Latest / Finding God at Work / 23: Giving the Gift of the True Self

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23: Giving the Gift of the True Self · 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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Our current series is Meaningful Work, Calling, Formation,
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Service, and Love.
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When I was 18 years old, the fall
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after I graduated from high school, I moved
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down to Peru in South America for a
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nine-month internship with the Anglican Church of
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Peru.
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And I did a lot of things.
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I worked with students in an after-school
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program through Compassion International.
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I helped out with youth ministry.
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And because I was just sort of a
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free hand on deck, they would send me
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all over the place in the Diocese of
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Peru to help out with different projects.
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And for my sake, that I could learn
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different things.
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So I was in Lima to begin with,
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which is this giant city, bigger than Chicago,
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population-wise.
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Very complex history.
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And we would go out to what were
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called the pueblos jóvenes, or young towns, which
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were almost these like shantytown-like establishments and
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communities.
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But some of them were quite old.
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And kind of from the city to the
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far exterior, there was less and less development
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and more and more poverty.
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And so we got way out there in,
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you know, in the U.S. we'd say
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way out in the boonies.
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And there would be a church where the
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walls of the church sanctuary were literally made
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out of like recycled cardboard boxes.
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And there was a priest that would take
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the bus out there and do a little
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Eucharist service in the cardboard box church, essentially,
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for people who lived in this abject poverty.
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And their homes, often similarly, were just sort
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of made out of found materials.
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Bootlegged electricity to try and get things working.
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People who were maybe trying to find things
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in garbage dumps in order to resell them
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and eke out a living.
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This kind of level of poverty.
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And it was incredible to see the genuine
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faith and love of Peruvian Christians in this
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context.
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And also the faithfulness of those priests being
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on mission in these harsh and difficult environments.
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I'm really glad for that experience.
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But there was an image that I had
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that I found so fascinating.
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And that was the image of nursing mothers
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in this context.
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There's this kind of like a body wrap
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sling that was very common, where mothers would
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just carry their babies with them wherever they
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were going, even while they were working.
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And that would allow them, they could just
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switch quickly from whatever task they were doing
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to nurse their baby, if their baby needed
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to nurse.
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There was also a public health campaign trying
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to encourage nursing versus formula.
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And it would have these wonderful photos of
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like husband and wife together and their baby
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and they're looking at the baby or even
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mom's nursing the baby.
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And it would say, la leche de mama
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es el mejor.
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Mom's milk is best.
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And trying to encourage people, if they could,
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to do nursing in the traditional way with
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their babies rather than using formula.
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Now obviously, the formula is a gift for
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people who can't do traditional nursing for different
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ways.
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But there's something incredible there in just that
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image of a nursing mother.
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And for those of us who are disciples
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of Jesus, who believe that God created human
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beings in his image, I think there's something
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there about God's love and his intention for
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life that we can sort of see in
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a concrete way when there's a mother holding
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her child, nursing her child.
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I want to go to a verse that
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actually refers to this image to talk about
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work.
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So it might seem like maybe a juncture
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that you weren't expecting.
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What can nursing mothers teach us about our
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everyday work as disciples of Jesus?
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But I think the answer is quite a
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bit.
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So this is in First Thessalonians, and this
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is one of Paul's letters.
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So it's Paul writing.
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He's writing to Christians in the city of
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Thessaloniki or Thessalonica.
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And this is starting in verse 7.
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He's kind of describing his relationship with this
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community when he was there earlier, the way
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that he and other apostolic leaders were acting
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toward them.
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So Paul writes, OK,
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what's Paul doing?
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Well, he uses this image of being gentle
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with the Thessalonians, like a nursing mother taking
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care of her own children.
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But this isn't just an accidental image.
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It's not just like Paul is trying to
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find some cutesy image to use, because then
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he goes on and he says, what were
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they sharing with the Thessalonians?
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What were Paul and the other apostles sharing?
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We were ready to share with you not
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only the gospel of God, but also our
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own selves.
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So he's saying, like, think about the image
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of a breastfeeding mother.
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What is she giving to the baby?
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She's giving her own self, her own milk
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with her own body to the baby.
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That's the way that she loves, by giving
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her very self to the baby as an
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act of love.
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Paul says, That's how we were with you
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all in your community.
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We were ready not just to share the
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gospel with you, but to also share our
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own selves with you.
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And if you know Paul's writing, it's very
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strange to have him say, not only the
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gospel, because Paul's all about how the gospel
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is everything, right?
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Like, what could Paul possibly say?
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Not only the gospel.
