Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Why I’m Hitting Retirement Running. Cathy Scheraldi-Núñez writes “Even though we may retire from our professional careers, we should never retire from serving the Lord.”
• Mere Christians: Philip Klayman. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor visits with Philip Klayman, owner of Three Tree Coffee. They discuss why you should consider NOT leading with your why, how, and why God calls us to make counter-strategic moves at work, and how Jesus’s example leads us to push back against worldly wisdom about delegation.
• How to Ask for a Raise at Work. Scot Bellavia writes “You only ever needa raise insofar as your work performance shows you deserve ”
• Author Interview on the Redemptive Impact of Women at Work. Jacqueline Isaacs interviews Joanna Meyer about her new book Women, Work, & Calling: Step Into Your Place in God’s World.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• Faith and Work Book Review – Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life by Douglas Schuurman
• Quotes from the book Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society by Amy Sherman.

• God’s Presence with Ordinary Workers in the Birth of Christ. Russ Gehrlein shares some thoughts about Christmas from a faith and work perspective.
• Called to Lead. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace is available in both a paperback and Kindle edition. Read a free sample (Introduction through Chapter 2).
• Working, Not Leisure, is the Goal for Christians. Simon Van Bruchem writes “Work is a good gift from God, and it is a privilege to be able to serve God with what you are doing.”
• Working in the Presence of Perfection. Howard Graham writes “As spiritual beings in the presence of a holy and perfect God, let’s continue to beg for mercy and be grateful we have fully received it. Let’s continue to seek God’s guidance for our life and work and rejoice that we have been given perfect commands.”
• Can Faith Make the Market More Moral? Jeff Haanen writes “The hard question, then, is: How do humans, who are prone to greed, envy, laziness, and pride, actually become generous, grateful, hardworking, and humble? Does religion help?”
• How Can the Church Better Support Women in Their Work. Jacqueline Isaacs continues her interview with Joanna Meyer about her excellent new book Women, Work, & Calling: Step Into Your Place in God’s World.
• Mere Christians: Warner Wallace. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor talks to homicide detective J. Warner Wallace about the significance of Scripture calling government officials “ministers,” how the fruit of the Spirit outed Jim as a Christian on the police force, and what a California jury proceeding can teach you about the veracity of the resurrection.

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• What we do for a living does in part define us. Nevertheless, it is not the only thing that gives our lives purpose and meaning. We are more than what we do. Russ Gehrlein
• We’re called to a very specific kind of work. To make a Garden-like world where image bearers can flourish and thrive, where people can experience and enjoy God’s generous love. John Mark Comer
• Whatever you do for Christ, throw your whole soul into it. Do not give Christ a little halfhearted labor, done as a matter of course every now and then; but when you serve Him, do it with heart and soul and strength. Charles Spurgeon
• Your work is your mission field, and because of that there is a God-given dignity in what you do. Bryan Chapell
• All labor is honorable. No one ever needs to be ashamed of an honest calling. The Word of God does not disparage the humblest calling. Charles Spurgeon
• We may retire from our paycheck, but we never retire from work. We never retire from the privilege and responsibility of neighborly love. Tom Nelson
• Do you realize that no matter what your job is, no matter what it is you do in it, no matter who your boss is or even your boss’s boss, what you do in your job is actually done in service to King Jesus! Greg Gilbert and Sebastian Traeger
• Whether our work is paid or not paid, our work is to glorify God, honor others, and add value to their lives. Tom Nelson
• It is not your business to succeed, but to do right; when you have done so, the rest lies with God. S. Lewis

