Learning to be a Community of Good Work (2)

 

“There can be no joy in life without joy in work.”

                                                            --Thomas Aquinas

 

I. Required readings

 

Christian Biographies for the Day: Albrecht Duerer and Michelangelo Buonarroti

 

Reflections: Work and Vocation

 

N. T. Wright, “The Bible and Christian Imagination”

 

Profile of and interview with Mimi Silbert

 

Dan Ariely, "What makes us feel good about our work?"  (YouTube video)

 

II. Quotations for the day

 

"A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, and such a society is a house built upon sand.... No nation has yet found a way to keep the machines running and whole nations employed under modern industrial conditions without wasteful consumption.... we shall again be bamboozled by our vanity, indolence, and greed into keeping the squirrel cage of wasteful economy turning. We could - you and I - bring the whole fantastic economy of profitable waste down to the ground overnight, without legislation and without revolution, merely by refusing to cooperate with it.... We should ask of an enterprise, not 'will it pay?' but 'is it good?'; of a man not 'what does he make?' but 'what is his work worth?'; of goods, not 'can we induce people to buy them?' but 'are they useful things well made?'; of employment, not 'how much a week?' but 'will it exercise my faculties to the utmost?' And shareholders in - let us say - brewing companies, would astonish the directorate by arising at shareholders’ meetings and demanding to know, not merely, where the profits go or what dividends are to be paid, not merely whether the workers wages are sufficient and the conditions of labor satisfactory, but loudly, and with a proper sense of personal responsibility: 'What goes into the beer?'"

 

"The only Christian work is good work, well done"

                                                                                                                    -- Dorothy L. Sayers

 

III. Journal prompts

 

Christians need a wider frame of reference than we are usually given in which to evaluate our work. The only frame that makes sense for the Christian is the work that God is doing in the world.  This wider frame generates a much more interesting set of questions than is usually the case when Christians reflect on their work.  I offer the following as examples of the kinds of questions that I believe Christians should be asking of themselves and each other as they seek to be faithful disciples in this central area of their lives.  Do you  think the following questions might generate a more interesting and useful (even if more uncomfortable) conversation about “Christians and work”?

 

1. In what ways might the work I’m doing (or considering doing, or have done in the past) be understood as continuing the work that God wants done in the world?  Specifically, in what ways might the work I’m doing be understood as participating in God’s work of shalom in the world—that is, God’s work of bringing wholeness, healing, and reconciliation to all creation? 

 

2. Are there any reasons for thinking that God doesn’t want this work done?  Are there specific and identifiable ways in which this work causes injury, fosters alienation, or otherwise contributes to the world’s brokenness?

 

3. Given that God’s deep desire is that each of us be conformed to the image of Christ—who was fully and truly human—in what ways does this work make me more human?  Less human?  In what ways does it help make other people more human?  Less human?

 

4. In light of the above, in what ways might the work I’m doing be understood as rendering genuine service to God and neighbor?  If I cannot consider it to be such, should I be doing this work?  If I continue to do it, how will I avoid living a radically fragmented life where what I do for many hours each week remains separate from (if not works against) my commitment to God’s work in the world?

 

 

IV. Links of possible interest

 

            The Delancey Street Foundation  A site that offers more information about this inspiring work of social entrepreneurship.

Veterans to Farmers  A free programs that helps train veterans to transition from being protectors to being providers through a vocation in agriculture that often turns out to be healing for many of them.

Spring Back Mattress Recycling in Nashville not only recycles hard-to-recycle items, but also employs a number of hard-to-hire workers. (Note how students at Belmont are involved in this as well.)

 

            Social Entrepreneurship, which the "New Heroes" series highlights, is beginning to catch hold in business schools around the country.  Some even offer master's degrees in this creative way of harnessing the innovative ideas of entrepreneurs to tackle some of the world's most pressing problems. See the recent NYT article, "Business Schools with a Social Appeal" on Canvas (Files/Copyrighted Material)