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| Introduction | 9 | (6) | |||
| PART ONE: TAKE A SOBER LOOK AT YOURSELF | |||||
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83 | (12) | |||
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| PART TWO: TO BE ALL THAT YOU ARE CALLED TO BE | |||||
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115 | (12) | |||
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185 | (14) | |||
| Notes | 199 | (4) | |||
| For Further Reading | 203 |
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Chapter One
The Context
of our Lives
& Work
A Theological
Response
Our world is changing. And this change is having a profound effect on the way we live, the way we work and the way we think about our lives and our work. The only way that we can possibly begin to respond well to the change is to face it honestly. While we often bemoan it--it inevitably involves losses--what we urgently need is the capacity to see change as opportunity.
The Crisis We Face
The change our world is experiencing has had and is having profound implications for the way we think about our work and how we make sense of who we are and what we do. In fact, it is appropriate to speak of this change as a crisis . Different people experience crisis in their lives and work in different ways and at different times. But when I have seen it--in myself and my friends, peers, neighbors and colleagues--it has four distinct dimensions.
A crisis of employment . On a basic, observable and tangible level, our global society is experiencing a crisis of employment. It is not merely that there is a large number of unemployed people. Rather unemployment--or better, the lack of employment or waged work--is increasingly part of a contemporary economy. We can expect that a high percentage of the adults in our communities will not have waged worked when they need it. The workforce will be increasingly fluid, and many will find themselves at least temporarily between jobs. Some are or will be left without work because their employers are forced to let people go, no longer able to keep so many people on payroll.
For many, the employment and work situation has changed simply because the economy has changed. It is no one's fault, per se; it is just a reality. Some farmers can no longer afford to farm because the crops they have been cultivating are now available elsewhere at cheaper prices. They can no longer compete given their own labor costs or the circumstances of their situation.
In different sectors of the employment world, there are those who have been unable to keep up with the information and technological developments and have been replaced either by computers or by younger, seemingly quicker, more technically savvy workers.
The days are behind us when individuals in any field of work can feel that they have their employment or position for life. When I pastored in the small city of Peterborough, Ontario, in the 1970s, most people in the congregation could assume that if they were farmers or if they worked for Quaker Oats, General Electric or one of the other major industries in the city, they would be with that company--or in the same line of work--for their whole careers. But that is no longer the case; that assumption can no longer be made.
From Peterborough my wife and I went to the Philippines as missionaries, and again we served with people who took it for granted that they would be missionaries for life. Many missionaries once thought that they would serve in a particular country or with a particular organization for life and that their life-long commitment was a mark of their sincerity and dedication. But increasingly mission agencies are responding strategically to ministry opportunities by deploying staff from one country to another, and global ministry will continue to call for highly flexible and adaptive people. It used to be the case that young people could choose a way of life or a career with a reasonable expectation that they would be doing the same thing for the next forty or so years. This is no longer the case. No one, regardless of vocation or line of work, can make that assumption.
We can think about our context in this way: the economy is changing. By economy, I mean what Wendell Berry describes as "our way of making a living" that which "connects the human household with the good things that sustain life." And this economy--the way we make a living--is changing. The changes are permanent; this is not a temporary blip on the screen. And these changes will affect all of us. Everyone, literally everyone, will have job changes and transitions as a matter of course. Whether we fulfill our vocation in the church or in the world will make little if any difference. The organizations we work for and with will reflect the turbulence in our economy. There will be downsizing, outsourcing, companies that depend on a "just-in-time" labor force, and the growth of temporary agencies and organizations that provide us with employment. But it is employment that will be just that--temporary!
We will thrive in the new economy only when we accept this reality--the turbulence and change--and then embrace it as an opportunity rather than a threat.
A crisis of confidence . But the crisis we are facing is more complex than merely a change in the economy--in the way we make a living. As we take a step back we see that we are also facing a crisis of confidence caused in part by the change in the economy.
Robert Kegan has written a book, the title of which on its own captures something worth repeating: In over Our Heads . The distinct impression we get is that in the new economy we are all in over our heads. Regardless of our line of work or responsibility, whether it is business or child rearing, pastoral ministry or public-school teaching, changing circumstances leave us all with a lack of confidence that we can do what we are called to do. In this new economy it is easy to conclude that no one can say that she is the master of her field or that he is a leader in his discipline or a master of his craft. Not anymore.
I am an academic administrator. I love my work and sense that on the whole I have the experience, the expertise and the determination to be effective. But what I and others in this line of work regularly recognize is that we can never keep up with all that we need to know in order to do our jobs well. The complexities of higher education are such that it almost seems like sheer presumption to suggest that anyone can do this job well.
The wonderful word master was once used to describe the person who was at the top of her craft--whatever the profession. It was a title that one could work toward, a designation that could be assigned with some degree of confidence to the person who was very, very good at what he did--whether it was watchmaking, shipbuilding, teaching or business management. But in the new economy we are all "in over our heads." Just when we think we have mastered our craft--in my case academic administration and classroom instruction--the circumstances and expectations change. The field in which I work is developing so quickly that I always feel one step behind.
In some cases this crisis of confidence means that people experience failure, setbacks and disappointment. They do their work to the best of their ability, but they are not deemed to have done it well enough. The resulting change in their employment situation--perhaps they are demoted--shatters their sense of competence to do that particular job, even their confidence that they can do any job at all.
