking its door and refusing to come out. In the absence of an effective locksmith all I could do was obliterate the room and start again. A day and a half of reformatting, reloading, hunting for keycodes, forgetting passwords and the like and I should be back in action. Mostly. (There’s all the web favorites, lost documents, etc to maneuver through yet).
In the meantime, even though my trusty IT department (Harold) is doing all the work for me, and has set up another PC for me, my productivity has gone down to next to nothing. All the tools I depend on, several of the files I need – I am all but lost! And this even with web access to email – if I lost that, withdrawal would be complete. Because, yes, I am utterly dependent on technology to do my job. Bereft without it, I am frozen into inaction.
Do you remember the days before this addiction? (No of course not, you’re too young. Well take my word for it, there were such days!) Those were the days in which we were OK with sending out a letter (typewritten or even hand-written) and waiting three or four days for a response. Those were the days in which research was something done at the local library, over hours or days with the help of a friendly librarian, not committed to Google (usually quite uncritically). Those were the days when we were dependent upon the mental resources God had given us, and the help of colleagues who sat in the same office, and admittedly sometimes by telephone. There were no “virtual communities” – we were it.
What have we gained and what have we lost? Is technology moving and changing so fast that we don’t have time to stop and seek God’s intervention and wisdom? Are we so swamped with information that we’ve lost the ability to step back and see things in perspective, a proverbial inability to see the wood for the trees? Or is this simply a matter of viewing the past through rose-tinted spectacles?
I think I’ve concluded that the Biblical virtues of patience, love, faith, grace and wisdom (among others) are technology-independent – unlike us. These virtues are learned the hard way regardless of the speed of email and the volume of Google searches. But they were just as hard before computers. And no more or less necessary. Perhaps we have deluded ourselves into over-valuing technology, but if it wasn’t this there would be another excuse – the reality is that sin does not like God’s way and only by being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2) can we be truly dependent on the only valid object of dependency – God Himself.
In the meantime, even though my trusty IT department (Harold) is doing all the work for me, and has set up another PC for me, my productivity has gone down to next to nothing. All the tools I depend on, several of the files I need – I am all but lost! And this even with web access to email – if I lost that, withdrawal would be complete. Because, yes, I am utterly dependent on technology to do my job. Bereft without it, I am frozen into inaction.
Do you remember the days before this addiction? (No of course not, you’re too young. Well take my word for it, there were such days!) Those were the days in which we were OK with sending out a letter (typewritten or even hand-written) and waiting three or four days for a response. Those were the days in which research was something done at the local library, over hours or days with the help of a friendly librarian, not committed to Google (usually quite uncritically). Those were the days when we were dependent upon the mental resources God had given us, and the help of colleagues who sat in the same office, and admittedly sometimes by telephone. There were no “virtual communities” – we were it.
What have we gained and what have we lost? Is technology moving and changing so fast that we don’t have time to stop and seek God’s intervention and wisdom? Are we so swamped with information that we’ve lost the ability to step back and see things in perspective, a proverbial inability to see the wood for the trees? Or is this simply a matter of viewing the past through rose-tinted spectacles?
I think I’ve concluded that the Biblical virtues of patience, love, faith, grace and wisdom (among others) are technology-independent – unlike us. These virtues are learned the hard way regardless of the speed of email and the volume of Google searches. But they were just as hard before computers. And no more or less necessary. Perhaps we have deluded ourselves into over-valuing technology, but if it wasn’t this there would be another excuse – the reality is that sin does not like God’s way and only by being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2) can we be truly dependent on the only valid object of dependency – God Himself.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Love @ Work Is Not Easily Angered
When I discovered that she hadn’t completed a vital task a couple of months previously, and as a result had seriously jeopardized a multi-million dollar transaction, anger was inevitable. Or was it?
In this case, there was a history. It wasn’t that clearly defined tasks didn’t get done (albeit late). But if thought was needed, or initiative, it seemed “Suzi” (name changed of course) always took the “easy” path – “you didn’t tell me to do that”. How frustrating it was – a senior, experienced person with more knowledge than me, not prepared to think through the implications of what we were doing.
