Understanding Work

We’ve talked in our intro posts about the nature of work, the purpose of work, and the ubiquity of work. In other words, work was provided for us to be “creators”, work forms us mentally to progress towards something, and work is never-ending when viewed in all its forms.

It seems though, that there is one particular form of work that causes angst, resentment, and even a deep sense of guilt in some cases. Professional work for pay, out of all the myriad manifestations of work, causes issues for us. We rarely see our profession as a gift or a form of worship unless we already love what we do or it brings us great personal joy, but that is not the purpose of work.

As we spoke of previously, Christians believe that God has imbued those who have accepted Jesus with gifts that allow them to properly worship Him through their engagement with creation and the created. If this is true, there is nothing that exempts our paid work from this covenant. So, why do we experience issues specifically with labor in this form? I believe it goes back to money.

This post does not have space (and there are others far more versed in the subject) to go into the symbolism of money as it relates to providence , but let’s look superficially where this might have begun. There is a verse in the Bible that says,

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

– Timothy 6:12

I believe it is a misreading of this verse that causes the issue. We latch onto the “money” move to “evil” and determine there is a direct link. So, we begin to view money and evil as synonymous. However, the verse clearly states ,”the love of money” not the acceptance, use, or possession of money. It’s all about love. Do you love the provider or the provision?

 If you love the provider than the provision becomes a gift. If you love the provision than you will look to possess it and usurp the provider. Therein lies the evil. Therein lies the angst, the guilt, the unhappiness. Love the provider, be glad for the gift, and continue on with your work joyfully. Spend your time at your profession loving what you do, loving who made it possible, and being free of any guilt. Don’t love what you do? We’ll begin to address that next week!

Back in the 80’s there was a popular bumper sticker that said, simply, “Question Authority”. It was a rallying cry for a new generation of rebels. These days, after generations of American rebels, it’s not really clear what there is to rebel against. Our society seems exhausted.  We’ve been pushing the rock up the hill, turning the hamster wheel, insert the metaphor of your choosing, but we labor and work towards a goal that is undefined and lies just beyond our reach. We rebel against an “authority” antagonist of our own making and then question it for answers it cannot provide.

Questions are the beginning of wisdom as long as they are the pursuit of knowledge towards purpose. Christians believe that Jesus Christ was God incarnate, meaning an actual perfect being. If they are right, how could he not possess every answer to every question. And yet, in the records we have of his life and his “career” (after all, this is a Theology of Work column), he asked over 300 questions. Jesus asked questions that we might begin working towards a purpose. The question asked was designed to convict, cajole, illuminate, but it always required the one being asked to participate. Questions are the beginning of proper work and that work done in this life is the beginning of true wisdom.

If we seek wisdom, then we should allow the Authority to question us! Strange and yet true. So last week we introduced the fundamental questions: Who, what, when, where, why, and how. These are the questions that ground us, that keep us from pitfalls like situational ethics, compartmentalization and their ilk. Present your task, whether its macro such as “my life” or micro like an upcoming work seminar, to the authority and let it ask you the questions. Your answers after reflection will seem in some cases strange to you and your work preparation will seem to be something very close to prayer. An old dictum that helps here is called The Rule of St. Benedict. The “rule” was “Orare est Laborare, Laborare est Orare” translated means “to pray is to work, to work is to pray”.

Allow yourself to be asked the questions at every turn and see how meaningful your work and your life will become. You will be formed and your formation will be the purpose and the goal of every work you put your hand to. This is the third and final post on the introduction of our Theology of Work. Next week, we’ll dig in!

As we discussed last week, the first task of understanding and appreciating work is to place it within a holistic vision. That entails appreciating work in all of its manifestations. We get a fractured view of work because we’ve accepted the colloquial understanding that work is only those efforts tied to salaried employment. With that view it’s no wonder we’ve invented silly phrases like work/life balance.

Humankind fall into two basic categories. Those who acknowledge that purpose exists and those who do not. You cannot come and go on this point. If purpose exists, it must exist universally; if it does not, then it cannot at all. If you don’t believe in purpose, I’d love to talk with you so please feel free to reach out. Having said that let’s presuppose for the basis of this column that purpose exists.

