Latest / Finding God at Work / Episode 12: Friend

Transcript

Episode 12: Friend · 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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  In our current series, Imagining Work, we're asking
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  a question.
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  What story about work am I living in?
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  Because there are lots of stories about work,
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  but we want to live inside the story
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  about work that God is telling on the
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  pages of the Bible.
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  So right now we're looking at key images
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  from the Bible, and today's image is Friend.
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  When we think about friends in the workplace,
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  we often think of co-workers, maybe particular
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  people that we connect with that we feel
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  like are helpful to us in terms of
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  the work itself and emotionally.
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  And this kind of gets at two sides
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  of the coin with friendship, and we could
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  ask it in terms of what does it
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  mean to love somebody else?
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  Because at some level we know that our
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  friends love us, they care about us.
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  And a philosophical definition of love, this has
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  been used by C.S. Lewis, by Dallas
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  Willard, by others, is to will the good
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  of the other person.
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  So the person you're loving, you're willing, they're
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  good.
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  And that may be different than how we
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  tend to use the word love.
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  So Dallas Willard would joke like, when somebody
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  says they love chocolate cake, like, no, you
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  don't love chocolate cake, you're going to eat
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  chocolate cake.
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  You're not willing the good of chocolate cake.
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  Chocolate cake, if it had consciousness, would be
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  afraid of you, right?
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  When you love somebody, you're not just using
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  them for your purposes, like you're using a
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  piece of cake to satisfy your appetite for
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  delicious chocolatey goodness.
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  You're seeking that person's good.
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  You're willing, they're good.
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  You're choosing to promote what is in their
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  best interest as you have opportunity.
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  But then when we think about how do
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  we actually seek the good of other people,
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  there's two sides to that coin.
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  And this is an oversimplification, but we can
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  think of it particularly in the work context
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  as we either seek their good through productivity
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  or we seek their good through presence.
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  And we can think of examples of both
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  of these things.
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  So on the productivity side, there's a great
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  example from this book about personality called The
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  Road Back to You by Ian Morgan-Kron
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  and Suzanne Stebbiel.
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  And they're talking about a personality type that
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  isn't always the most affectionate, somebody who maybe
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  doesn't give you a lot of hugs all
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  the time.
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  And here's an example they give of how
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  a father might show love.
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  What, you wanted more hugs?
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  Remember how after that hurricane, yours was the
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  only house in the neighborhood with power and
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  heat because years earlier, your dad brought a
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  backup generator and regularly checked to make sure
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  it was properly serviced and fueled?
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  Sounds like a hug to me.
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  So this gets at that productivity side of
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  love, right?
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  Maybe you don't have the most affectionate dad
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  in the world, but he sure as heck
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  gonna make sure that your home is taken
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  care of in really practical ways.
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  And that really is a way to show
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  care for someone.
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  And obviously in the work context, we experience
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  this as well.
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  At work, the first way we can be
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  a good friend to our coworkers is by
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  doing a good job at our job.
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  That's what helps our coworkers in the practical
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  sense of the work they're trying to get
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  done during the work day as well.
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  And sometimes somebody might be really emotionally attuned
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  to us, but we actually don't feel loved
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  because of the way that they're not able
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  to respond to the practical things.
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  So I remember an experience where a friend
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  of mine, he was really tuned in to
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  me when I was having a bad day.
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  He was emotionally present.
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  He was like, oh man, I'm so sorry
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  you're going through that, right?
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  But that friend also did not respond to
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  an email I had sent him about an
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  urgent work priority.
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  And so later that day, I was really
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  frustrated with that friend.
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  I was like, you know, I love that
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  you're so empathetic, but like what would really
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  help me today is if you reply to
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  that email on a timely manner, right?
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  Now you're getting a sense of a little
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  bit of my personality in that as well.
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  Part of what helps me feel loved is
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  when people are doing the work when we're
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  pulling together as a team that actually literally
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  helps me feel loved by my team members.