But this time it was really serious. We had taken an action that needed to be carefully documented and recorded, followed to the letter of our agreement with the other party. Now it might all go up in smoke! So my voice started to rise as, incredulously, I repeated back that we really had not completed our part of the deal, even though I thought I had expressly requested it. Yes I was angry and I was getting ready to express it in full force to Suzi. But something held me back: why was I angry?
This anger expressed several things that had been building up over time:
So “love …”, which focuses on the other rather than on us, “is not easily angered” (1 Corinthians 13:5) because the other is not generally the primary source of anger. Except in the cases of true injustice, where our concern is truly for God’s glory or other people’s welfare, anger is not an appropriate response to love. More to the point, when we love, and are focused on the other, we simply aren’t going to get angry. I continue to pray for this grace, to love more and more as Jesus does.
By the way, on this occasion by God’s grace I didn’t explode. A little later there was a “coaching opportunity” as we talked about having the courage and initiative to think through the implications of the whole transaction rather than the specific assigned tasks. But far too many times in the past I have had to go back and apologize, by which time it is too late and the hurt has been inflicted. Love must not be easily angered because anger causes untold damage.
In this case, there was a history. It wasn’t that clearly defined tasks didn’t get done (albeit late). But if thought was needed, or initiative, it seemed “Suzi” (name changed of course) always took the “easy” path – “you didn’t tell me to do that”. How frustrating it was – a senior, experienced person with more knowledge than me, not prepared to think through the implications of what we were doing.
But this time it was really serious. We had taken an action that needed to be carefully documented and recorded, followed to the letter of our agreement with the other party. Now it might all go up in smoke! So my voice started to rise as, incredulously, I repeated back that we really had not completed our part of the deal, even though I thought I had expressly requested it. Yes I was angry and I was getting ready to express it in full force to Suzi. But something held me back: why was I angry?
This anger expressed several things that had been building up over time:
- Disappointment that employees didn’t have the confidence and initiative to explore beyond the letter of instructions – that they wouldn’t take initiative, or realize their potential
- Fear that our deal would unravel
- Fear that I would look bad – that I would have failed – if the deal did unravel
- Frustration that my incomplete knowledge of how such a transaction should work had led to my giving incomplete and somewhat vague instructions
- Guilt that I had not followed up to make sure that everything was completed successfully
So “love …”, which focuses on the other rather than on us, “is not easily angered” (1 Corinthians 13:5) because the other is not generally the primary source of anger. Except in the cases of true injustice, where our concern is truly for God’s glory or other people’s welfare, anger is not an appropriate response to love. More to the point, when we love, and are focused on the other, we simply aren’t going to get angry. I continue to pray for this grace, to love more and more as Jesus does.
By the way, on this occasion by God’s grace I didn’t explode. A little later there was a “coaching opportunity” as we talked about having the courage and initiative to think through the implications of the whole transaction rather than the specific assigned tasks. But far too many times in the past I have had to go back and apologize, by which time it is too late and the hurt has been inflicted. Love must not be easily angered because anger causes untold damage.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Love @ Work Is Not Self-Seeking
Children can be unsubtle about demanding their own way. Their worlds revolve around themselves. Adults are supposed to be more mature, and see the needs of others. But sometimes I think we’re just more subtle about our self-seeking!
1 Corinthians 13:5 says that “love … is not self-seeking” (NIV) or “does not insist on its own way” (RSV) or as Phillips translates it, “does not pursue selfish advantage”. Jesus said to his disciples: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) This self-denial seems to be at the heart of this attribute of love. It is this self-denial that causes many to turn away from a complete, radical following of Jesus.
Love shows itself most in relationships. It shows itself in subtle ways sometimes, because while it is love that drives our motivations, sometimes our actions initially suggest love when our real purpose is something else. Our role model is, as always, Jesus. And, as always, His example is radical and extreme. Paul puts it best in Philippians 2:5-8 (likely quoting an early Christian hymn).
