The Rev. Nancy R. Smith's work is to think, write, and teach about work. An ordained deacon in the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, she defines her ministry as “spiritual awakening and guidance” and describes its purpose as linking “faith and work, spirituality and justice, passion and ethics.”
Her website Workplace Spirituality is a rich collection of articles, resources, and links about work. She also publishes a free electronic newsletter and is writing a book, Workplace Spirituality: A Complete Guide for Business Leaders and Managers. She leads spiritual life retreats as well as workshops on work and spirituality. In preparation for Labor Sunday, she agreed to respond to some hard questions about work.
Jesus didn't seem to be concerned about work the way we usually define it. He apparently didn't work for pay, and he called his disciples away from their livelihoods to follow him. I know your ministry is not always exclusively or explicitly Christian, but how do you, as a Christian, begin to develop a theological understanding of the meaning of work?
To begin with a theology of work, start with the first chapter of Genesis! God is at work creating the universe and everything in it. God calls it all good and takes satisfaction in the results. In fact, Sabbath is a time for God to enjoy what God has created! Then God creates human beings and invites them to participate by caring for creation.
Work is a natural activity: “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed…. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:8, 15)
On the other hand, from reading Genesis 3:17-19 we may get the idea that work itself is punishment: “With labour you shall win your food … You shall gain your bread by the sweat of your brow.” (Genesis 3:19, NRSV) A careful study of the text shows that because of their disobedience to God, Adam and Eve are told that it is the process of performing work that will become difficult and painful. The reality of work has already been blessed by God.
Do our Wesleyan heritage and our Methodist tradition have any particular insights to contribute to an understanding of the meaning and significance of work in our lives?
Yes! Just read John Wesley's sermon on “The Use of Money,” from which we get his instruction to “gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” The section on gaining all you can reveals a lot about Wesley’s views of work, and his ideas are pretty radical even today!
First, he says that we must maintain work/life balance. Second, we are to refrain from work that goes against our conscience (God’s law). And third, we are to be just and compassionate to others. Here Wesley is not talking only about interpersonal relationships but about social justice – even global justice: We must not hurt others through indebtedness, nor by engaging in unfair competitive practices that price them out of business, nor by hiring their workers out from under them, nor by selling products or services that will hurt their health!
You seem to place a lot of emphasis on economic justice. What is the relationship between economic justice and spirituality?
Economic justice is central throughout the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. (See Isaiah 58:6-7, Amos 5:21-24, and I John 3:17.) Justice depends on the grounding of the individual in the knowledge of the love of God. It is only when a person knows God’s boundless, steadfast love intimately that he or she is grounded in abundance rather than in scarcity. It is only when a person knows that he or she belongs to, and is one with, the Creator of the Universe that he or she can truly be a channel of God’s abundant love and be able “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
The message of Christ is that anything that stops the flow of blessings, of goodness, of material goods, also stops the flow of life itself! The containers that only receive become like the Dead Sea. The barns that can only hold grain that will surely ferment and spoil. It isn’t God’s vengeance that warns the rich man that his life shall be demanded of him (Luke 12:20-21) – it is a rule of life itself: Life is maintained and furthered only when the channels of reciprocity are kept open.
I have parishioners, especially young adults, who tell me they see no particular relationship between their work and their spirituality or faith. They work to pay the bills and then find spiritual meaning in non-work activities. They wonder if they ought to change jobs, perhaps go to seminary. How might you counsel them?
I would invite them to engage with me in the following:
First, consider your own attitude toward work as well as the work patterns and the feelings about work that you learned from your parents. In her paper “Spirituality for Work,” Dorrie Johnson writes:
The four principal themes identified in creation and work (absence of work/leisure, work as natural activity, work as punishment, work as creativity and fulfillment) give rise to very different expectations. In addition, just as God rested from his creative work, contemplated and saw that it was good, so too, people need, not merely to escape from work, but to rest and contemplate.
