Exodus 31. 1-5 & Colossians 3:22-24
This week we return to our theme of ‘God in my everything’ informed by Ken Shigemitsu’s book of the same name.
Today we focus on work which sits on the ‘Sabbath’ upright and on the ‘reach out’ horizontal span of our trellis.
Our intent is to create for ourselves a ‘Rule of Life’ or a ‘Code of Conduct’ or ‘Rhythms of Grace.’ A pattern of life to live by - a set of guiding principles to help us navigate our way through life and grow in our maturity as disciples of Christ.
For to become as Christ is our upward calling, embracing what the Orthodox Church refers to as theosis. A transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God.
With reference to the exercising of various gifts, callings, and vocations we read in Ephesians 4:13…
This will continue until we
are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we
will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him.
These callings of prophet,
evangelist, teacher, and pastors we note ‘are to prepare God’s people for
works of service…’
Those ‘works of service’
is what marked out the infant Church. It was the Christians who cared for the
poor and stayed the course if a pandemic struck, looking after people,
welcoming everyone.
Acts of worship, the reading
of Scriptures and the breaking of bread, poured out into practical expression
of God’s love for the world and for everyone in ‘works of service.’
Many years ago, I ministered
as a Parish Evangelist at St Mary Magdalene in Prudhoe in Northumberland. During my time there the Vicar, Paul Adamson
took Sabbatical leave. He considered
what he might usefully do during this extended period of leave and study.
He said that he would like to
work, explaining that he had gone straight from school to college, onto
university and finally into theological college and on into ministry. He
considered that he had never properly worked. He was taken on by the
Northumbrian Water Board and worked very happily for several weeks at all
levels in the company.
Now I understand what Paul was saying and yet such thinking can lead us to imagine that there is Church ministry type stuff and then real work type stuff.
It has been estimated that we spend around 10 hours a week as a Gathered Faith Community and 110 hours as a Dispersed Faith Community.
But very often our focus can be on the 10 hours that can then become elevated to a greater level of importance.
Our life as the People of God can become focussed on the Sunday Gathering and not the Monday Serving.
We need to develop an expansive
view of what constitutes work and take it beyond being only about paid labour.
Put simply as we heard from
the Letter to the Colossians this morning…
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Whatever you do – cleaning,
cooking, changing nappies, heading up a global company, serving tea, teaching
in schools – whatever you do…
A servant with this clause
makes drudgery divine:
who sweeps a room, as for thy
laws,
makes that and the action fine.
Familiar words from ‘Teach me
my God and King’ by George Herbert who also wrote ‘King of Glory, King of
Peace’ with the line Seven whole days, not one in
seven, I will praise thee;
I know a good number of you
are familiar with this concept and in particular through the TTT exercise –
this time tomorrow. Where someone is invited to say what they will be doing
this time tomorrow, serving as a reminder that God is in everything and just
doesn’t pitch up on Sunday’s.
Shigemitsu offers some very
helpful insights drawn from the Rule of St Benedict. He also mentions Brother Lawrence, a 17th Carmelite Monk who learned to practise the presence of God by constantly refocussing upon God. Wherever he was and
whatever he was doing he felt and knew God’s presence with him. Whether that
was amongst pots and pans in the scullery, making sandals or participating in
the Eucharist.
I remember hearing of someone
who had a sign above their kitchen sink that said, Divine Services held here
three times a day.
How then do we go about
building into our Rhythms of Grace an understanding of work in its broadest
sense, not just paid labour, as something that can carry a sense of the divine
presence?
Recalling the directive we
heard earlier, 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your
heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
A good place to start is in
Genesis and the creation narrative.
The LORD God took the man and
put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis
2.15
Whatever picture you may have
of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is should not be one of them simply
lounging about doing nothing.
They were called to be
fruitful and multiply, to bring about the flourishing of God’s creation,
holding back the dark forces of chaos and bringing everything into good order.
And they were called to do
this as God’s appointed agents, not as slaves who didn’t have any choice in the
matter.
They did have a choice and we
know they exercised that choice and chose the path of self-determination. They
chose to seek after the knowledge of good and evil. And once they had done that and disobeyed the
command of God, all hell broke loose.
We hear of Adam and Eve
becoming aware of each other in a new way that brought shame, so they hid themselves
from each other and then hid from God. Human disobedience that like a stone
thrown into a pond creating ripples of destruction echoing throughout the
cosmos.
We read further of how God
speaks of the curses that will follow because of their disobedience.
But note carefully that work
itself is not cursed, it is the ground that becomes cursed and will require
hard labour to bring it to flourishing.
This gives rise to that
peculiarity we so often find.
We have a desire to work,
that is part of our God given DNA, we are creative created beings.
Yet work often feels
laborious and tiresome.
It is a double bind.
From here the narrative
continues as God seeks to find faithful humans who will work with him in
bringing about the good order of the world he had created.
The story twists this way and
that, with Noah, Abraham and Sarah, with David and many others. Go and check out Hebrews chapter 11 for a
gallery of the faithful.
And if you really would like
to dig deeper into this larger narrative then search out ‘The Bible Project’
who have produced videos; podcasts and so much more focussed around their strap
line, ‘introducing the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus.’
Because of Jesus’ life,
death, resurrection and Ascension, God’s project of creating a good world is
back on track.
And once more humans are
invited to reign and rule as co-regents, as Kings and Priest in God’s new
heaven and earth reality.
However, there is a now and
not yet about God’s reign over all the created order.
It is manifestly obvious that
at the present time our world does not reflect God glory or God’s will and
purposes.
That is where we come in,
acting as God agents.
Amazingly God invites you and
me to partner with him in bringing back everything into good order and to push
back the dark forces of chaos and evil that continual threaten to overwhelm us.
Michael Quoist ‘The Christian
Response’
‘You are a unique and
irreplaceable actor in the drama of human history, and Jesus Christ has need of
you to make known his salvific work in this particular place and at this
particular moment in history.’
And that work of salvation
and redemption reaches out to whole of the created order and to the whole of
cosmos.
And it reaches out to Rugby,
to your family and friends and to my family and friends, to our communities and
to our neighbours.
For as Thomas Merton said,
‘The gate of heaven is
everywhere - our role is to help open the door... to roll away the stone and
unleash the energy and wonder of the risen Christ’.
We are called to be signposts
to that greater reality, that one day the earth shall be filled with the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 21:14
To close then let us consider
some of the ways we might practise the presence of God as we go about our daily
lives, living as Christ’s Ambassadors.
What about signing yourself with the cross as you go out of your home, or into another building. Or maybe as you enter and exit your car or bus, train or whatever.
Maybe carry a small cross in your pocket or purse.
There was a time when the Church bell would toll and serve as reminder to stop for a moment and offer a prayer, particularly the Angelus.
Today that might be your Connect Group sending around a message at a given time inviting you to stop and pray. Or set an alarm at various time with a prompt to offer up a short prayer.
There are also many great
apps you can get on your phone that can help you to pause during the day and
refocus upon God.
Maybe we could write out that
verse from Colossians I’ve mentioned and put it somewhere we keep on coming
across it…
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Above all we can keep
continually asking ourselves and asking each other…
‘Just what are we doing for
God’s sake?’
Let us pray…
‘While we have life and
breath there is work to be done. While we have friends, neighbours, family
members and work colleagues who do not know Jesus, there is work to be done.
While millions struggle with poverty and disease, there is work to be done. We
cannot and will not sit back and take it easy.’
Amen and Amen
n.banks28@gmail.com
