Latest / Finding God at Work / Episode 1: TGIF

Transcript

Episode 1: TGIF · Finding God at Work

• 0:06
  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
• 0:07
  This is Finding God at Work.
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  We're starting a new podcast, obviously.
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  We recorded a zero episode, episode zero, so
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  if you want to listen to that and
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  get a general podcast introduction, you can.
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  For this episode one, we want to dive
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  right in and start a new series, Imagining
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  Work.
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  Now, in this series, we're going to start
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  out with a question each time, so let
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  me ask that question now.
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  What story about work am I living in?
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  And as this question suggests, we're going to
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  be looking at the idea of story and
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  the idea of imagination more broadly.
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  Now, I want to be really clear.
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  I'm not promising that there's some super secret
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  Christian way to have an amazingly inspiring job
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  all the time, where you're just using your
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  imagination creatively and it's all sparkles and wonder.
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  That's not true.
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  Like anything in life, our work sometimes includes
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  things that are boring and repetitive, that don't
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  feel like they engage our imaginations in super
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  wonderful ways.
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  At the same time, no matter how boring
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  your job seems, at first glance, your imagination
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  determines so much of how you approach your
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  work every day.
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  And that's what we're going to be talking
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  about in this podcast.
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  How does our imagination affect the way we
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  do our work and how can we think
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  about that as disciples of Jesus?
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  So we already talked a little bit about
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  the connection between imagination and story, and I
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  want to look at that from a couple
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  different angles.
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  One is the angle of psychology and the
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  discipline of psychology.
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  In the 1970s and 80s, a new field
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  emerged in psychology called narrative psychology, and one
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  of the leaders in that field was named
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  Theodore R.
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  Sarban.
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  He was not a Christian to my knowledge,
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  but he had really profound insights about how
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  we structure our lives as human beings.
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  And so I want to read a quote
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  from one of his seminal essays.
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  It has a fun title, The Narrative as
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  a Root Metaphor for Psychology.
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  This is from 1986, and Sarban says, human
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  beings think, perceive, imagine, and make moral choices
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  according to narrative structures.
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  In other words, it doesn't matter whether we're
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  talking about our thoughts or what we imagine
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  or even the decisions we make, we do
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  all of those things inside of a story.
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  We make choices according to narrative structures.
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  And there's a pastor friend of mine, he's
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  a pastor at the church where I'm a
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  member named Mark.
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  The way he puts the same thing is
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  he says, the story we live in is
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  the story we live out.
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  So all of us put ourselves inside of
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  a story.
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  We imagine ourselves as though we're in a
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  narrative where there's a sequence of events unfolding
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  over time.
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  And that story, the shape of that story,
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  determines how we live inside of that story.
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  The story we live in is the story
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  we live out.
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  And that's why it's so important to ask
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  the question, what story about work am I
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  living in?
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  Because there's lots of stories about work that
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  are out there and that are prevalent in
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  our cultural moment, but not all of them
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  square with the story that God is telling.
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  And we know, even though this discipline of
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  psychology is relatively new, that the power of
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  story is not new at all.
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  It's been there for as long as human
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  culture itself.
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  And so that's another angle that we want
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  to take as we look at the power
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  of imagination, is the story of Scripture.
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  God has given us a story to live
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  in.
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  It's the story that's told on the pages
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  of the Bible.
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  And if we live in that story, we're
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  going to live that story out at work
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  in a different way than if we live
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  only inside of those other powerful cultural narratives.
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  So for the first few episodes of this
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  series, we're going to look at some of
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  those key cultural stories, key cultural narratives about
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  work.
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  We're going to look at four of them.
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  We only have time for one today, so
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  we're going to start there and then we'll
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  unpack another one for the next three episodes.
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  Okay, so let's jump right in.
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  TGIF.
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  Thank God it's Friday, the TGIF story about
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  work.
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  In the TGIF story, you were just so
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  glad to get to the end of the
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  work week.
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  I don't know about you, but I'm the
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  kind of person who says happy Friday to
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  my coworkers on Friday.
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  And I also am the kind of person
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  who says happy Tuesday to my coworkers on
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  Tuesdays.
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  And any day of the week, I'll just
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  say happy whatever day of the week it
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  is.
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  I apparently try to generate lots of positivity,
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  but I get a different reaction when I
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  say happy Friday.
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  When I say happy Friday, people are like,
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  yes, Friday.
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  Why is that?
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  Well, this story resonates with something that's true
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  about our experience with work.
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  And all of these stories have something that
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  resonates with us or else they wouldn't have
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  power.
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  And the thing that's true is that work
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  often is a slog.
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  We have to force ourselves to do things
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  we don't necessarily really want to do at
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  work.
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  We have to do it over and over
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  again.
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  We do it for multiple hours a day
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  and we do it for multiple days a
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  week.
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  And you get to the end of the
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  week and you're just happy that it's the
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  weekend.
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  TGIF.
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  At the same time, the way that we
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  imagine work inside of this story is that
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  we imagine work as drudgery.
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  And so this story gives us a diminished
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  view of work.
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  When we imagine work as drudgery and only
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  as drudgery, then it leads us to ways
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  of living out the story that are not
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  so healthy.
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  And we can see this in comedian Drew
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  Carey.
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  He's the host of The Price It's Right,
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  if you've ever seen that show he took
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  over after Bob Barker.
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  And he used to have his own show
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  called The Drew Carey Show.
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  He cracked this joke once.
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  He said, oh, so you hate your job?
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  Why didn't you say so?
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  There's a support group for that.
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  It's called Everybody and they meet at the
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  bar.
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  Now, what's behind that joke besides Drew Carey's
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  unique comedic genius?
