Worshipful Work

We have probably heard these specific clichés or some version of them at some point in our lives. Personally, I heard phrases like these growing up because my parents, who I know told me them because they wanted to prepare me for success in the world by instilling in me the type of protestant work ethic that had helped them survive. And before I get into how problematic I think these messages are, I want the record to show that I am grateful for my parents and how they raised me, I think the work ethic they helped to develop in me has allowed me to accomplish some pretty cool things, but that same work ethic is a double edged sword in my life. It has brought me to the edge of burnout, I have almost sacrificed relationships for the sake of work, and when I’m at my worst in relationship to my work, I have found myself to be a judgmental jerk of everyone around me who I perceive to be not working as hard as I am.

It’s in that overworked, exhausted, running on empty place that I find myself tempted to assert these unfeeling, no work, no food, sentiments on others. But I know better. I know intellectually that it is not for me to judge another’s work ethic because after all, what do I know? What if they are disabled? What if they are ill? What if they are grieving a loss or dealing with a trauma that I cannot see with my eyes? What if they are being systemically marginalized?

But then what are we supposed to do with scriptures like the one today from Second Thessalonians where the text explicitly says anyone unwilling to work should not eat? Should that even apply to our life together today? And the answer to that question is both yes, and no.

Let’s start by exploring why we shouldn’t apply that directly to our context. The Rev. Dr. Jacob Bobby explains it this way, “Many things have changed from Paul’s original context. Faced with persecution, empowered by special outpourings of the Spirit, the early Christians in Thessalonica probably did live a more communal existence like the Christians in Acts. This is a far cry from where most Western Christians find themselves today. For many, a vast majority of their goods and possessions are not held in common, and the fruits of their labor are not distributed to all as any have need. While production may be still a communal effort, our consumption is often highly individualized.”

That means that for us today in a more individualized consumeristic world, the words of Paul’s letter coming from a more communal economy don’t have a direct correlation to our current context. Not only are our contexts different, but the way we think has evolved since the time of this letter. The Rev. Dr. Bobby goes on to explain that, “Paul here is simply giving voice and a platform to a harshness that marks many pre-modern thinkers… According to this view, Paul’s prescription for the life of the church is suspect due to the influence of his particular uncivilized historical context. Elsewhere Paul may speak for God but here he is simply letting his unfortunate cultural conditioning speak out.”

So with that said, we can raise a number of objections to Paul’s, no work, no food attitude, but at the same time, I don’t think we can throw out his words all together. And if we are willing to suspend our judgement of Paul’s proclamation for just a moment, we can explore how we might faithfully apply these scriptures to our lives today. First off we need a double dose of grace when approaching this text. Like, if these words were an ice cream sundae, grace is the chocolate sauce, the sprinkles, the whipped cream and the cherry on top that covers it all. That means that if we apply these hard work words to our communal and church life they have to be dripping in grace.

And with an extra topping of grace we can redeem the word work. Because if we simply ignore the call and urge to work hard it is also a disregard for the gifts and grace that God has blessed us with. Work is necessary to promote life in this world, and we have responsibility to steward this world according to those gifts.

Too often though our work in this world is not life-giving and defined by the amount of compensation we receive in return for our work. So instead of using a narrow definition of work that fits into the productivity and profit structure of our capitalist economy, we need to redefine work to include those forms of labor that aren’t rewarded with money in society, like creative labor, emotional labor, domestic labor, and all other forms of invisible labor that make life beautiful, bearable, and clean and fed. It’s this kind of work that we don’t legitimize because it doesn’t actually put food on the table, but without it, we would be starved emotionally, spiritually, and that food on the table would not be cooked.

If we are to approach Paul’s words faithfully as a confessing church, then in the words of Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, “The confessing church finds its main political task to lie, not in the personal transformation of individual hearts or the modification of society, but rather in the congregation’s determination to worship Christ in all things.”

In this way, even the most mundane work that we do, or even work that is not monetarily rewarded by our economy can be a chance to worship Christ. As people of God, and baptized members of the body of Christ, our life’s work cannot be disconnected from the person and work of Christ and his body. That’s what it means looks like to live into Christ’s redemption for us because since Christ has redeemed us through death and resurrection, our whole lives and work are redeemed.

It may be hard to find grace in Paul’s harsh, no work, no food exhortation, but there is grace to be found when we can redefine work not as some means to a financial end, but as everything we do. The food we receive in return is both seen and unseen, material and intangible. And when our life’s work is understood as all encompassing, then we truly worship Christ in all things. With all that we have, and with all that we are able to do, we are not only fed by God in worship, but our life’s work and worship becomes food for others.

There will be times though that this work feels pointless, fruitless, especially when it seems like we are only headed for the end times, or our maybe we feel like our work will never have an end time, and we struggle to sabbath, but even in our most exasperated and exhausted moments we trust that the grace of God covers us all, like a delicious ice cream sundae, no matter our success or failure in life, God’s gives food to all.

With trust in the abundance of God’s provision, we can live lives connected in every way to Christ’s redeeming love and Grace. At this table we will receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation and being fed with Christ’s body, our worshipful life’s work then becomes food for others. Amen.