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
This is as far from self-seeking as anybody has ever been. Setting aside all the privileges of deity, all His riches, all His power, all His rights, Jesus went to the opposite extreme. Note how the passage starts – Paul says this is how we are to be! Love, flowing out from the presence of the Spirit of Jesus in us, should have this same attitude. Whatever our role at work – whether executive or assistant, professional or laborer, artist or mechanic – we are called to seek the welfare and good of others and if necessary deny those things for ourselves.
Why would we do this? Because as followers of Jesus, we have given up our rights to ourselves and offered everything to Jesus. And this is what He wants from us! He wants us to become like Him, in every part of our lives including (especially) at work, and this is what he is like! Getting there will take a lifetime, but how about starting intentionally to pray for the grace to move forward on the road to authentic Christian love? How about asking the Spirit to draw our attention to times we are being self-seeking, and then asking for Him to free us from our sinful selves so that we can stop. By His power and grace alone, all things are possible!
1 Corinthians 13:5 says that “love … is not self-seeking” (NIV) or “does not insist on its own way” (RSV) or as Phillips translates it, “does not pursue selfish advantage”. Jesus said to his disciples: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) This self-denial seems to be at the heart of this attribute of love. It is this self-denial that causes many to turn away from a complete, radical following of Jesus.
Love shows itself most in relationships. It shows itself in subtle ways sometimes, because while it is love that drives our motivations, sometimes our actions initially suggest love when our real purpose is something else. Our role model is, as always, Jesus. And, as always, His example is radical and extreme. Paul puts it best in Philippians 2:5-8 (likely quoting an early Christian hymn).
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
This is as far from self-seeking as anybody has ever been. Setting aside all the privileges of deity, all His riches, all His power, all His rights, Jesus went to the opposite extreme. Note how the passage starts – Paul says this is how we are to be! Love, flowing out from the presence of the Spirit of Jesus in us, should have this same attitude. Whatever our role at work – whether executive or assistant, professional or laborer, artist or mechanic – we are called to seek the welfare and good of others and if necessary deny those things for ourselves.
Why would we do this? Because as followers of Jesus, we have given up our rights to ourselves and offered everything to Jesus. And this is what He wants from us! He wants us to become like Him, in every part of our lives including (especially) at work, and this is what he is like! Getting there will take a lifetime, but how about starting intentionally to pray for the grace to move forward on the road to authentic Christian love? How about asking the Spirit to draw our attention to times we are being self-seeking, and then asking for Him to free us from our sinful selves so that we can stop. By His power and grace alone, all things are possible!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Church @ Work – Preaching
How can preachers speak to the challenges of our daily work when they don’t have “real” jobs?
This is the second in a series of posts on how the church could be (but for the most part isn’t) helping each of us to grow in our understanding and Christian living in the workplace. The question posed here isn’t an entirely fair one of course, for several reasons – pastors clearly have very “real” jobs, many pastors have significant workplace experience, and many preachers are not pastors (present company included). But many of us feel a disconnect between the pulpit and the shop floor, between the Word as preached on Sunday morning, and the life as lived on Monday morning. Is this inevitable as my first question suggests?
There are several ways to address this question. I was trained and licensed 30 years ago or so in the Church of England as a Reader, a lay minister able to lead services and preach and be otherwise involved in pastoral ministry, but intentionally as someone whose Mondays looked like everybody else’s. The CofE recognized this need, and so implicitly acknowledged the gap. (It was also a way of dealing with significant shortages in parish priests, but that’s another story). Many of my closest friends have been pastors, and this has issue been a frequent topic of conversation. I’ve heard frustration from congregation members too, and appreciation for those preachers who are able to talk about their significant work experience from the pulpit.
But we can’t lay all the blame on the system of professional clergy that our churches have largely adopted, or on the seminaries, or on the pastors who either haven’t spent long in the workplace or have forgotten what it was like. We have a responsibility too – listening to God’s Word isn’t just about being spoon-fed, but also about grappling with the Word, asking God through His Spirit to show us how it applies to our situation. For example, even though I have been in the daily workplace for decades, my experience is radically different from that of an artist, or a construction worker, or a trucker. My challenges are just as far removed from them as are those of a pastor in his or her work. Preachers must learn the art of application of the Word and pass on that art, teach its principles, to congregants.
