Sermons for the Month
TGIM
DATE: May 30, 1999
SERVICE: The Holy Trinity
TEXT: Genesis 1:1-2:4a"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
Let's begin with a workplace quiz:
Question: Who are the "working wounded"?
Answer: "Just about anyone who works," says Bob Rosner, a Seattle-area syndicated columnist and speaker. "Whether you're an entrepreneur, an employee or a boss, chances are you've been verbally abused, physically drained, or emotionally maimed."
Question: How do you get any privacy in a cubicle?
Answer: "So many workers today are jammed into a sardine existence that you must be creative to protect your space. One woman told me her 'cubby' was next to a guy who had loud, hour-long conversations - in baby talk - with his wife. When a cubicle she was in line for opened up next to her boss, she 'selflessly' gave it up to her baby-talking neighbor. Not only did she solve her own problem, she also made sure her boss got a daily dose of baby talk" (Ron Arias, "#$@% Boss!!" People, November 2, 1998, 92).
Question: How many of you are frustrated with your work experience? [Ask for a show of hands.] On the other hand, how many of you love your work?
If you raised your hand to that last question, you are in good company. Despite the fact that Bob Rosner says, "We're more miserable at work than ever," studies indicate that most people are very happy with their jobs. Scholar Robert Wuthnow points out that "the vast majority of Americans love their jobs, and find their identity inextricably wrapped up in them. Their occupation is where their heart finds its home, a place of considerable reward and fulfillment - a place begging for theological definition" (Donald A. Luidens, "Cash and character: talking about money in the church," The Christian Century, December 3, 1997, 1127).
The place to begin a theological definition of work is in the very beginning: the first two chapters of the book of Genesis, our appointed reading for this morning. In this story of creation, we learn that God is a creative worker, and that our own work has value when it mirrors God's creativity, bringing order out of chaos, and making things that are good.
Notice how productive God is throughout this passage of Scripture: God begins with a brainstorm, saying, "Let there be light," and there is light; then God separates the light from the darkness. Next the Lord, behaving like a benevolent boss giving the orders says, "Let the earth put forth vegetation" ... "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky" ... "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind" ... and all these creations come into being. God works like a cosmic craftsman, making the sun and the moon, creating the great sea monsters, forming the wild animals of the earth, and finally making humankind in his image, according to his likeness. And then, finally, we humans turn out to be the Lord's finest "work product," and he gives us "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth" (Genesis 1:26). Notice that humans are immediately given work to do. We are to have dominion over everything. God did not intend for work to be a curse-related activity. On the contrary, it is intended to be instead a blessing-related activity. Work does not need to be the enemy! We do not need to be slugging out 40 hours a week, just waiting until we can retire, so that we can then experience God's creative intention for us! What is keeping you on Monday mornings from shouting "TGIM!"? Thank God its Monday!
Perhaps it is a crummy boss. Or mindless work. Or physically exhausting work. Or verbally abusive coworkers. Or sexual harassment. Or racial discrimination. Or religious discrimination. These are serious problems, and it is important to recognize that they are problems and may require strong actions to remedy. As serious as they are, however, they do not alter that God's creative intention for us is that we have work for which we are suited and which can serve as a channel of fulfilling God's will for our lives. All of us are created in God's image, created to be creative creators ourselves. Like God, we are to bring order out of chaos and make things that are good. We have been given dominion over the earth, not to abuse it and exploit it - for remember, God created it and called it good - but to use the resources around us to shine light into darkness and make things that will be life-enhancing for ourselves and others. Whether we roll tortillas or install telephones, teach students or write software, manage finances or manufacture farm equipment, we have the opportunity to share in God's creative efforts. Even if we can't shout, "Thank God It's Monday!" when the alarm clock screams at the start of the week, we can agree that work is a good thing. Think about it. If we have no job to go to, there's little point in getting a decent night's sleep, taking care of our health, and staying out of trouble. Picture inner-city environments where there are very few good employment opportunities - it is hardly a coincidence that these areas grapple with more than their share of drug abuse, violence and out-of-wedlock births. Or think of Midwestern cities where steel mills have shut down - depression and marital break-ups are often the results of job loss. So work is good, whether or not it inspires us to cry out, "TGIM!"
Still, we are challenged to use time on the job to bring order out of chaos. Not all work is healthy, constructive and life-enhancing. Sheryl Draker once worked as an attorney in a highly competitive Dallas law firm, but felt that the sole thing that seemed to matter there was generating billable hours. Her health was beginning to suffer, so she quit her job, refocused her efforts, and "is now happily self-employed in her hometown, Austin, preparing witnesses, consulting on jury selection and advising law firms and other businesses on how to develop better relationships with clients and enlarge their customer base.
"As a legal and communications consultant, Draker typically works no more than 80 hours a month, yet she earns $100,000 a year, 20 percent more than she did as a lawyer. She now has time to get together regularly with family and friends and to do volunteer work, such as cooking dinner on Friday nights for families of pediatric cancer patients at Ronald McDonald House in Austin. 'I've found,' she says, 'that I thrive in an environment where I'm doing a variety of things'" (Andrea Rock, "Change your life," Money, December 1997, 90). Because she has order in her work life, she can say, "TGIM!"
You say, "Duh!" If I had a $100,000 job, I could shout, "TGIM," too! Point well taken.
So what do you make of Keith Johnson? Keith earns about $25,000 a year running the foster-care program at a Florida social services agency for abused and neglected children, and loves his job. "He is responsible for 30 children in 20 foster homes, and does everything from recruiting and training foster parents to shepherding kids to the doctor when they're sick. He works 40 to 60 hours a week, and is always on call for medical emergencies. Nonetheless, his schedule still allows time for volleyball, roller-blading and lounging on the beach with [his wife] on weekends.
"'I feel so fortunate that I can help kids recover from betrayal by other adults,' Johnson says. 'I could never go back to a job that I wasn't excited about getting to every day'" (Andrea Rock, "Change your life," Money, December 1997, 95).
Obviously, a well-paying job that is not healthy, constructive and life-enhancing is the wrong job, and all the money in the world won't make it better. On the other hand, a low-paying job that is healthy, meaningful and life-enhancing provides what money can't buy.
Another challenge for people who want to be creative along with God is to put in a quality effort. We should give our best to our jobs, "whether it is making ax handles or tacos, selling automobiles or teaching kindergarten, engaging in investment banking or holding political office, evangelizing or running a Christian education program, performing in the arts or teaching English as a second language," says Dallas Willard of the University of Southern California.
He goes on to say that our work "is of central interest to God. He wants it well-done. It is work that should be done, and it should be done as Jesus himself would do it." Nothing is more important than doing the job in "sweat, intelligence and the power of God. That is our devotion to God" (Dallas Willard, "How to be a disciple," The Christian Century, April 22-29, 1998, 432). It is a challenge every day to focus on the tasks at hand, and do our best to avoid the distractions, interruptions and problems that can act as quicksand and suck up all our energy and time. If we focus and do our very best, God will help us to create something of lasting quality.
Along with people like Keith Johnson, or Sheryl Draker, we can get excited about a job, because work is not a meaningless "sardine existence" - it is an opportunity to share God's creativity and find considerable reward and fulfillment.
If we make a quality effort and do work that is good, we will find ourselves creating marvelous things along with the Lord who created us. The goal of Monday is not survival to the weekend, just as the goal of a career is not retirement.
Instead, the goal of our work is to join our Lord in bringing order out of chaos and making something good. TGIM!
AMEN