Work as Worship
Luke Bretherton
January 1, 1996
Work and worship are rarely connected in the lives and minds of most Christians. In my own church in London most people separate what they do Monday to Friday from their "spiritual" work on Sunday. In a recent parish council election various members of the church stood up to say why they should be elected. One did children's work, one ran a Bible study group, and another was part of the music team. The fact that one was a top lawyer, the other a respected economist, and the last one a mother of three was apparently thought to have no relevance to their contribution to church life.
The task of integrating our worship life with our work life and vice versa is crucial to authentic Christian witness. Unless we do this, we deny that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" and capitulate on our responsibility to steward the created order and all human activity within it. This task of integration is crucial to enabling the things and people of which our world consists to serve as vehicles, each in their own way, of the praise of God. Without worship as the underlying rhythm of our life, our work is not shaped by God's calling of us but by worldly measures like success. When we define work apart from worship, we create a large space in which we disengage from God, leading to sin and idolatry.
The primary obstacle to integrating work and worship is sin and suffering. As Christians we must recognize that our actions will fail. Moreover, they will often be the cause of harm to others. Humility, forgiveness, and restoration of our faith in God's sovereignty are only possible in the context of worship. The eschatological reality that God's kingdom has broken in through Christ and by the Holy Spirit and is established now-but ...
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