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life by Douglas Schuurman. Eerdmans, 204 pages. 2003
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The author, who taught in the Religion Department at St. Olaf College for thirty-four years, and died in 2020, states that his primary aim in this book about the theological and ethical aspects of vocation, is to develop a contemporary articulation of the classic Protestant doctrine of vocation. He tells us that churches and church-related colleges should lead the way in a recovery of life as vocation. He writes that for most Christians, God’s callings are discerned quietly, when the heart of faith joins opportunities and gifts with the needs of others.
The author liberally quotes from Martin Luther and John Calvin, stating that the development of the doctrine of vocation was a distinctive and influential feature of the Lutheran and Reformed wings of the Protestant Reformation. He tells us that we need to think again about vocation in the tradition of Luther and Calvin, as he believes it is imperative for Christians to regain key elements of their views.
The term “vocation” comes from the Latin vocare, meaning “to call.” This call sanctifies all of life, inviting Christians to offer every aspect of life as their divine worship. The author tells us that for those who remain committed to Christ and the church, vocation has more and more come to refer to church-related professions, or to extraordinary, heroic forms of Christian service. This is the view of vocation Luther and Calvin thundered against, because in it, vocation applies less and less to the day-to-day activities that constitute the lion’s portion of most people’s lives.
In the Bible, vocation has two primary meanings. The first, and by far more prevalent, meaning is the call to become a member of the people of God and to take up the duties that pertain to that membership. The second meaning is God’s diverse and particular callings — special tasks, offices, or places of responsibility within the covenant community and in the broader society. Though the New Testament does not provide a formula for discerning God’s callings, it does indicate key elements often present in this process. They are gifts, needs, obligations, discussion, and prayer. Whatever the particular calling may be, the activities undertaken within it must contribute in some way to God’s mission, to the care and redemption of all God has made.
The author does a good job of communicating Luther and Calvin’s views of vocation and applying them to our current day.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• The doctrine of vocation encourages us to connect all aspects of our present, past, and future to God’s plans and purposes. In doing so it provides a solid, integrative center for all of life.
• Prayer and meditation can spark and sustain a sense of life as calling.
• Lawful callings serve the common good.
• In all their callings – home and extended family, friendships, paid work, cultural activity, and political life – Christians must strive to establish justice, contribute to the common good, and promote enjoyment of life in creation under God’s reign.
• Callings are places for self-sacrifice in faithful service to the neighbors God’s providence brings near.
• Vocation encourages Christians to live out their calling in and through the special relations in which they have been placed by God’s design.
• God’s will is that in all our callings we serve the least of these, for in serving them we serve Christ.
• We need to recover the sense that our lives are in many ways “given” to us by forces beyond our control but ultimately in the loving hands of a provident God.
• The modern association of vocation and self-fulfillment runs against the main thrust of the Protestant tradition on this point.
• A Christian’s deepest satisfaction comes from serving the neighbor and serving God by serving the neighbor.
• God’s callings and leading are for the most part quietly and gently received, mediated by prayerful individual and communal discernment of gifts and needs.
• Paid work creating products or services that harm the neighbor cannot be vocations.
• So long as an occupation respects human dignity and contributes to the common good, the word of Protestant vocation for career choices is one of freedom.
• Vocation encourages periodic revision of priorities. The goal of this reassessment is to discern which needs should be emphasized at a given time, or for a given period of time.
• To view one’s work as divinely given vocation makes it meaningful work.
• The central idea of vocation is to use one’s God-given gifts to be of use to the broader community.
• Knowing that fruit of one’s labor is meeting the genuine needs of others creates meaning and adds joy to work.
• The deepest integration of faith and life occurs when essential needs are met through one’s products, and when they are met for the most vulnerable and needy of the world.

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Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

We are reading Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society by Amy Sherman. Sherman is also the author of Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good, a book I first read in my “Calling, Vocation and Work” class at Covenant Seminary.

Every corner, every square inch of society can flourish as God intends, and Christians of any vocation can become agents of that flourishing. In this book, Sherman offers a multifaceted, biblically grounded framework for enacting God’s call to seek the shalom of our communities in six arenas of civilizational life (The Good, The True, The Beautiful, The Just, The Prosperous, and The Sustainable).

This week we look at Chapter 11: The Prosperous Flourishing in the Realm of Economic Life. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

• Work is an avenue for our enjoyment and a means by which we bring flourishing to others.
• Everything we possess is a gift, and we are trustees.
• Created in God’s image, human beings are ingenious creators who can cooperatively bring out, develop, and multiply the world of possibilities that God made.
• Christian individuals, organizations, and denominations have long invested in the work of what we now call “relief” and “development.”