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  Well, it's just this cynical view of work,
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  right?
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  That work is drudgery.
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  And so the best response is to hit
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  the bar on Friday and drown your pain
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  and alcohol.
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  And it's funny, right?
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  Because it's like, yeah, there are a lot
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  of people who do that.
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  And for us, we might struggle with that.
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  We might struggle with turning towards alcohol to
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  numb our pain from the work week.
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  But we also might struggle with numbing our
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  pain through scrolling mindlessly on social media or
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  hitting the next episode on Netflix.
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  And then the next episode again, and then
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  the next episode again, or just mindlessly embracing
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  entertainment so that we don't have to feel
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  the feelings that we do feel about work.
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  So when we think of work, when we
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  imagine work as drudgery, then what we story
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  out is that we numb our pain.
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  But Jesus invites us into something different because
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  numbing our pain means we're cutting ourselves off
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  from some of our experience.
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  We're embracing a kind of dual life where
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  we're experiencing pain, but we're not really willing
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  to experience it deeply.
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  We're not really willing to grapple with it
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  or to be honest with ourselves about it.
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  What Jesus invites us to do is to
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  reconcile with our pain.
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  That's what emotional health requires of any human
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  being.
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  And it's what spiritual health requires of us
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  as followers of Jesus that when we experience
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  pain instead of numbing it or ignoring it,
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  we reconcile with it.
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  We actually square up with our pain and
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  experience it.
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  But what Jesus offers is his own presence
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  as we do that.
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  We can reconcile with our pain in the
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  presence of Jesus.
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  And that might sound really poetic, but this
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  is not something that requires a mystical or
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  complex psychological process.
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  It can be as simple as naming the
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  feelings you really feel at work and then
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  praying and presenting those to Jesus in prayer.
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  This is something that did not come naturally
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  to me at first.
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  I was in counseling and my counselor said
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  that I was going to feel feelings like
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  anger and sadness and disappointment sometimes and that
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  I needed to recognize when that happened.
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  And I didn't believe him at first, but
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  he persuaded me and eventually I adopted a
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  practice at the end of my work day
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  of reflecting what did I feel at work
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  today.
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  And sometimes there'd be good things in there
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  and I noticed those things.
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  But sometimes I would also notice like, oh
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  yeah, I felt angry today when my boss
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  said dot, dot, dot, or I felt disappointed
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  today when I got that email with that
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  bad news.
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  Or I felt sad today because of this
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  situation with my coworker.
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  Or often I felt sad today and I'm
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  not even sure why.
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  But I begin to notice those things about
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  myself and about what I was experiencing.
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  And then I would bring them to Jesus
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  in prayer.
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  I would just tell Jesus how I was
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  feeling.
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  And that's all it takes to start in
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  the process of reconciling with your pain, just
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  to recognize it and then to bring it
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  into the presence of Jesus.
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  And Jesus, like any good listener, he will
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  receive that from you.
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  He can provide that empathy, which is the
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  beginning of healing itself, to really attune and
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  attend to what you're saying and what you're
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  experiencing.
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  But more than what any good listener can
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  bring, Jesus also brings his own healing presence
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  as the Messiah and Son of God.
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  When we bring our pain to him, he
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  can minister to us his reality, his goodness,
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  his love, right in the middle of what
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  we're experiencing.
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  Doesn't mean the pain will always go away
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  quickly.
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  It doesn't mean that the pain won't be
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  there the next day, but that we can
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  face it with Jesus in his presence and
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  we can reconcile with it fully.
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  Now, there's an even deeper way that Jesus
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  speaks to our pain.
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  And that's because we're not the first ones
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  who have experienced pain in our work.
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  Jesus, in his work, also knew pain.
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  That was true throughout his ministry.
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  It was most true in the climax of
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  his ministry, his work of redemption on the
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  cross, that he went to the cross, the
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  place of pain, in order to take our
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  place.
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  And he didn't say no to that pain.
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  He didn't numb that pain.
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  There's actually a little detail in the Gospel
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  of Matthew about Jesus's suffering on the cross
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  that could be easy to miss.
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  So let me read from chapter 27 verse
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  33.
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  It says, they came to a place called
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  Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.
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  There they offered Jesus wine to drink mixed
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  with gall, but after tasting it, he refused
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  to drink it.
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  What's going on here is that wine mixed
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  with gall, which was created from myrrh, was
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  a kind of crude anesthetic.
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  It was a way to numb pain, even
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  a little bit.
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  And so that's why they were offering it
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  to Jesus while he was on the cross.
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  So Jesus tastes it, he realizes what it
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  is, and then he refuses to drink it.
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  He says, this is my work.
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  This is what God has asked me to
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  do.
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  I'm doing this for the sake of the
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  people I love in whose place I now
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  stand, to bear their sins, to defeat death.
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  I'm not going to numb this pain.
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  Jesus himself embraced the pain that he was
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  experiencing in his work of redemption on the
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  cross.
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  And if Jesus embraced his pain, then we
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  can also embrace the pain that we experience
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  and the work that God has given us
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  to do.
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  And when we do that in the presence
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  of Jesus, he will also embrace us.
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  And in his presence, give us the healing
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  we need and the fortitude we need to
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  continue doing the work, no matter how painful
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  it is.
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  Lord Jesus, show us how to live with
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  you at work.
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  Show us how to reconcile with our pain
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  instead of numbing it.
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  And show us how to live in the
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  story that you are telling, a better story
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  than thank God it's Friday.
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  A better story than work as drudgery.
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  Do your work in us as we do
• 12:04
  our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 12:14
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
• 12:17
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 12:19
  life.
• 12:20
  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
• 12:22
  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
• 12:24
  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
• 12:26
  and Thursday.
• 12:28
  To get resources to go deeper with each
• 12:30
  podcast series, read our blog, then get info
• 12:32
  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
• 12:35
  go to our website, missioncentral.church.