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  And so that productivity side is an important
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  side of how we promote the good of
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  somebody else's we actually need to do our
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  work in the workplace.
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  We need to do our job well.
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  But of course, there is the other side
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  of the coin and I said sometimes we
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  really need the hug.
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  Sometimes we need somebody who's going to be
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  empathetic, who's going to be attuned to us.
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  And often our friends that work are those
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  people who can tune into us and who
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  can understand what's going on for us.
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  How is this person feeling today?
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  And one Hallmark of people like this is
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  that they are willing to interrupt productivity for
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  the sake of presence.
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  Somebody has a lot of things on their
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  to-do list.
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  They have a lot of things that they
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  need to get done, but they're willing to
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  interrupt that productivity in order to pay attention
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  to the person in front of them.
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  And so there's a tension here between productivity
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  and presence if you take the time a
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  few minutes to really tune into somebody maybe
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  you will reply to that email a little
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  bit later than you otherwise would and so
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  it takes discernment in the moment to know
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  how long should you take to see how
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  somebody is doing to check in with them,
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  but we need both of these things in
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  order to love our co-workers.
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  Well, we need to love them by doing
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  our jobs.
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  Well productivity and we need to love them
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  by being present to them being empathetic seeing
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  what's really going on with them.
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  And we both need these kind of friends
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  at work too.
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  This might be something that's a good exercise
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  for reflection for you.
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  Think about who in your workplace loves you
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  really well by being productive and who in
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  your workplace loves you really well by being
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  present and maybe if you're lucky you have
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  somebody in your workplace who loves you well
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  in both ways and I think that's what
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  we should aspire to to be people who
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  love other people in both ways where we
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  love people well by being productive.
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  We love people well by being present.
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  That's what makes us true friends of our
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  friends at work.
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  But in order to do that we need
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  our need for friendship to be met more
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  deeply and ultimately that need is met by
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  our friendship with Jesus.
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  Jesus is a friend to us in the
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  middle of our workday and he's a friend
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  in both ways.
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  This might be novel for you to think
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  about but Jesus is really productive.
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  Jesus is good at getting things done and
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  Jesus is also an expert in your field.
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  Whatever your field is whether you're driving a
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  bus or designing a machine or operating a
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  machine or teaching a classroom Jesus knows everything
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  there is to know about that and Jesus
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  can help you with the productivity goals of
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  your workplace.
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  He can give you the insight the wisdom
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  that you need to get the job done.
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  But of course Jesus is also present with
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  us.
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  We think of the final words of the
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  Great Commission in Matthew 28 when Jesus says
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  behold I am with you always.
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  Jesus really meant it.
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  He really is with us always.
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  That means he's with us in the details
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  of our workday.
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  And it's one thing to know that to
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  know the theological fact that Jesus is present
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  with us.
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  It's another thing to remember it to bring
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  Jesus presence into our conscious awareness during our
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  workday.
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  And so the question is how can we
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  do that?
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  How can we bring Jesus's presence before our
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  mind and before our heart in the nitty
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  -gritty moments of our day?
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  The traditional Christian phrase for this is practicing
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  the presence of God.
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  That's a title of a book by a
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  French monk named Brother Lawrence from several centuries
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  ago the practice of the presence of God.
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  But it's also found its way into many
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  different contexts.
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  And I just want to talk about in
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  a really practical way.
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  How do we bring the presence of Jesus
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  before our mind at work?
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  One thing is that boring and repetitive tasks
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  can be our friend, right?
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  They can help us in terms of remembering
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  that Jesus is with us because they allow
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  us the mental space to think about something
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  else besides the task at hand.
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  When you're doing a boring and repetitive task,
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  you have that sort of back-of-the
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  -mind space free.
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  Great example of this is a woman I
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  know named Lindsay.
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  She is a gastrointestinal tech at a colonoscopy
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  clinic and they rotate the duty of cleaning
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  off the colonoscopy probes after the fact.
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  So it is a literally crappy part of
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  the job.
