I’ve been collecting insights over the past several years on how being Christian affects our work. While I’ve had a few “ministry jobs” in my life, my wife and I have spent more years working in “secular jobs.” This has made us regularly ask, “How do we honor God through our work?”We want to do more than just survive a job so that we can be spiritual on evenings and weekends. We want to bring the richness of our faith in Jesus fully to bear on our attitudes and approach to our work. Ben Witherington’s book Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor proved very insightful and helpful – I recommend it to others asking this question.
When I read this prayer from The Book of Common Prayer recently, I felt it communicated well the attitudes that help us to our work as followers of Jesus. Here it is:
For Vocation in Daily Work
“Almighty God our heavenly Father, who declares your glory and shows forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us, we pray, in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work which you gave us to do, in truth and beauty for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Bearded Sage 