Hi folks, I trust you are all doing ok, this week we are meeting at The Club at 7.30. If you are coming along please be aware of each other and how close you are to people, also please remember to wear a mask as you walk about the building. I look forward to seeing those of you who are able to come.
This week in Liturgy of the Ordinary we turn our attention to ‘Checking Email’! I wonder how you feel about emails? For me I try to keep on top of them, but it’s not easy! It’s great when I do have a bit of time and space as I try to get them right down to a manageable level. I have got into the habit of moving things into folders and deleting things that are no longer needed.
This focus on email though, is just a way to talk about ‘working’, please interpret that how it’s currently relevant to you – retired, out of work, caregiving etc.
So where then are we going with this, well the author talks about vocation and she talks about how the reformation changed the way folks viewed work, “The Reformers taught that a farmer may worship God by being a good farmer and that a parent changing diapers could be as near to Jesus as the pope”.
She also talks about the way we view work – we may say that some jobs have more ‘worth’ than others and she suggests that some may view particular jobs as more ‘holy’ than others.
She goes on to talk about the small routines of our daily work and vocation, as we go to meetings, check our email, make our dinner, or mow the lawn, all of it in her view is part of the kingdom of God and part of spirituality. She suggests that we can’t be ‘holy in abstract’ and that it has to be ‘crafted and developed’ within us, almost like forming a spiritual practice. So this practice is formed as we bring hope to the world by being our natural selves as we carry the hope and love of God within us as we go about our work in every context.
She quotes ‘Garber’ who says, “In the daily rhythms for everyone everywhere, we live our lives in the marketplaces of this world: in homes and neighbourhoods, in schools and on farms, in hospitals and businesses, and our vocations are bound up with the ordinary work that ordinary people do. We are not great shots across the bow of history; rather, by simple grace, we are hints of hope”. 9 Garber, Visions of Vocation, 189.
I love the thought of being a ‘hint of hope’!
So, some questions
How do you feel about your emails?
What tasks of your ‘work’ do you most enjoy? Least enjoy?
In what ways do you relate to having a hierarchy of work?
What are your thoughts on vocation?
How is/could your work be spiritual?
What do you think she means by the phrase ‘Holy in abstract’?
How does the Church view work?
How can we be ‘hints of hope’ at work?
Peace Rob
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.