What does this mean? What is work? What's its value? Why do we spend the majority of our waking ours engaged in this practice?
I'm "working" (no pun intended) on a sermon series on work. I give much credit to this effort to a fellow colleague in pastoral ministry, Ryan Bell, who has prepared an insightful series of sermons on work that have "scratched part of an itch" in my thinking about life in our world and how spirituality integrates with it.
This week the focus is going to be on Genesis 1 and 2 and the respective 2 Creation stories and what they teach us about work.
Story #1. God creates humanity in His image as His crowning work and blesses us with the responsibility to be co-rulers with Him in the care of God's good creation.
Story #2 God partially creates the world, but then pauses to create humanity because He "needs" (or wants) help to continue His good work.
In the one story humanity is portrayed as an image of God called to do God's work of ruling.
In the other story humanity is portrayed as a product (by God's power) of the same stuff as the rest of creation-dirt. Then we are called to till (or serve) our fellow creation by which we are surrounded. We are called to be co-creators.
Now, what is an important part of "creation" in our world today?
Social systems.
Agricultural production and care
Material production.
Service industries.
Family care.
Procreation.
Environmental care.
Spiritual guidance.
Politics
Art
Music
Anything that creates and highlights beauty
ETC!
I'm simply grasping to think about all the aspects of our world that "make the world go round" in a positive way.
The ultimate point I'm trying to get to is that much of human work is really a dignified Godly calling because it's participating in what He's created us to do. It's what He does.
This isn't to brush aside the fact that much human work is extremely undignified. But it's highlighting the idea that following God's call and blessing can be an integral part of what takes up the lion's share of our lives.
What if we truly viewed work this way?
How might this cause us to live our ordinary lives?
1 comment:
Work is an interesting topic. Paul had a portable job that provided for himself, his associates and the poor. Acts 20:33-35.
It seems to me that one of the challenges that God's people struggle with is being able to move freely whenever they feel a nudge to do so. However, many are trapped in the pursuit of pension plans and the dream of security rather than freedom.
Abraham was financially free when God called him to leave Ur. If he had been a slave or indentured servant his call would have been pointless.
That being said there is obviously nothing wrong with working for someone else but it shouldn't cause us to reject God's call that might mean moving. It's not even always about the money but the willingness to go.
Most people never see themselves becoming financially free and are more like those that built the Tower of Babel for fear of "being scattered".
The commendations from Jesus in the story of the talents or the minas seems to imply that learning how to multiply dollars is an honorable pursuit. Of course, the other side of the coin is that we should be doing more to care for the less fortunate as we pursue financial gain.
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