However, those of us who preach can raise levels of expectation. We can continually draw attention to God’s 24x7 plan and debunk any ideas about Christianity being a Sunday religion. We can draw on our practical experiences to demonstrate the applicability of Scripture to all of life, generalizing in ways that help us all to see how the Scripture sheds light on our unique situations. When Paul says to Timothy that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (1 Tim 3:16-17) he is not just talking about “holy work” or “church work” but all of work which, as Genesis 1 says about God’s own work is “very good” (Gen 1:31). If our preaching does not hit home on Monday, then it isn’t really very useful. This doesn’t mean we switch away from theological depth, or from intensive Biblical exegesis and exposition though. I would argue strongly that if our theology and our preaching do not interpret, shape, encourage and challenge in daily life situations, we’re wasting our time, no matter how academically interesting our studies!
So here’s a challenge to myself (and other preachers who read this): I need to add a success criterion to my preaching that every person in the church is in some way taught, rebuked, corrected or trained in relation to their daily work.
This is the second in a series of posts on how the church could be (but for the most part isn’t) helping each of us to grow in our understanding and Christian living in the workplace. The question posed here isn’t an entirely fair one of course, for several reasons – pastors clearly have very “real” jobs, many pastors have significant workplace experience, and many preachers are not pastors (present company included). But many of us feel a disconnect between the pulpit and the shop floor, between the Word as preached on Sunday morning, and the life as lived on Monday morning. Is this inevitable as my first question suggests?
There are several ways to address this question. I was trained and licensed 30 years ago or so in the Church of England as a Reader, a lay minister able to lead services and preach and be otherwise involved in pastoral ministry, but intentionally as someone whose Mondays looked like everybody else’s. The CofE recognized this need, and so implicitly acknowledged the gap. (It was also a way of dealing with significant shortages in parish priests, but that’s another story). Many of my closest friends have been pastors, and this has issue been a frequent topic of conversation. I’ve heard frustration from congregation members too, and appreciation for those preachers who are able to talk about their significant work experience from the pulpit.
But we can’t lay all the blame on the system of professional clergy that our churches have largely adopted, or on the seminaries, or on the pastors who either haven’t spent long in the workplace or have forgotten what it was like. We have a responsibility too – listening to God’s Word isn’t just about being spoon-fed, but also about grappling with the Word, asking God through His Spirit to show us how it applies to our situation. For example, even though I have been in the daily workplace for decades, my experience is radically different from that of an artist, or a construction worker, or a trucker. My challenges are just as far removed from them as are those of a pastor in his or her work. Preachers must learn the art of application of the Word and pass on that art, teach its principles, to congregants.
However, those of us who preach can raise levels of expectation. We can continually draw attention to God’s 24x7 plan and debunk any ideas about Christianity being a Sunday religion. We can draw on our practical experiences to demonstrate the applicability of Scripture to all of life, generalizing in ways that help us all to see how the Scripture sheds light on our unique situations. When Paul says to Timothy that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (1 Tim 3:16-17) he is not just talking about “holy work” or “church work” but all of work which, as Genesis 1 says about God’s own work is “very good” (Gen 1:31). If our preaching does not hit home on Monday, then it isn’t really very useful. This doesn’t mean we switch away from theological depth, or from intensive Biblical exegesis and exposition though. I would argue strongly that if our theology and our preaching do not interpret, shape, encourage and challenge in daily life situations, we’re wasting our time, no matter how academically interesting our studies!
So here’s a challenge to myself (and other preachers who read this): I need to add a success criterion to my preaching that every person in the church is in some way taught, rebuked, corrected or trained in relation to their daily work.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Love @ Work Is Not Rude
“Love … has good manners” (1 Corinthians 13:5 Phillips). Sounds reasonable enough doesn’t it? Except that somehow at work, I seem to find all sorts of reasons to be bad-mannered to others.
