CCC Gainesville | Blog
Some sweet desserts hand-crafted by Sarah West, pictured here with Zach and Elijah.
DESSERTS, SERVED FAMILY STYLE Presented by Sarah West
– Sour Cream Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake
– Lemon Bars with Whipped Cream on a Shortbread Crust
– Dark Chocolate Brownies
– Coconut Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
– Phatty Cakes (soft ginger cookies, vanilla mascarpone cream)
The Meaning of Work, by Todd Best
Saturday night at 7:00 (Aug. 27) we have the opportunity to participate in something called Opus – an event for those who consider Christ Community their church family. Opus is a latin word for work – and we will be having a conversation about our collective work as a body of Christ-followers. Part of the evening will involve sharing dessert and having table conversations about our work together. All of us have work that we do, whether or not we get paid for it. We hope to encourage reflection about a theological understanding of our work and callings as individuals. Then, having considered our own work, we want to consider how we bring our collective work together as a church in a way that honors God is and good for the world.
Admittedly, we tend not to think much about the meaning of our work and how it relates to God’s purposes and ways. Our main thoughts often settle on the practical questions of how much money we are making and how to enjoy life in spite of our work. But we need to bring this area, as all areas, into the light of the Christian story. We need a Christian understanding of our work that will frame it and bring its meaning to light. One resource that I have found extremely helpful toward this end is an essay written during WWII by Dorothy Sayers titled “Why Work?” Sayers was a contemporary and associate of C.S. Lewis who masterfully wrote about how Christian beliefs, coupled with our imagination, open up ways of seeing the world. Work was one of the cultural themes she returned to from time to time. “Why Work?” has provided me with a couple of quick thought-primers as we approach Opus.
First, in “Why Work?”, Sayers repeats a perspective she has addressed in other places:
What I urged then was a thoroughgoing revolution in our whole attitude to work. I asked that it should be looked upon — not as the necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God. That it should, in fact, be thought of as a creative activity undertaken for the love of the work itself; and that man, made in God’s image, should make things, as God makes them, for the sake of doing well a thing that is well worth doing.
This brief passage alone could provide hours of conversation if we were to take it piece by piece. But for now I wonder what this revolution might actually look like if we were to begin to embrace her way of thinking about our work — both as individuals and as a church community. Specifically, I wonder how different our work might begin to look if we thought of it as a creative activity…as something done for the love of the work itself…as flowing from our identity as the image-bearers of God.In another passage, in her criticism of the Church separating ‘secular’ work from ‘sacred’ work, she ponders what it might it look like for a Christian table maker to faithfully make tables. Of the table-maker:
What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables…what use is all that (one’s piety or church activities) if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry? No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever, I dare swear, came out of the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth. Nor, if they did, could anyone believe that they were made by the same hand that made Heaven and earth. No piety in the worker will compensate for work that is not true to itself; for any workthat is untrue to its own technique is a living lie.
Sayers’s point here may strike us as rather narrow – just make good tables – but to consider this approach to work as a form of worship to God is really what she says will best serve society and God.Finally, as a way to help us think about our work, I’ll end with a quote which needs no commentary, and I trust it will open us up to the revolution she begins with:
…work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.
*Note: “Why Work?” can be found in a collection of essays called Letters to a Diminished Church.
Dorothy Sayers envisions us to look upon our work–“not as a necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God. That it should, in fact, be thought of as a creative activity undertaken for the love of the work itself; and that man, made in God’s image, should make things, as God makes them, for the sake of doing well a thing that is well worth doing.”
–from her essay, “Why Work?”
Who has held the oceans in His hands?
Who has numbered every grain of sand?
Kings and nations tremble at His voice
All creation rises to rejoice
Behold our God seated on His throne
Come, let us adore Him
Behold our King—nothing can compare
Come, let us adore Him
Who has given counsel to the Lord?
Who can question any of His words?
Who can teach the One who knows all things?
Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds?
Who has felt the nails upon His hands?
Bearing all the guilt of sinful man
God eternal, humbled to the grave
Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign
You will reign forever
Let Your glory fill the earth
Since school started for everyone this week, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about what the Bible has to say about our schoolwork at Youth Group this past Sunday. When asked what one’s favorite part of school is, I’ve heard many a middle schooler instantaneously respond, “Lunch!” Some young’uns love school and thrive in an academic environment, while others loathe the idea of schoolwork. Wherever you land in the spectrum of enjoying school, we need to have a Biblical worldview of the work we do.
If you were to take a gander at mythological stories of creation you’d see a very low view of work. The Babylonian god Marduke creates man to do work in the world so the gods don’t have to. In the Greek myth of Pandora’s box, Pandora is given a box by Zeus and is told not to open it. What does she do? Opens it, of course. Out came disease, death, decay….and work.