We also discussed in the last post that work is a process of shaping and endeavoring towards something, so what kind of “life” does not move towards something? The amazing thing about creation is that it never stops. Nor can we. Unceasing is the nature of things, so when we try to stop working and enter the “life” part of our alleged balance, what are we doing since we can’t cease? Something or someone is moving us. We are being moved unbeknownst to us, we have become disengaged to the purpose of our movement and our purpose dies and our life with it. We become hapless wanderers with no vision and no endeavoring.

I once had a personal trainer who taught me the phrase, “Work while you rest.” The idea being that you would have intervals of heavy work interspersed with lighter work while I was “resting” from the heavier lifting. If I did only the heavy lifting with no rest, I would get injured and the purpose of my exercise to be healthy would be lost. However, if I adjusted to include work in its multiple facets, I would have an exponential gain towards my purpose. There is a time to put down one “work” and pick up another, but never cease endeavoring.

Work as endeavor means we have a purpose. If we have a purpose, we presuppose a vision. In other words, we want to get to something and we have devised a plan on how to get there. We see it. That is our vision. Christians believe that God reveals His vision in just the right amount for our limited sight and at just the right time. They also believe that the plan, as it were, is His and their purpose is to be in His presence. So, they’re set, and their work can begin. If you’re not in that camp, ask yourself the fundamental questions: Who, what, when, where, why, and how. All types of work will endeavor together towards the vision’s goal and you can work while you rest. Next post, we’ll set our minds towards the fundamental questions.

Endeavoring Towards Non-Compartmentalization

I cannot begin this post without first addressing the irony within the very title of the project. Communication through words is one of the most powerful responsibilities we have and as such we should be very careful with it. So, I’d like to say the irony was intentional from the start, but alas, it was only in seeing it written at the top of the page that it struck me. I have always disagreed with the notion of separate “theologies”. As a Christian, I believe in One God, Three Persons. With that in mind, I’ve maintained that an attempt to focus your theology through a certain lens like Liberation Theology, distorts your view and will eventually corrupt your notion of God as the creator of all things and the only means or end. We should always go back to First Things. So, when we look at a particular subject, issue, debate we must always follow our line back to fundamental characteristics of God. Namely, those ways in which He has described Himself in His Word. Nothing in the particular can dispute the general and foundational.

In other words, as Casey Stengel, the famous manager of the New York Yankees said,

“The main thing is to always keep the main thing, the main thing”

(headier more intellectual types may attribute it to Stephen Covey, but…).

So, we’ve looked at the “Theology” part of the phrase, now let’s look at “work”. Various definitions of the word as a noun, verb, etc. can start to illuminate the differing notions of what work is and what it means. Some descriptives used to define work are labor, toil, effort, employment, endeavor, and shape. The last one I believe is closest to how we’ll view “work” in this space going forward, but I think we should take a quick look at the others. There’s a general sense in them that work is a bit like medicine. You do it because you have to, you’ll be glad when it’s done, but you’re not going to like the process. This misses the complete point. I want to be sure to make something else clear, you do not need to be a Christian to understand our discussions on work in these columns or even to agree with them, but man will it help!

Compartmentalization as a methodology, in general, is a serious mistake. We’re not talking about focusing for a time on smaller components of a larger endeavor. That’s called process. Compartmentalization involves separating a facet from the diamond and decontextualizing it. Its value is in its role as a part of the collective. The better placed and proportioned facets, the more beautiful the diamond. So, what does compartmentalization have to do with work? Simply put, we have compartmentalized work form its source. A second look at the terms for work denote an endeavor towards something. Work, then, by its nature is movement towards, and for, a higher purpose.

In future articles, we’ll look at the different ways we work: professionally for pay, personally on goals or self-improvement, on our possessions for maintenance or beautification, on our relationships to cultivate peace and happiness, all of these things require work. An understanding of work as a component or facet, but never separate, will take the toil out of our efforts and replace it with joy because we’ll see it inextricably linked to our higher purpose. In fact, its the only way to get there.