There are all sorts of behaviors tied in with this. The Greek word translated “rude” in the NIV (aschemoneo for those who care) has the sense of “to act improperly, dishonorably, indecently.” What does this look like at work? When I get frustrated with a customer service representative at a vendor and raise my voice, or make the issue personal, I am being rude. When I am short with an employee who is trying to explain why something went wrong, I am being rude. When I use language that is not normally acceptable in “polite company” in our culture, I am being rude. And so the examples could continue through this whole post.
Why is this rudeness a problem? After all, it is generally just a matter of words. Other people must understand how stressful and frustrating my job is – they should make allowances. Right? Well that would be nice, but it isn’t a reasonable expectation. Why not? Because of what I am doing to each of these people in the way I react to them. I am failing to show the respect, honor and courtesy due to a person created in the image of our gracious God. In fact, I am in a sense dehumanizing them, and down-valuing them. This is quite the opposite of love.
Love will look at every other person as an individual with unique value, as someone whom God considers of exceptional importance. I have developed some bad habits in my lack of love. Perhaps a particularly insidious one is my rudeness with people on the phone. I think it is perhaps subconsciously easier for me to be rude when I can’t see that there is a real person on the receiving end. Not that my rudeness is restricted just to the phone – any time things don’t go my way, I’m likely to take it out on whoever I happen to be dealing with. Usually it is someone who has no control over the situation, which further compounds the rudeness.
My solution is similar to that proposed in previous posts on this topic – through prayer, I need to learn the habit of seeing others, as it were, through God’s eyes. That’s why prayer is critical – that two-way communication is the primary time that God opens my eyes to His perspective. Without it, my vision of others is seriously flawed. This is a challenge for me. Perhaps it is for you too. If so, I invite you to join me in putting on this seemingly rather trivial but actually very important aspect of love!
There are all sorts of behaviors tied in with this. The Greek word translated “rude” in the NIV (aschemoneo for those who care) has the sense of “to act improperly, dishonorably, indecently.” What does this look like at work? When I get frustrated with a customer service representative at a vendor and raise my voice, or make the issue personal, I am being rude. When I am short with an employee who is trying to explain why something went wrong, I am being rude. When I use language that is not normally acceptable in “polite company” in our culture, I am being rude. And so the examples could continue through this whole post.
Why is this rudeness a problem? After all, it is generally just a matter of words. Other people must understand how stressful and frustrating my job is – they should make allowances. Right? Well that would be nice, but it isn’t a reasonable expectation. Why not? Because of what I am doing to each of these people in the way I react to them. I am failing to show the respect, honor and courtesy due to a person created in the image of our gracious God. In fact, I am in a sense dehumanizing them, and down-valuing them. This is quite the opposite of love.
Love will look at every other person as an individual with unique value, as someone whom God considers of exceptional importance. I have developed some bad habits in my lack of love. Perhaps a particularly insidious one is my rudeness with people on the phone. I think it is perhaps subconsciously easier for me to be rude when I can’t see that there is a real person on the receiving end. Not that my rudeness is restricted just to the phone – any time things don’t go my way, I’m likely to take it out on whoever I happen to be dealing with. Usually it is someone who has no control over the situation, which further compounds the rudeness.
My solution is similar to that proposed in previous posts on this topic – through prayer, I need to learn the habit of seeing others, as it were, through God’s eyes. That’s why prayer is critical – that two-way communication is the primary time that God opens my eyes to His perspective. Without it, my vision of others is seriously flawed. This is a challenge for me. Perhaps it is for you too. If so, I invite you to join me in putting on this seemingly rather trivial but actually very important aspect of love!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Church @ Work – Not!
Do you go to church to discover how your faith affects your daily work? Do you get support, guidance, and encouragement in your work-life issues from church? Most people would say a resounding “no!”