You may have bought into the American Dream, and so you say, “I like work because it allows me to do things I want to do. I’m hoping to retire early and enjoy life. Even if I can’t retire as early as I want, I’ll work so I can have a home and be able to go on vacation and have some fun.” Is that really a higher view of work than the Babylonians or Greeks had? Work just becomes a by-product, something you do to make money so you can then go do the stuff you really wanted to do in the first place. (idea stolen from Dorothy Sayers)
As a youth, the job you’ve been given is to be a student. You have to do it, and maybe you hate it. What’s the problem? Is work really bad?
Check out Genesis 1 and 2 sometime. Genesis 2:2 says, “And on the 7th day God finished His work that He had done, and rested on the 7th day from all the work He had done.” Or how ’bout Genesis 2:15? It says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Quick question, does work come before or after the Fall? Before. The Fall happens in Genesis 3. Work is in paradise!
In Genesis 1:27, it says that we’ve been made in God’s image (male and female). If we’ve been made in the image of our Creator, what should we do? Create! (and I’m not saying we all need to be artists…thank goodness for me)
“go back to the original Old Testament spot where the first couple, Adam and Eve, are given a job, and the first job was gardening. Gardening is a paradigm for all work. Now what does a gardener do? A gardener is not a park ranger, who just walks around and doesn’t touch anything. A gardener also does not pave over the garden. A gardener is someone who digs up the ground and rearranges the raw material of the soil to produce something that human beings actually need. What do they need? They need food or they need flowers for their physical or emotional needs. All work essentially is that. It is taking raw material and rearranging it to give human beings something they need.”
-Tim Keller, Hope for Your Work
In mirroring our Creator, our work should be creating order out of chaos. What’s an example of that? Well, if you create a business, you’re creating a product that wasn’t there before. You’ve rearranged materials to give people something they need. It’s order out of chaos. You’re imaging your Creator.
That’s fine and dandy, but what about a student going through the drudgery of 10th grade? Let’s take a look at some examples:
-You write a paper in your English class. What’ve you done? You’ve rearranged words and put them together to create thoughts and ideas. You’ve mirrored your Creator.
-In Art, you sculpt, paint, or design something. What’ve you done? You’ve taken different elements and created beauty and order. Order out of chaos. You’ve mirrored your Creator.
-In Science you learn about bodies and nature. From it we can heal and restore disordered bodies and make the orderly. You’ve mirrored your Creator.
-Maybe you’re a person who enjoys the friendships at school. Well, be a good friend then. Listen, counsel, give advice. What’ve you done? You’ve taken a disordered life and tried to bring order to it. You’ve mirrored your Creator.
-How about extracurricular parts of school? Take over as a leader on your sports team. You can create stability with your leadership. You’ve rearranged to create order. You’ve mirrored your Creator.
Why is it so satisfying to get a job done well? Because you’re imitating God in doing so. You have to work or you won’t feel human. Glorify God in your schoolwork, youth. As 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Let’s quickly wrap this long post up with one more thought. The Bible is realistic about your work. We live in a broken world and that means our work is broken. Maybe school has frustrated you, made you feel inadequate, or caused you to be very proud (some are very good at school and very driven to dominate it). What do you need to do? Rest.
Let’s look again at Genesis 2:2. It says God finished His work and then rested. Now, you might be thinking, “Ok, I’ll just take breaks. I like breaks.” Yes, you need physical rest, but there’s more in there. In Genesis 2 God says it’s finished because He’s finished the work of creation. Thousands of years later, God in the flesh cries out, “It is finished,” as He’s hanging from a cross. The first time God gets rest because creation is finished. The second time Jesus cries out, “It is finished,” so we can get rest because He’s finished the work of redemption.
Until you believe Jesus Christ did all the work necessary to gain you God’s unwavering love and approval, you’ll never find rest — and never be free to work. When you get that rest, you can see that work does matter because God’s created it. Also, you don’t have to work to exhaustion and forsake everything for an A+. The kid who struggles with grades, has trouble making friends at school, and is woefully unathletic but knows God through Christ has a better basis for identity and value than the star high school quarterback with all his adoring fans who doesn’t know God through Christ.
“If God is God (and He is), then small with Him is better than big with anybody else.”
-John Piper
God matters to your school. The Gospel frees you from the view that schoolwork is bad, and it also frees you from making schoolwork an idol. Your identity isn’t a letter grade. You can now find joy in imitating your Creator because you’ve rested. Rest so you can work.
Now go do your homework.