Second, you are right to find meaning beyond your work! Those who invest all of their meaning and identify and self-worth in their jobs inevitably regret doing that, because that leaves no time or energy to invest in relationships, self-care, and other ways of expanding your life. On the other hand, performing meaningful work, whether for pay or not, contributes significantly to how we feel about ourselves as well as to our overall sense of well-being.
Third, I believe God puts our desire to work in our hearts and expects our work to be satisfying to us. Work is a creative activity, a partnership of co-creating with God, and a calling or vocation. Isaiah says “Why do you spend … your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:1-2, NRSV)
Fourth, unless you are one of those rare people who know what their vocation is early in life, you may need to spend some time getting to know yourself and listening to your own heart and to the voice of God within.
Finally, remember that God still lives and creates! Life is not static and your vocation may change – so keep listening! Helping adults with this process and with resources for it is a wonderful ministry for a church to undertake.
Does work have a different meaning and significance for those who mop floors or dig ditches as compared to those of us who get paid for sitting behind desks, talking on the telephone, and having meetings?
That depends on whether we have chosen the work we do or have been forced into it by financial necessity. It’s true that our society seems to value the desk-sitters more than those whose labor is physical – including the very physical work of parenting. But those who choose to provide a direct service or who work directly with the earth or who are artisans or craftspeople can be especially blessed in their role as Christ-like servants or direct caretakers of God’s creation or hands-on co-creators with God.
We tend to forget that ours is an incarnational faith – an embodied, physical faith! We cut ourselves off from this incarnational understanding of God when we fail to use our bodies or when we use only our minds or our “mouse-hands!” And we cut ourselves off from our own humanity (from humus, meaning earth) when we do little or none of the labor that is necessary to maintain our own physical lives.
As we prepare to worship on Labor Sunday, what guidance can you give us in our preparations?
1. Invite your congregation to wear work clothes to church on Labor Sunday – whatever clothes they wear to work.
2. Instead of the pastor’s sermon, invite a couple of lay people to speak on how they experience God or express their faith on the job, or how they see their work as a vocation. Try to recruit people who are not in service jobs, such as education or medicine, so that others can see how they make the connection.
3. Read all of John Wesley’s sermon “The Use of Money.” There’s a lot more there than “Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can!”
4. Review the United Methodist Social Principles section on “The Economic Community.”
5. Get up-to-date on the recent labor union splits and the issues involved. Do your own web search, but you can start here:
• “UFCW Moves for a Revitalized Labor Movement, Disaffiliates from AFL-CIO"
• The Associated Press article of August 3, “Beyond the Divide: Rift in labor unions may be bad news for employers because fight may intensify competition for workers”
6. Get up-to-date on national and state labor statistics. See:
• JobWatch, Tracking Jobs and Wages
• U.S. Census Bureau’s “Facts for Features”
7. For a variety of worship resources on the web, see:
• United Church of Christ - http://www.ucc.org/justice/labor.htm
• Lectionary - http://www.textweek.com/yeara/propera18.htm
• Lectionary - http://www.textweek.com/yearc/properc18.htm
• http://www.textweek.com/festivals/labor_day.htm
• Interfaith Worker Justice - http://www.nicwj.org/outreach/labor_day.html and http://www.nicwj.org/outreach/labor_day.html#Resources
8. Read “Entitled neighbors: A biblical perspective on living wage” by Walter Brueggemann in The Witness magazine. The central and defining narrative memory of biblical faith is the story of the Exodus. While popular religion is preoccupied with the great divide of water in the Exodus story, in fact this defining memory is not about water; it is about rescue from unbearable poverty and abuse in debt slavery.
Our thanks to Rev. Nancy Smith for this thoughtful and helpful discussion. One important concern she raises is the possibility of churches being a place where people can find help and resources in thinking through their vocations. I wonder if we are doing this?
Hi
I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently.
G'night
Posted by: tihopilik | July 08, 2007 at 08:28 AM