Why on earth would this be? Surely, if we spend something like 40% of our waking hours at work (far more than we spend on any other activity), you would think our churches would place the highest importance on the workplace, particularly in teaching, discipleship, etc. Yet, with a few shining exceptions, we will rarely hear a work-related sermon, we don’t see teaching on our calling and role as Christians in the workplace, we have nowhere to go to raise work-related issues or celebrate God’s presence at work. Our worship services hardly ever even acknowledge the fact that we go to work. Even our small groups tend to be focused on more esoteric (or more social) activities, although here we can find far more diversity and there are groups in which people find some support for their daily work.
At different times, the church has tried to address this. I’m no church history expert, but I’m told that Luther, for example, was adamant about the absolute integrity of all of life under God, with daily work to be specifically integrated with the rest of Christian life including worship. Calvin felt similarly. The Second Vatican Council addressed this issue at length, and various Catholic organizations have tried to follow up. However, in most churches of all denominations, what we do Monday to Friday barely warrants a mention.
Some authors blame the clergy-laity distinction that arose in the early church, was fought to a degree by the Reformers, and rose again in the past couple of hundred years with the rise of the professional clergy. This caused several issues. It set “spiritual” calling above normal callings, so downgrading most of our occupations to something less important – hence questions about whether we’ve ever felt a call to “full-time Christian ministry” as though those of us in “normal” occupations weren’t already full-time ministers. It also, meant that those leading the church, those called to equip its members, often had limited experience themselves of the daily workplace, and were also barely prepared by their seminary education to overcome this limitation.
Other authors blame our ongoing cultural influence from Greco-Roman philosophies which impose a divide between sacred and profane, between spiritual and secular. The Bible has a much more holistic approach than this, but many interpreters of the Bible have nevertheless bought into the idea that daily work is a necessary evil, and that the world of the mind and spirit are much more important.
Whatever the reason, it seems to me it is time to start actively and intentionally raising this issue in our churches. I’m trying to think through what a holistic church-work relationship might look like for the average believer. This little series of posts will try to work some of it out. Comments welcomed!
Why on earth would this be? Surely, if we spend something like 40% of our waking hours at work (far more than we spend on any other activity), you would think our churches would place the highest importance on the workplace, particularly in teaching, discipleship, etc. Yet, with a few shining exceptions, we will rarely hear a work-related sermon, we don’t see teaching on our calling and role as Christians in the workplace, we have nowhere to go to raise work-related issues or celebrate God’s presence at work. Our worship services hardly ever even acknowledge the fact that we go to work. Even our small groups tend to be focused on more esoteric (or more social) activities, although here we can find far more diversity and there are groups in which people find some support for their daily work.
At different times, the church has tried to address this. I’m no church history expert, but I’m told that Luther, for example, was adamant about the absolute integrity of all of life under God, with daily work to be specifically integrated with the rest of Christian life including worship. Calvin felt similarly. The Second Vatican Council addressed this issue at length, and various Catholic organizations have tried to follow up. However, in most churches of all denominations, what we do Monday to Friday barely warrants a mention.
Some authors blame the clergy-laity distinction that arose in the early church, was fought to a degree by the Reformers, and rose again in the past couple of hundred years with the rise of the professional clergy. This caused several issues. It set “spiritual” calling above normal callings, so downgrading most of our occupations to something less important – hence questions about whether we’ve ever felt a call to “full-time Christian ministry” as though those of us in “normal” occupations weren’t already full-time ministers. It also, meant that those leading the church, those called to equip its members, often had limited experience themselves of the daily workplace, and were also barely prepared by their seminary education to overcome this limitation.
Other authors blame our ongoing cultural influence from Greco-Roman philosophies which impose a divide between sacred and profane, between spiritual and secular. The Bible has a much more holistic approach than this, but many interpreters of the Bible have nevertheless bought into the idea that daily work is a necessary evil, and that the world of the mind and spirit are much more important.
Whatever the reason, it seems to me it is time to start actively and intentionally raising this issue in our churches. I’m trying to think through what a holistic church-work relationship might look like for the average believer. This little series of posts will try to work some of it out. Comments welcomed!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Love @ Work is not Proud
“He takes no pride in his work”. Is he, then, a loving person according to 1 Corinthians 13:5? And is the converse true – that if I take pride in doing a good job, I am being unloving?
