Thinking. Growing. Learning. Changing.

Monday, 20 October 2008

Where is God on Monday?

Our church recently changed the format of the evening services. Instead of having a 'one sermon fits all' approach we have experimented with 'Mosaic'. Each night when it comes to the time of teaching there are three seminars happening at the same time. Each person chooses which they would rather go to. Currently we have, "A Potted History of the Church", "Issues in Contemporary World Mission" and "Where is God on Monday?". Guess which one I went to...

So, where is God on Monday? Good question. Through these sessions our group has explored the theology of work; the way the church supports its members in their day-jobs, the emphasis and importance placed on our employment as a mission field, the theological place and value of work and the ethical questions raised by Christians in the work place. So far this has proved most helpful and useful as I'm currently exploring the ethics of my own work in the pub. Although there are two more sessions to go, I thought I'd post my reflections thus far.


Church and the work place: Statistically a very low percentage of Christians say that their church supports them in their work (meaning their employment or 'day job') and that they have never heard any specific teaching devoted to faith in the work place. This is an issue which needs to be tackled, as we spend a large proportion of our waking hours (sometimes 12 hours a day or more) at our work. It is imperative that the church examines it's priorities where the employment of its members are concerned. Is the work they do in the church on a voluntary basis any more important than what they do every other day of the week? Do we see the potential and importance of our work as our mission field? I suspect that often we don't. I also suspect that for most Christians, their work place is where they have the greatest contact with people of no or other faith. Why is it then that we spend the weekend fishing in puddles when every day we work in a pond? That is; why do we seem to focus our attention on the limited amount of time we spend working in our church when we spend a proportionately larger length of time in our work place? We need to step up to the challenge of witness in the work place and this means that churches need to be fully supportive and aware of what this requires. How do we support one another in fellowship concerning our work?


The theology of work: A very important distinction made in the last seminar was that of the difference between work and toil. 'Work' by its very nature requires action and effort but it can also be enjoyable. God created us to work (Genesis 1:27-28 ... Genesis 2:15) However, toil is a different issue. It a the mundane, difficult, unenjoyable aspect of working. I have had a few part time jobs which to me were simply toil. I did it because I had to, I worked without enthusiasm or care and every day I looked forward to 5pm. However, my current job I still consider as 'work' but it is work that I enjoy. Even though I get tired and occasionally have a bad or stressful shift, I'm happy to be there and happy to work. We all have to work, but it doesn't always have to be toil. Another important biblical principle is that of rest. The pace of our society is getting increasingly faster as people get busier, deadlines get shorter, expectations get higher and people are beginning to burn out. God gave us the principle of rest and sets His own example for a reason. We need it.(Genesis 2:2-3 ... Exodus 20:8-11... Leviticus 23:3) This is a lesson which has resonated with me several times since the summer. I am one of these people who likes to be doing things, who likes to see my day filled with productive things to do. Sometimes I take on too much and don't leave enough time for rest. This, I have discovered, brings no merit. We get too tired or unwell to do our work properly and we eventually become miserable. Rest is important.

I found my visit to Italy a few years ago an interesting culture shock. At lunch time everything shuts down and people have a good few hours rest. They meet their families and friends for a long and social lunch or go down to the beach for a swim. They rest. I also noticed that, minus one McDonalds, there was no fast food in the town. There were no pre-packaged sandwiches or salads, no quick-fix meals. Why would they need it? They took time to rest and eat. I think they have the right idea. God gave us rest for a reason.


Ethical Issues: This was only touched on briefly in the last session and will be explored in more depth on Sunday. One ethical issue relates to the above point - should we work on a Sunday? Or even if we have to work on a Sunday should we ensure that we have at least one day every single week that devoted to personal or family time? I think so. Someone also raised a valid point about Christians setting an example of a balanced working life which sometimes might mean that yes, we refuse to do so many hours of over-time so that we can see our families or that we really do leave the office at 5pm because we have done a days work.

