Comments on: The Gift of Work -> Chapter 6: Training as a Disciple of Christ http://www.boldenterprises.com/2009/04/13/the-gift-of-work-chapter-6-training-as-a-disciple-of-christ/ Designing Tomorrow's Working Cultures Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:53:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: T.E. Brown http://www.boldenterprises.com/2009/04/13/the-gift-of-work-chapter-6-training-as-a-disciple-of-christ/comment-page-1/#comment-2254 T.E. Brown Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:30:35 +0000 http://www.boldenterprises.com/?p=1588#comment-2254 This was another strong chapter, the best in the book so far. (And that cumulative build in the book's focus and impact is just what you want to see.) First, for a big-picture view, Heatley's case grows and grows: we're starting to "see" what it is to be Christ-centered in the workplace. That's good, very good, because it's all too easy to segregate God out of our workaday world. If, to switch metaphors just a little here, we leave God effectively out of the public square, then God will quickly die out in the private sphere, too. The point is not, as Karl says in his reflections on chap. 6, to do explicitly "religious" activities at work (or in the "public square"), but to have a character shaped by our daily encounter with God. It's at just this point that Bill Heatley is so helpful: he points out that the divine encounter (as I'm calling it) is not just a passive matter of receiving the good seed, but includes the spiritual disciplines to make the soil ready. Hence, we want to read the parable of the sower "like a farmer," rather than like a passive consumer. But how do we "hear" God's Word? This brings us to concrete applications of the theme: how we hear God is determined by Scripture, Holy Spirit, and context. We have to exercise discernment to find the places of consonance between these three streams, the so-called Three Lights. Heatley's personal sense of call to communicate God's Word gives us a good example of such discernment in action. He tells us the instruction from God was clear; the details had to be worked out over time. But the consonance of his sense of call (Holy Spirit) with Scripture and his life circumstances all came together to show him that he should write about bringing God into the work setting. Each of our settings will be unique. Each of our "jobs" will involve different burdens and pleasures. Heatley offers real encouragement to find ways to let Christ be present right in the midst of wherever it is we find ourselves. His discipline for the chapter is silence, and he has a very practical modification of it: "Before you speak, take a breath and seek God," (p. 119). Simple. Workable. Practical. Might just transform a good part of our lives "on the job." This was another strong chapter, the best in the book so far. (And that cumulative build in the book’s focus and impact is just what you want to see.) First, for a big-picture view, Heatley’s case grows and grows: we’re starting to “see” what it is to be Christ-centered in the workplace. That’s good, very good, because it’s all too easy to segregate God out of our workaday world. If, to switch metaphors just a little here, we leave God effectively out of the public square, then God will quickly die out in the private sphere, too. The point is not, as Karl says in his reflections on chap. 6, to do explicitly “religious” activities at work (or in the “public square”), but to have a character shaped by our daily encounter with God. It’s at just this point that Bill Heatley is so helpful: he points out that the divine encounter (as I’m calling it) is not just a passive matter of receiving the good seed, but includes the spiritual disciplines to make the soil ready. Hence, we want to read the parable of the sower “like a farmer,” rather than like a passive consumer.

But how do we “hear” God’s Word? This brings us to concrete applications of the theme: how we hear God is determined by Scripture, Holy Spirit, and context. We have to exercise discernment to find the places of consonance between these three streams, the so-called Three Lights.

Heatley’s personal sense of call to communicate God’s Word gives us a good example of such discernment in action. He tells us the instruction from God was clear; the details had to be worked out over time. But the consonance of his sense of call (Holy Spirit) with Scripture and his life circumstances all came together to show him that he should write about bringing God into the work setting.

Each of our settings will be unique. Each of our “jobs” will involve different burdens and pleasures. Heatley offers real encouragement to find ways to let Christ be present right in the midst of wherever it is we find ourselves.

His discipline for the chapter is silence, and he has a very practical modification of it: “Before you speak, take a breath and seek God,” (p. 119). Simple. Workable. Practical. Might just transform a good part of our lives “on the job.”

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