WORSHIP AND WORK

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills -- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.’”  (Exodus 31:1-5)

To behold is to see beyond sight. I think of beholding as a participation in divine perceptivity. God creates, and God beholds. As divine image-bearers, we do the same. It's what we were made for.

This is precisely what artists do. Artists have a sense of vision beyond eyesight. They see what can't be seen, and they bring it into visibility through acts of creation so we can see it too. They behold, and in creating something for us to see, they train us to behold -- to see beyond our limited sight.

Behold -- the first art project in the kingdom of God is an installation of creativity that will point us not to the artist, nor to the art, but to God Himself. This is the divine calling of a holy artist -- to forge and fashion the vision of "on earth as it is in heaven" through every medium imaginable by all manner of creative work. I think I may have stumbled onto a definition of worship from the back side.

What if all work were approached in this same way? When work is done as worship -- which is to say, from a place of beholding -- it causes all work to rise to the level of art. It becomes a thing to "behold," which points us to the God of glory. There is a word for this kind of awakening: renaissance.

-- Excerpted from “Wake-Up Call” with J. D. Walt 

#6175

WHERE’S JESUS?

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  (Matthew 1:23 NKJV)

When our daughter was a toddler, we made the mistake of putting our wooden Nativity set under the Christmas tree where she could easily reach it. One day I noticed that Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men were all looking lovingly down at an empty manger. Baby Jesus was missing! I started looking all over the house for the Messiah. The King of Kings was nowhere to be found.

I noticed our daughter’s little yellow Fisher Price school bus in the corner. Looking inside, I could see that the bus had the usual passengers -- the bald Fischer Price doctor, the construction worker with his little hardhat, a policeman, a mommy pushing a baby carriage, and the bus driver. They were all smiling in their places; but there in the third seat back was Baby Jesus with a big smile on His face, too. I was struck with the realization that my tiny child had solved the mystery of the Incarnation in her own special way. She seemed to know that Baby Jesus did not come to stay in a manger, but belonged on the bus, hanging out with all the people. Come to think of it, putting the Nativity set under the tree was not a mistake at all.

You want a great exercise for Advent? Take the baby Jesus out of your Nativity set, carry Him to work or school or the coffee shop with you today. People might be whispering about your apparent weirdness, but you will know the real secret. After all, that is where Jesus belongs -- God with us. 

-- Excerpted and adapted from “Come to the Manger” by Robert Kaylor

#6010

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING

“I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes. You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”  (Acts 20:33-35 NLT)

The blessings of God are never ends in themselves.  And if we use a blessing selfishly, the blessing actually turns into a curse.  The blessings of God are always a means to an end.  And the end is blessing others.  We are blessed to bless.

One of the turning points of my life came the day I stopped setting income goals and started setting giving goals.  It was a paradigm shift.  I finally came to terms with the fact that making money is the way you make a living and giving it away is the way you make a life.  True joy is found on the giving end of life.  Does that mean I don’t struggle with greed?  Nope.  Greed is a nine-headed monster.  And it has nine lives.  Does that mean I don’t want to make more money?  Nope.  It simple means that on my good days I live to give.  My motivation to make more is so I can give more.  John Wesley may have said it best:  “Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” 

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”

#5809

THE TOMB IS NOT THE END

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NLT)

For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and in verse -- history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song. I have tried it all. But I feel I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say, like many others, "I have finished my day's work!" But I cannot say, "I have finished my life." My day's work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight, it opens on the dawn. 
 
-- Victor Hugo

#5765

WORSHIP IS WORK

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”  (John 4:23 NIV)

One thing my experience has taught me is that you have to bring something to the sermon to get something out of it. The expression is familiar in the African American church: “If you don’t put anything in, you won’t get anything out!” And sometimes it is a mere openness to the Spirit. For worship is neither something that the clergy does and the people sit back and watch, nor something that is an optional activity for the people. Worship is work – hard, active, disciplined, and sometimes painful work that demands something from us as it gives something to us. That is literally what the word that the New Testament uses so often for worship, leitourgia, means – “the work of the people.” 

-- Zan W. Holmes, Jr. in “Encountering Jesus”

#5688

VIEWING WORK AS SERVICE TO GOD

I have a friend who used to work at Disneyland, and he said that when he was trained, there was one value emphasized above all others: What puts the magic in the Magic Kingdom is servanthood. They are told that when you are in the kingdom, when you walk through those gates, you serve. Whatever your job is, you are a servant.