Another issue is the divide between serving our boss and serving God. The bible instructs us to work for our boss as though working for God - doing our best, being respectful and following given instructions with care. (Ephesians 6:5-9) But what happens when our employer puts us in a compromising situation or puts our integrity at stake? Where should our priority in work be - expanding our business or expanding the Kingdom? On another note there is the issue of suitable work field for Christians. This one I found particularly interesting as people followed two specific lines of thought. One involved working in finance. Is it wrong to make copious amounts of money? I don't think so although I believe it's how that money is used that is of importance. There was some question over people working in finance and their responsibilities. In this time of financial and economic unrest how should Christians in such jobs respond? Is there anything they can do to promote more ethical working in their sector? There was also questions over Christians working in pubs. Haha - that got my attention. Questions such as, "Is it ethical for Christians to be selling alcohol in a nation with such a high level of alcohol addiction and abuse?" were asked and a few more besides. They are right, there are many issues in my work I've had to consider and to me it's still an unstable terrain. I'm not quite sure where my principles rest with my various responsibilities. Even working on a Sunday is a new thing, one I've not had to do before, and I'm currently working out my position on this. I have my thoughts which I may share at another time. There are some jobs which will be seen as unethical but if we feel strongly that it's where we are called to be can we ignore that? There are many people who have given up their employment on the basis that it is to compromising to their faith to continute, and well done to them. For others it's not so easy. Some people have very little choice over where they work, they simply have to get a job. How do we decide which careers are ethically, morally and theologically acceptable. How do we work out orthopraxy in relation to our beliefs?


Questions, questions, questions. Perhaps I shall soon have some answers.
Update: Further to the discussion on Sunday I've been asked to be part of a question panel in the next session, allowing people to ask questions about my work; how I wrestle with the theological, ethical and moral issues surround the nature of what I do. I'm looking forward to it because it will certainly get me thinking and pose more questions that I may not have thought about already.

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Flash

I thought I'd throw in a general update on things at the moment. I've not had much time to sit and reflect on the past couple of weeks as it's gone in a flash and I still don't know what's happening! So here's a general overview:

ICC - I started last Tuesday at the International Christian College and already I'm feeling quite at home. Both the staff and students are incredibly friendly and it's not full of 'hippy hoodie Christians' which was my initial fear. The past week however has been overshadowed by the illness and death of beloved Vice Principle Ted Herbert. Although I knew him only from a distance I knew from being in college only a day that he was the most loved and respected man, known for his integrity, compassion and open-door policy of never turning anybody away. Such a man is a living testament to love and compassion of Jesus Christ even when he is no longer here. This aside, college life has begun positively and I'm looking forward to settling in and getting down to work.

KBC - Life at my home church is going well. Things are settling down for a new term and I'm enjoying being back to my regular services. I was rarely at church over the summer just through working, being away or just sheer exhaustion. I must admit it's good to be back. Last week I was even back with a different role - taking the sermon! The sermon was split in to two parts. Fellow-student Keith did the first part, talking about how God builds our patience through prayer, and I did the second part, talking about how God helps us to understand His will through prayer. It was pretty nerve-wracking and I'll admit I wasn't as prepared as I could have been (our lovely DG is not so generous with pre-warning or forward planning!). Still, all went well and the message was well received. I had some good conversations and positive feedback afterwards.


Other stuff - I left my job at the pharmacy and worked my last ever shift. I'll admit I gladly rejoiced. I'll miss the people but certainly not the job. It will be so nice to have my Saturdays back! Work at the pub is going well. Last night was the staff night out which was good fun and although I was pretty tired I made it out till about 2am. It was good to just to socialise with people and get to know a bit more about them. There's a diverse range of personalities on the team and somehow that's what makes it such a good group for me. I genuinely love them and pray for them often. I also believe that many an adult would be impressed at the way a group of 18 to 20-somethings can efficiently run a fairly big operation every day. It's not easy but I'm always impressed and encouraged by the team work and capability shown on every shift.


Two weeks ago I started back at Friday Night Live. This was the 'week on' where we were running the new format of having pods (workshops of different varieties) and The Big Show (similar to the Friday Night Project??) which I co-host. It was pretty crazy! There are loads of new, younger kids and it's going to be a case of settling them in and getting them used to keeping within the rules which at the moment they seem quite adamant to test. The joys! Still, I feel it's going to be a good and productive year at FNL.
Friday and Saturday this weekend I'll be attending the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit which our church is hosting. I'll no doubt be back on here soon with further reflections from that.


That's me at the moment... Life is full. Life is different. Life is good.