Others who are perhaps still employed face criticism or inadequate affirmation and support. They are left with little if any confidence for pressing on in the midst of changes in the economy and their work situations. In some circumstances it is the political pressures of their occupations that have taken the wind out of their sails.
Still others are parents who while raising their families moved out of the waged workforce for a time, and now, perhaps as much as fifteen years later, things have changed so much that they lack the confidence to pick up their careers again or to return to the roles and responsibilities they once had.
Others in pastoral ministry have come to a realization in midlife that congregations are changing rapidly, especially in the way they are governed and in the qualities they seek in a pastor. These pastors wonder if they have what it takes to provide effective religious leadership.
Still others chose a line of work or a career when they were young, but now that they have reached midlife and are perhaps in their fifties, they have found that what they had envisioned as an end goal is no longer there. The land they had hoped to farm for life doesn't belong to them anymore. Or perhaps the career they had anticipated is gone; they had trained for a particular line of work and are now discovering that people are no longer needed in that field.
Yet others have come to retirement and have struggled deeply with what it means to let go of their careers; it is so easy for them to feel like they are being dismissed by the organizations for which they worked, perhaps for many years. There are few things as painful as the feeling that we have been pushed out, and that pain can strike at the heart of self-confidence.
Finally, for some the crisis of confidence comes when grandiose ideals are dashed. A woman who was certain that by the time she was in her mid-thirties she would have made her first million in her own business; a man who went into the pastorate convinced that he would quickly have a congregation that is the envy of all other pastors; the team of individuals who longed to do great deeds for God in the inner city only to see those they longed to serve reject the offer of help. Such people often hold the kinds of ideals that need to be set aside. Sometimes there is nothing to do but accept the disappointment and honestly see that our illusions about ourselves are just that--illusions. We are trying to be heroes, and the sooner we let such dreams go the better. But however much we need to face up to our illusions, it is still painful and we will still experience a crisis of confidence. Sometimes it hurts so much that we wonder if we will ever do anything well again.
A crisis of focus . There is a third crisis, not unrelated to the first two but nevertheless distinct. In some respects it is unique to urban dwellers--all those who live in the city or off the largesse of the city, which includes farmers whose daily life is ordered by the ebb and flow of an urban complex. It is the crisis of hectic, unfocused activity. People have a remarkable capacity to live overworked and confused lives, caught up in hectic activity that in itself seems to have little meaning or purpose, but that is made up of so many things that "have to be done" This is one of the sins of modernity and of life and work in urban, industrialized societies.
In our disturbed passion to accomplish much and to accomplish it as soon as possible, we have lost a sense of true leisure and of what it means to be reflective and contemplative.
A crisis of meaning . Finally, all of these points of crisis ultimately lead us to a loss of meaning--in our work, in our relationships and in our identity. We all become confused about work and the meaning of work, and consequently we are perplexed about the meaning of who we are.
Some people find that their identity was wrapped up in their work, and forced retirement or the loss of employment leaves them feeling hollow, lacking a personal sense of meaning and purpose. Others know, when they are caught up in hectic activity, that something fundamental is missing. A sense of busyness often makes us feel important. We feed a misguided sense of significance when we make the assumption that if a person is busy he or she must be important or, to turn it around, that to be important a person must be busy. If we are honest, we will see that underlying all of this busyness lies an inevitable awareness that we have begun to lose a sense of what our actions mean and, ultimately, what our lives mean.
As a result of this crisis of meaning, people of all religious persuasions are trying to find answers, solutions and ultimately meaning. Well-written books on work, career transitions and career development are best sellers. There is a palpable sense within our communities that we need to resolve this crisis--that we must come to terms with both our identity and our work so that we can find meaning, joy and purpose in that work.
Various helpful resources are available, but it is most critical that we consider and think deeply about a theological response to this crisis in our lives and our work. Many people may consider this idea strange or perplexing because they have not given intentional theological thought to anything. But when a crisis looms before us we have to ask the most critical questions. And here is where careful theological reflection can provide us with a way forward.
A Theological Response
There are three theological foundations that will enable us to rethink and embrace what it means to live and work in this new economy and respond with courage to the crisis. We need to recover a theology of work , a theology of vocation and a theology of self .
A theology of work . The revolutionary message of the Bible is that work is good. Central to the biblical description of the formation of the first man and woman is the mandate they were given to till the earth and name the animals (Gen 2:15, 19-20). They were created to work, and their work was meaningful. God made them workers so that they could be cocreators with him--not in the sense that they were creators of the earth, but in the sense that their work was a part of God's continual re-creation and was therefore important, significant and valued by God.
The Bible celebrates the work that we do in the world. Many of us think of Proverbs 31 as the celebration of a woman, especially a wife. And it is. But I wonder if the central celebration is not actually of her work --and of work generally as something that we engage in with energy, passion, joy and diligence.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from far away.
She rises while it is still night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her servant-girls.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle. (Prov 31:13-19)
Work is good. It is a gift from God. With the Fall and with sin, work became toilsome (Gen 3:17-19). But we must never confuse work with toil or denigrate the joy and privilege of work just because it involves toil; we must rather strive together for the recovery of meaningful and joyful work.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from COURAGE & CALLING by Gordon T. Smith. Copyright © 1999 by Gordon T. Smith. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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