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  So that's why they rotate it from person
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  to person.
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  But Lindsay told me that she has had
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  the richest prayer times at work when it's
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  her turn to wash those colonoscopy probes because
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  it's a boring, yucky, repetitive task.
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  It doesn't take that much mental effort to
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  do the work of the cleaning.
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  And so she has this freedom while she's
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  doing that to pray, to be aware of
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  the presence of Jesus, to pray for her
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  co-workers, to pray about whatever is on
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  her mind and her heart that day.
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  Similarly, I think of someone I met named
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  Larry who's an owner-operator driving trucks.
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  And so he works in logistics, he does
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  transportation, and he says that he will pray
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  with other people while he's driving.
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  Because, you know, the task of driving doesn't
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  take all of his mental energy.
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  He'll call a friend who he knows is
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  free at the same time, and they'll pray
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  over the phone while he's driving.
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  So you can think about your own workplace.
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  What are those opportunities you have when you
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  have boring or repetitive tasks?
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  How can you bring the presence of Jesus
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  before your mind during those moments?
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  And someone who's been a leader in this
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  that's been helpful to me is a missionary
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  named Frank Labach.
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  He worked in the early 20th century in
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  India and in the Philippines.
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  He's primarily known for his work in literacy,
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  helping people learn how to read.
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  But he also proclaimed the gospel and helped
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  people become followers of Jesus.
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  But one thing that he practiced in his
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  own prayer life is what he came to
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  call the game with minutes.
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  And his question was, how often can I
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  turn my mind toward God while I'm even
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  doing other tasks?
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  And so eventually in his game with minutes
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  was, can I bring God into my conscious
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  awareness for one second out of every minute,
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  right?
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  60 times per hour.
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  Now, that may seem really intense.
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  Like, I'm nowhere close to that in my
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  own life with God.
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  You know, I may be a couple of
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  times per hour, maybe every 15 minutes on
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  a good day, I'm consciously remembering that God
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  is with me.
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  But this isn't meant to be something that
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  inspires anxiety of, like, oh, I got to
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  remember God all the time or else I'm
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  doing a bad job.
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  This is something that we can just lean
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  into because Jesus is with us.
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  We can receive his presence with us while
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  we're working on other tasks.
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  I think about how my wife, Katie, who's
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  in grad school at the moment, she will
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  be working on her homework in the living
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  room while I'm reading a book or typing
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  away on a blog post or something.
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  And I'm not primarily focused on Katie's presence,
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  but I'm aware of her presence even while
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  I'm reading my book.
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  I'm aware of her presence even while I'm
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  writing my blog post.
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  I know that she's there with me in
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  the room.
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  And I might, if I read something really
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  funny, you know, I'm reading some Jane Austen
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  novels right now and sometimes a character just
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  has like a really witty line.
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  I'll pause and I'll turn to Katie and
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  I'll read the line to her, you know,
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  interrupt her homework for a bit for a
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  moment of laughter.
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  Well, that can be what our relationship with
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  God is like during the work day.
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  That Jesus is present to us and we
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  can just welcome his presence, remembering that he's
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  with us during the day.
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  And that allows him to truly be our
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  friend.
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  He is that good friend who's with us
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  in the productivity of the work day and
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  he's with us by his presence in the
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  middle of the work day.
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  And when we receive the friendship of Jesus
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  in that way more and more, we can
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  become a good friend like him to all
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  the people around us.
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  Lord Jesus, you are the true friend.
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  You walk with us in our work day,
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  you go before us and you're right there
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  ready to be productive with us, to be
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  present with us and all the tasks that
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  we're tackling and all the relationships that we're
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  facing and all the ways that we're trying
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  to be a good friend to the people
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  around us.
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  We ask that you would be our friend
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  first so we can rest in you, rest
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  in your love and really love the people
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  around us.
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  Do your work in us as we do
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  our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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  life.
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• 12:02
  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
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• 12:10
  podcast series, read our blog, and get info
• 12:12
  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
• 12:15
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