Pride is a complex thing. It has been said that pride lies at the root of all sin, because in one way or another sin says that we know better than God, which is the ultimate pride. On the other hand, as we saw last week in http://faithatworkplace.blogspot.com/2010/07/love-work-does-not-boast.html, there are certain kinds of boasting that are clearly acceptable. In the same way, there are aspects of pride that have their place in the workplace.
We are clearly called to do our best at work (“whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” Colossians 3:23). The big question is our motivation. Are we taking pride in our work product because of our gratitude to God for His gifts to us, and our desire to lay them at His feet for His service? I don’t think this has ever been my whole motivation, though perhaps there’s a bit more of it now than there used to be, by God’s grace. I do it because (a) I want to be recognized, (b) it makes me feel valuable, (c) I can show that I’m better than my rival, or at my best (d) because it helps someone else (so they’ll be grateful to me!). Sometimes all four come into play.
The problem with pride, above all, is that it sets me above the other person or, at its worst, above God Himself. I guess another way of putting this is that pride has a tendency to make comparisons. Pride says things like “I can do this better than you”, or “my job is more important than yours”, or “I deserve to be paid more than you”. In other words pride says I’m better than you, which hurts you and denies the reality of God’s creation of each one of us in His image.
Love takes quite a different approach. Love says “you are every bit as important as me, because God made us both, loves us both passionately, and even gave His Son for us both”. In the workplace, love says “what I do is important, but what you do is every bit as important”. Love takes pride in what we do together, because our employers are well served. Love points out that what I accomplish, and what you accomplish, are both possible because of the gifts and experiences God has given us.
So I take pride in my work and in my company. I take pride in the accomplishments of my team. But this pride is a pride in God, and in the people He has created (including me – there is no need for false humility). In particular the fact that God has chosen to build His Kingdom through you and me is indeed something to be proud of, knowing that it isn’t because of anything particularly special about me, but because of the extraordinary grace of God.
Pride is a complex thing. It has been said that pride lies at the root of all sin, because in one way or another sin says that we know better than God, which is the ultimate pride. On the other hand, as we saw last week in http://faithatworkplace.blogspot.com/2010/07/love-work-does-not-boast.html, there are certain kinds of boasting that are clearly acceptable. In the same way, there are aspects of pride that have their place in the workplace.
We are clearly called to do our best at work (“whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” Colossians 3:23). The big question is our motivation. Are we taking pride in our work product because of our gratitude to God for His gifts to us, and our desire to lay them at His feet for His service? I don’t think this has ever been my whole motivation, though perhaps there’s a bit more of it now than there used to be, by God’s grace. I do it because (a) I want to be recognized, (b) it makes me feel valuable, (c) I can show that I’m better than my rival, or at my best (d) because it helps someone else (so they’ll be grateful to me!). Sometimes all four come into play.
The problem with pride, above all, is that it sets me above the other person or, at its worst, above God Himself. I guess another way of putting this is that pride has a tendency to make comparisons. Pride says things like “I can do this better than you”, or “my job is more important than yours”, or “I deserve to be paid more than you”. In other words pride says I’m better than you, which hurts you and denies the reality of God’s creation of each one of us in His image.
Love takes quite a different approach. Love says “you are every bit as important as me, because God made us both, loves us both passionately, and even gave His Son for us both”. In the workplace, love says “what I do is important, but what you do is every bit as important”. Love takes pride in what we do together, because our employers are well served. Love points out that what I accomplish, and what you accomplish, are both possible because of the gifts and experiences God has given us.
So I take pride in my work and in my company. I take pride in the accomplishments of my team. But this pride is a pride in God, and in the people He has created (including me – there is no need for false humility). In particular the fact that God has chosen to build His Kingdom through you and me is indeed something to be proud of, knowing that it isn’t because of anything particularly special about me, but because of the extraordinary grace of God.
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