Latest / Finding God at Work / 18: Working When the World Is On Fire

Transcript

18: Working When the World Is On Fire · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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  isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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  course.
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  Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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  Just a note, we're going to try something
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  a little different with this episode.
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  I also have a blog at missioncentral.church
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  slash blog, which I think many of you
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  know, the blog and the podcast have sort
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  of always run different series, but for this
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  one, we're going to try and sync them
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  up just for this episode, so it's kind
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  of an experiment.
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  If you want to check out the blog
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  post version, it was published yesterday at missioncentral
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  .church slash blog, and this is basically a
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  podcast episode version of that same blog post.
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  Always open to hearing feedback.
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  If you like this kind of style of
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  episode, let me know.
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  We may see if we do something like
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  this in the future, keeping the blog and
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  the podcast more aligned, but not sure yet.
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  And with that, let's get started.
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  Our current series is Meaningful Work, Calling, Formation,
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  Service, and Love.
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  On a Saturday morning earlier this month, Katie
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  and I found ourselves in the emergency room
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  with a family member.
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  In between visits from doctors, nurses, and techs,
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  we spent a lot of time just sitting.
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  I had my phone with me and turned
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  to the news, and as I scrolled through
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  the updates, it felt like the world needed
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  to be in the emergency room.
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  What does it look like to care for
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  our neighbors and our nation in the midst
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  of many disturbing crises of the moment?
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  It feels like the world is on fire,
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  but I don't know how to call the
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  fire department or where to volunteer for it.
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  The strange thing that Katie and I face
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  when caring for family members in ill health
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  is how much normal life still goes on
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  at the exact same time.
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  We're in the emergency room on Saturday, but
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  we're also planning for our normal work days
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  on Monday.
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  Even as I was prepping this episode, Katie
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  texted me to let me know that another
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  ER trip is underway today, but my brother
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  -in-law is on hospital duty this time
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  around, so what did I do?
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  I said a prayer and returned to prepping
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  the episode.
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  How strange.
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  Have you felt like that at all recently?
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  You go to your normal workplace, but you
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  also read about an overnight operation in Venezuela
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  to remove a dictator.
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  You answer some work emails, and then your
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  phone buzzes with reports of ICE brutality and
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  the detention of lawfully present refugees.
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  What do you do?
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  You say a prayer and return to your
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  work emails.
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  Perhaps you even sign a petition or attend
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  a protest over the weekend.
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  But then you're back at work on Monday.
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  How strange.
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  As an aside here, I tend to be
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  cautious about mentioning political issues without nuancing them,
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  which you may know from our earlier series
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  about politics that I did on the podcast.
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  I don't want to be partisan, especially because
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  I believe Americans and followers of Jesus can
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  disagree in good faith about many issues.
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  This is not an episode for breaking down
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  all the injustices of the current moment in
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  our national politics, as important as posts and
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  episodes like that are.
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  Rather, I want to speak to those of
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  us who are disturbed by those injustices, but
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  find ourselves doing normal life at work all
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  the same.
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  So if that's you, that's what we're going
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  to talk about.
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  If you're like me, doing normal life can
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  feel like a moral betrayal of our neighbors
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  whose lives have been disrupted by injustices.
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  At the very least, it's a point of
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  significant cognitive dissonance.
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  Thoughts like these go through my mind.
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  At such a time, is it right for
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  us to keep following our routines, working and
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  playing, resting and reading?
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  Isn't this an emergency?
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  Shouldn't we disrupt our lives to go take
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  decisive action on behalf of the vulnerable?
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  But what would that decisive action even look
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  like?
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  In his wonderful 1939 sermon, Learning in Wartime,
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  C.S. Lewis answers such questions in the
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  context of war arriving on the doorstep of
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  the United Kingdom.
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  Speaking to university students about their daily studies,
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  Lewis asks, Why should we, indeed how can
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  we, continue to take an interest in these
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  placid occupations when the lives of our friends
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  and the liberties of Europe are in the
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  balance?
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  Is it not fiddling while Rome burns?
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  Lewis's answer for his students, and for us,
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  is that our situation, as grave as it
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  is, is not so unusual after all.
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  Lewis writes, Human life has always been lived
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  on the edge of a precipice.
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  We are mistaken when we compare war with
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  normal life.
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  Life has never been normal.
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  Even those periods which we think most tranquil
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  turn out, on closer inspection, to be full
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  of crises, alarms, difficulties, emergencies.