You treat every encounter with people as if they were your personal guest. If they need directions, escort them. If they ask a question and you have heard it a hundred times, answer it as if you have never heard it before…

Jesus said that what puts the magic into His kingdom is serving, because “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mathew 20:28). His is not a kingdom about status and climbing ladders and getting attention. The best you is built by serving, and God’s kingdom is one of those kingdoms where if you don’t want to serve, you won’t really want to be there. Sometimes God will interrupt us in our work, not to give us a chance to show off our giftedness, but simply to give us a chance to serve…

The day is coming when God will look at His faithful servants and say, “Well done.” He will say it to faithful employees who give themselves diligently to work that never earns much human recognition. He will say it to workers who know they could have climbed higher if they had cut corners or manipulated others. He will say it to single parents who cared for kids – bathing them, feeding them, cleaning up after them – when they were tired and thought nobody was looking.

Somebody is looking. Someone is keeping track. It is worth it.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

#5681

GOOD SABBATHS MAKE GOOD CHRISTIANS

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’”  (Mark 2:27-28 NRSV)

How often people today cry out in exasperation or despair, “I just don’t have enough time!” There is so much to do: earn a living, fulfill a vocation, nurture relationships, care for dependents, exercise, clean the house. Moreover, we hope to maintain sanity while doing all this, and keep growing as faithful and loving people at the same time. We are finite, and the demands too great, the time too short….

Puritan Sabbath keepers agreed that “good Sabbaths make good Christians.” They meant that regular, disciplined attention to the spiritual life was the foundation of faithfulness. Another dimension of the saying opens up if we imagine a worshipping community helping one another step off the treadmill of work-and-spend and into the circle of glad gratitude for the gifts of God. Taken this way, good Sabbaths make good Christians by regularly reminding us of God’s creative, liberating, and redeeming presence, not only in words but also through a practice we do together in response to that presence. 

– From “Keeping Sabbath” by Dorothy C. Bass in “Practicing Our Faith”

#5523

THE FIRES OF ENTHUSIASM

“As servants of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do,...”  (Ephesians 6:6b-8a)

Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, once told his players, "If you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired -- with enthusiasm!" Nothing of substance can be accomplished without enthusiasm…

In the community of believers, people are motivated in different ways. It is a challenge for leadership to know how to kindle enthusiasm and maintain it… Wise leaders know how to keep the fires of enthusiasm burning while avoiding burning people out with exhaustion.

-- Stuart Briscoe in “Daily Study Bible for Men” 

#5409

RENEWED STRENGTH

“LORD, be gracious to us; we long for You. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.”  (Isaiah 33:2 NIV)

Life is a hard fight, a struggle, a wrestling with the principle of evil, hand to hand, foot to foot. Every inch of the way is disputed. The night is given us to take breath, to pray, to drink deep at the fountain of power. The day, to use the strength which has been given us, to go forth to work with it till the evening.

-- Florence Nightingale


#4790

LET YOUR WORK HONOR GOD

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”  (1 Corinthians 10:31b NIV)

Journalist William Zinsser’s first job was writing for the Buffalo News. Traditionally cub reporters often start by writing obituaries, but Zinsser was frustrated with his assignment. I could be doing Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporting, he thought to himself, and I’m stuck writing obituaries. Writers don’t win Pulitzers for obituaries. Finally he worked up enough courage and asked his editor, “When am I going to get some decent story assignments?”

“Listen, kid!” his crusty old editor growled at him. “Nothing you write will ever get read as carefully as what you are writing right now. You misspell a word, you mess up a date, and a family will be hurt. But you do justice to somebody’s grandmother, to somebody’s mom, you make a life sing, and they will be grateful forever. They will put your words in laminate.”

Things changed.

“I pledged I would make the extra calls,” Zinsser said. “I would ask the extra questions. I would go the extra mile.”

That is essentially from the Sermon on the Mount -- write obituaries for others as you would want others to write an obituary for you -- obituaries that deserved to be laminated -- because someday, somebody will. Zinsser eventually moved on to other kinds of writing, including a book on writing itself that has sold more than a million copies. But none of it would have happened if he had not devoted himself to obituaries.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”


#4292

GOD’S CALL IN RETIREMENT

NOTE:  On July 1, 2017 I retired from full-time ministry in the United Methodist Church. As I prepared for retirement and what that might look like, this verse and quote came to mind. Some have asked whether I will continue this SOUND BITES Ministry. Based on what I feel God is calling me to in retirement, I have no plans to discontinue this ministry. I have appreciated the many words of support for keeping it going. Blessings… -- DW

GOD’S CALL IN RETIREMENT

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)

For some, retirement is disengagement, a time of withdrawal from life.  For others, it is new activity.  For those who seek to understand how God fits into retirement, we must return to see how God was at work in our past stories.  Only then can we understand how God calls us in this new chapter of life's journey.  There is continuity between how God called us in our past and how God calls us now. …

As we look backward and see God's presence in life, we can look forward to the end of life with hope and optimism.