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Like, what could be better than the gospel
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that he would share with them?
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He says, not only the gospel, but also
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our own selves.
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Right?
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So, so not that Paul is somehow better
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news than the good news about Jesus, but
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there's an intimacy of sharing that Paul engaged
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in, that he kind of took that risk
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of being really present with the Thessalonians, offering
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his own life to them.
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And he did this in very practical ways.
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He kind of goes on later in the
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same part of the letter to talk about
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how, you know, he worked a day job
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so that he wouldn't be financially dependent on
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them while he was sharing the good news
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so that they could trust his message.
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So this shows us that there's this image
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of self-giving love that's honored in scripture.
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Okay.
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Now I want to pause there.
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We're going to come back to the idea
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of self-giving love, but go back to
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an image where we started this series.
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So you might remember, I referenced this philosopher
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called Polanyi, and he had this image of
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somebody walking with a cane, someone who couldn't
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see, and how that person would, would have
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certain feelings and sensations in their hand.
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And that would tell them, Oh, like this
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is a sidewalk.
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This is a wall, right?
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Like the, the sensations in their hand begin
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to have a meaning.
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It's not just about feeling in their hand.
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It's a meaning about the world around them.
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And this is how a whole bunch of
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different kinds of human communication works.
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But one of the ways that we can
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apply this idea is that our lives have
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a meaning.
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Our bodies have a meaning.
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So even in that image, that image of
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a nursing mother with her child, that's not
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just a biological accident.
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That's not just the result of a random
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chance through millions of years of evolution, although
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it's possible that God may have used that
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process in creation.
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No, that's, that's an image of God's love.
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The kind of love that God gives us
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is gift of the self love.
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There's a meaning to that picture of the
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body.
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Okay.
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Where do we see this, this idea of
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the, the meaning of the body in scripture?
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I want to go back to Genesis two.
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So we talked about this in our previous
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episode, how we can kind of be tempted
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to use this, this projected self, the false
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self, just like in Genesis three, Adam and
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Eve, you know, they, they sewed coverings for
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themselves because they were ashamed.
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But before that, what was the image?
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Genesis two, verse 25, Adam and his wife
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were both naked and they felt no shame.
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So it's referring to their bodies.
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It's saying Adam and Eve each had a
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body created by God and they felt no
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shame about their body.
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There was a meaningfulness.
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There was a meaning in their body.
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What was the meaning of their body?
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Let's, let's rewind.
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Let's rewind.
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What, where did their bodies come from?
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We know that God created Adam from the
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dust of the earth, right?
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But he also gave, uh, gave Adam a
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job to do.
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So this is kind of interesting how work
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is connected to this image of self-giving
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love right from the beginning, right?
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So Genesis chapter two, verse 15, the Lord
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God took the man and put him in
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the garden of Eden to work it and
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take care of it.
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This is even before Eve hits the scene.
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Adam has a job to do.
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The man has a job to do, to
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work the garden and take care of it.
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Skip a couple of verses later, verse 18,
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the Lord God said, it is not good
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for the man to be alone, I will
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make a helper suitable for him.
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Okay.
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Now that word helper can get thrown out
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of whack in different ways as the women
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are somehow subservient to men or whatever.
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That word helper is used to describe God
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himself elsewhere in the scriptures.
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The reason it's significant though, is that Eve
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comes into existence within the context of work
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that needs to be done.
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This is how closely connected this idea of
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human personhood and the human body and the
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dignity of work are, that Adam has a
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body and then he gets a job.
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And then while he's doing his job, God
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is like, he needs somebody to help him
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do his job better.
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He can't, he can't handle it by himself.
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This is not good.
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Uh, okay.
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So now we'll create another body that's different
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than his, but that goes together with his,
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and then they can do the job together
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and that's kind of God's vision for creation.
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So this, this self-giving love is like
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the meaning of the human body and the
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context for self-giving love, even at the
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very beginning was just normal everyday work.
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Okay.
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A lot of concepts going on here.
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Let's keep going.
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Stay with me.
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Stay with me.
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Okay.
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So this idea of there's self-giving love.
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That's the kind of love that God has
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for us.
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Our bodies show that self-giving love.
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They're like an image of that self-giving
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love and the context for that self-giving
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love from the beginning was everyday work.
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Okay.
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How can we put all of those concepts
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together?
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I would put it like this.
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Your everyday work is where you give the
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gift of yourself to other people.
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And that shows them something about God.
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Your everyday work is where you give the
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gift of yourself to other people.
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And that's what shows them something about God.
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Just like the body has a meaning and
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it communicates there's a, there's a God of
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love.