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  Lewis goes on to talk about the spiritual
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  stakes that are true of life all the
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  time.
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  We are, whether in war or peace, always
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  caught up in a cosmic drama with eternal
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  consequences.
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  God's claim, Lewis writes, on each of us
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  is, quote, inexorable.
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  There's a $10 word for the day.
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  Inexorable means impossible to prevent, and I actually
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  first learned that when I was reading Lewis's
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  book The Horse and His Boy.
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  So, the question is not whether it makes
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  sense to do normal things like daily work
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  or schoolwork during a crisis or a war,
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  but whether it ever makes sense to do
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  such things if you believe in eternal heaven
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  or hell consequences in the spiritual life.
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  Here Lewis reminds us of the nature of
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  the gospel.
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  Jesus does not invite us to fit his
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  offer of eternal life into our lives as
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  they are, like an addendum or an extra
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  feature.
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  He calls us to take up our cross
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  and follow him.
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  To lose our lives so that we can
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  save them.
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  To sell everything so we can purchase the
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  pearl of great price.
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  Jesus intends to reinvent our lives from the
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  inside out, and his thoroughgoing renovation over time
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  will touch every square inch.
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  At the same time, Jesus does not seem
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  to intend for us to do dramatically different
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  things in terms of our occupations and vocations
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  than other people.
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  Lewis explains, quote, before I became a Christian,
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  I do not think I fully realized that
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  one's life after conversion would inevitably consist in
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  doing most of the same things one had
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  been doing before.
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  One hopes in a new spirit, but still
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  the same things.
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  It's true that Jesus called some fishermen to
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  leave their nets and become apostles, but usually
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  he calls fishermen to become fishermen full of
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  the life of God.
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  It is God's way for his eternal life
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  to enter in and occupy our everyday lives,
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  not replace them.
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  Like yeast in a batch of dough, the
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  gospel raises our life, but it remains human
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  life all the same.
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  A loaf of daily bread.
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  This paradox in the gospel answers the cognitive
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  dissonance of doing our normal work when the
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  world is on fire.
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  The gospel brooks no compromise, leaves out no
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  area of life.
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  But the life it transforms remains, in many
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  important respects, ordinary.
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  Our ordinary work can carry the life-giving
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  water of the Holy Spirit to the people
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  around us.
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  This is just as true when we see
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  the specter of war or state abuses or
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  the crumbling of democratic institutions as at any
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  other time.
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  The fire department we are meant to volunteer
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  for is the one where we already work.
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  Lewis does note that war forces us to
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  remember death.
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  Similarly, the present injustices in our nation and
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  around the world force us to remember how
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  fragile and how unevenly dispersed peace and liberty
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  are.
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  But if our work can glorify God and
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  serve our neighbors and help us provide for
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  ourselves and our families at any time, they
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  can do so even now.
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  To join the resistance may, for some of
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  us, at least at some junctures, include dramatic
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  actions or even martyrdom.
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  But for most of us on most days,
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  joining the resistance against evils that God despises
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  means doing our ordinary work, the way we
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  are always called to do it, out of
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  love for God and neighbor, as best we
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  can get it done.
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  By the same logic, we remember that injustice
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  is always afoot somewhere.
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  The particular crises of the moment may simmer
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  down, but there's always going to be an
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  emergency for someone.
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  And neighbors whose plights aren't in the news
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  cycle still deserve our care.
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  The question is not just what can we
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  do at a time like this, it's what
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  can we always do?
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  How can I make promoting peace and justice
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  part of my habits of life?
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  If leading our normal lives creates cognitive dissonance
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  because we don't normally do anything for the
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  cause of the afflicted or justice for the
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  needy, that's what needs to change.
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  Do we deploy our resources, our time, our
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  relational energy, and our social privileges for the
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  sake of the vulnerable regularly, in and out
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  of season?
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  If not, we can repent of our hardness
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  of heart today.
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  Second Corinthians 6.2 says, Behold, now is
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  the favorable time.
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  Behold, now is the day of salvation.
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  Today is always the best day to begin
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  anew in love for God and neighbor.
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  It's also a great day to go to
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  work.
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  Lord Jesus, thank you that you do work
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  in us every day, and in good times
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  and bad, help us to show up to
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  work in order to love you, in order
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  to love our neighbors as ourselves.
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  Show us how our work matters, even at
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  a time like this, and help us to
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  do it well.
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  Do your work in us as we do
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  our work with you.
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  Then get info about upcoming courses on faith
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  in the workplace.
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  Go to our website, missioncentral.church