Healing Work

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city

 to which I have carried you into exile.

 Pray to the Lord for it, 

because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, 

as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

Colossians 3:23 (NIV)

Today is Labor Day in the United States.  The irony is that this holiday is one that most people escape from work!  

I just finished reading Tim Keller’s,  Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work, that makes the argument that it is critical to integrate faith and work.  As you can imagine, I agree with the premise and enjoyed reading how the church has embraced this ministry.

The audience for this ministry are the young. They are at the beginning of their careers when the demands of their jobs are overwhelming and faith questions seem to be an added burden.  However, the reports are that the integration of faith with their work provides a deeper understanding and meaning in their lives!  

A reasonable assumption is that the questions of work would end with retirement. Paradoxically, I find the questions more acute as I see the increase in stress in the environments of healing.  We need places of celebration where work is healed like the Schwartz Center Rounds.  

Have a blessed Labor Day!

Marvin

References

Keller, T. (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s work. Penguin see also http://www.faithandwork.org

Hage, M. L. (2010). The “Telos” for Christian Healing Agents. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2010/12/telos-for-christian-healing-agents.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). “Burnout” and a “Path Report”. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/08/burnout-and-path-report.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). Vocation & Retirement. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/07/vocation-retirement.html