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Our bodies somehow mean that you, as you
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do your work communicate, there is a God
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of love.
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And so there's an irreducibly human element to
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work.
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And this is really important as we think
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about AI and what can machines do versus
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what people do.
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There's this irreducible human element of work.
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And, and I would say that irreducible human
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element is the capacity to do the work
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with love, right?
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The AI as efficient as it's going to
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get, it's never going to love anybody.
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It's never going to do its work out
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of the motive of love.
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And yet we, as human beings, we can
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do that.
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We can work out of love.
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So just to kind of a quick image
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of this, of like, what does, what does
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this look like in practical terms, like in
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the work environment, giving the gift of yourself.
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We might say giving the gift of your
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true self.
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So in our last episode, we talked about
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how we have to face our false self
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to kind of puncture, let God puncture that
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false self, deflate the balloon of ego that
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we project to others and just be honest
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about our weaknesses.
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Well, similarly, the real self, the true self
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that God has given us, that's the gift
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that we have to give to people around
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us in the workplace.
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So, uh, there's something about your work, right?
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That is meant to be filled up with
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you.
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Your work is not just functional, right?
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It's not just, oh, this task needs to
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get done any old way.
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It's how do you, as you, as the
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specific human being that you are, do this
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task out of love example of this, uh,
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my colleague, uh, Christine Fisher, Chris Fisher, she
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is, uh, the, oh, what's the phrase.
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It's a specific type of market environmental branding.
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She's the environmental branding expert at Northern Illinois
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food bank.
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So a few years ago, before she got
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a chance to do this project, I would
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work in the lobby of our West Suburban
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Center in Geneva, Illinois, and it was this
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drab industrial lobby, you know, like concrete walls
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and a brown desk and, you know, drab
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paint and it just, you know, it wasn't
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super welcoming.
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It was very industrial.
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Cause you know, it's a distribution center where,
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where are we processing millions of pounds of
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food every year?
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Uh, and Christine Fisher, she's an artist.
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And so she was given this task to
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do environmental branding.
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And what she did is she brought our
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brand colors of like green and orange and
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like some images of like fruit and vegetables
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to kind of reflect that we're a food
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bank and brought in some pallets and like
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totally transformed the Now, when you walk in
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the lobby, it's like you're hit with this
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wave of color and there's just this sense
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of welcome and you see the, you see
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the fruit, you see the vegetables, you see
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the pallets, like it's still communicating like, Hey,
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this is a, this is a food bank.
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This is a distribution center.
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We're doing, we're doing work here with pallet
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jacks and, uh, you know, and, and crates
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and, uh, blue collar stuff.
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And yet it feels so welcoming.
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It's so, it's so fun, uh, just to
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walk into that lobby now.
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And, and when, uh, the paint job was
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done and the branding was all in place
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and it was so lively and vibrant, people
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just remarked on it whenever they walked in
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the door, they walk in the door and
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go, Whoa, this is like totally different than
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it was before.
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This is amazing.
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There's something uniquely human about what Chris was
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able to bring to that project.
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There's something about who she is as an
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artist that she could imagine.
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What would this space be like to, to
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be truly welcoming, to still communicate the heart
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of who we are and the industrial grit
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that we have for this kind of distribution
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center, but in a way that engages people
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and She had this uniquely human capacity to
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do it.
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And since I know her personally, I know
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she did that out of love.
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She did that out of a desire for
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people to feel deeply welcome in, in that
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place.
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And she succeeded.
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Okay.
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This is an image of the gift of
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the self, right?
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It's not just functionally, Oh, some AI could
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have thrown some paint on the walls, whatever.
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No, it's Chris Fisher as a unique human
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being was able to give the gift of
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herself in that work out of love.
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In a way that bore incredible fruit for
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our mission.
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Okay.
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It's not going to be that visually dramatic
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for most of us in our everyday roles,
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but there's still something like that, that you
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can do in your work.
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Can you bring your true self, the self
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that God is making you to be?
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Can you do your work tasks with love
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as that true self?
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And in that way, give the gift of
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yourself to the people around you.
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Because if you do, then you're showing them
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something about who God is, that God is
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a God of love that wants to give
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himself to us in that way.
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Lord Jesus, thank you that you are a
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God of love, that our bodies mean something,
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that our work means something.
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Help us to engage our work as our
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true selves, as the people you meant us
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to be.
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Help us to have the courage to give
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the gift of ourselves to the work and
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to those around us.
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Lord Jesus, do your work in us as
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we do our work with you.
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Amen.
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