-- Richard L. Morgan in “I Never Found That Rocking Chair"

#4132

BIBLICAL WISDOM

Many people think that what's written in the Bible has mostly to do with getting people into heaven -- getting right with God, saving their eternal souls.  It does have to do with that, of course, but not mostly.  It is equally concerned with living on this earth -- living well, living in robust sanity.  In our Scriptures, heaven is not the primary concern, to which earth is a tag-along afterthought.  "On earth as it is in heaven" is Jesus' prayer.

"Wisdom" is the biblical term for this on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven everyday living.  Wisdom is the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves.  It has virtually nothing to do with information as such, with knowledge as such.  A college degree is no certification of wisdom -- nor is it primarily concerned with keeping us out of moral mud puddles, although it does have a profound moral effect upon us.

Wisdom has to do with becoming skillful in honoring our parents and raising our children, handling our money and conducting our sexual lives, going to work and exercising leadership, using words well and treating friends kindly, eating and drinking healthily, cultivating emotions within ourselves and attitudes toward others that make for peace.  Threaded through all these items is the insistence that the way we think of and respond to God is the most practical thing we do.  In matters of everyday practicality, nothing, absolutely nothing, takes precedence over God.

-- Eugene Peterson in “The Message”


#4089

DOING THE ORDINARY THINGS

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord,…”  (Colossians 3:23 NIV)

Do not forget that the value and interest of life is not so much to do conspicuous things… as to do ordinary things with the perception of their enormous value.

-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

#3964

SABBATH REST

"Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."  (Genesis 2:1-3)

When we live without listening to the timing of things, when we live and work in twenty-four-hour shifts without rest – we are on war time, mobilized for battle. Yes, we are strong and capable people, we can work without stopping, faster and faster, electric lights making artificial day so the whole machine can labor without ceasing. But remember: No living thing lives like this. There are greater rhythms, seasons and hormonal cycles and sunsets and moonrises and great movements of seas and stars. We are part of the creation story, subject to all its laws and rhythms.

-- Wayne Muller in Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives

#3694

A WORK OF ART

A great deal of the joy of life consists in doing perfectly, or at least to the best of one's ability, everything which [one] attempts to do. There is a sense of satisfaction, a pride in surveying such a work -- a work which is rounded, full, exact, complete in all its parts -- which the superficial [person], who leaves work in a… half-finished condition, can never know. It is this conscientious completeness which turns work into art. The smallest thing, well done, becomes artistic.

-- William Mathews


#3532

WORK AND WORSHIP BECOMING ONE

The humblest and the most unseen activity in the world can be the true worship of God.  Work and worship literally become one.  Our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever; and we carry out that function when we do what God sent us into the world to do.  Work well done rises like a hymn of praise to God.  This means that the doctor on her rounds, the scientist in his laboratory, the teacher in her classroom, the musician at his music, the artist at her canvas, the retail associate at his counter, the typist at her computer, the mechanic in his shop, the stay-at-home mom or dad in the kitchen -- all who are doing the work of the world as it should be done are joining in a great act of worship.

-- adapted from William Barclay in The Revelation of John, vol. 1


#3498

ENCOUNTERING CHRIST

To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God’s love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us, from the prison of our own self-centeredness by the power of His resurrection, and from paralyzing fear because He reigns... He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship.

-- John Stott in Between Two Worlds


#3030

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

The Apostle Paul gave us divine perspective on human relationships in every dimension of life. He wrote, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves." (Philippians 2:3 NRSV) That one verse contains more wisdom than most marriage manuals, family system guides, and employee handbooks combined. If heeded, it could virtually eliminate divorce, estranged families, and employee strife from the catalogue of human experience. It will give you guidance and stability when the storms in a relationship begin to howl.

-- Unknown


#2614

CREATIVE REACTION

Bob Hoover, a famous test pilot and frequent performer at air shows, was returning to his home in Los Angeles from an air show in San Diego. As described in the magazine Flight Operations, at three hundred feet in the air, both engines suddenly stopped. By deft maneuvering he managed to land the plane, but it was badly damaged although nobody was hurt.

Hoover's first act after the emergency landing was to inspect the airplane's fuel. Just as he suspected, the World War II propeller plane he had been flying had been fueled with jet fuel rather than gasoline.

Upon returning to the airport, he asked to see the mechanic who had serviced his airplane. The young man was sick with the agony of his mistake. Tears streamed down his face as Hoover approached. He had just caused the loss of a very expensive plane and could have caused the loss of three lives as well.

You can imagine Hoover's anger. One could anticipate the tongue-lashing that this proud and precise pilot would unleash for that carelessness. But Hoover didn't scold the mechanic; he didn't even criticize him. Instead, he put his big arm around the man's shoulder and said, "To show you I'm sure that you'll never do this again, I want you to service my F-51 tomorrow."

Our work environments could be vastly better places if we learned from this example.

-- from Creative-Reaction.org


#2249