Let’s Talk: Work

Here is a proverb worth pondering: We work to have leisure, on which happiness depends.

Now, that’s not from the Bible - it is one of the sayings of Aristotle, an Ancient Greek Philosopher (384-322BC) whose writings have fundamentally shaped western civilisation. He believed that we work to have leisure and my guess is that the vast majority of people you know, love and work with would think the same. Aristotle went on to say that such leisure should be used for deep contemplation and consideration of the world and our place in it — through such activity he said you can reach your highest fulfilment.

It’s here, clearly, where our culture departs from the Aristotelian path — rather than spending time contemplating the good, the true, and the beautiful, our leisure is filled more with people and entertainment. Our leisure is characterised by things that fuel the heart and help us find rest and peace.

So we might slightly reshape Aristotle’s proverb for our time: We work to have leisure and rest, on which happiness depends. For most, work is only a means to an end and rarely do we envisage or embody the idea that work could have meaning and purpose in and of itself. We spend perhaps a third of our lives at work but often behave like it’s a hurdle to be jumped, not a meaningful moment to be enjoyed.  

But is that what the Bible says? Is that God’s view of work? Should this be our attitude to work or should we think about our work as a good thing in and of itself? I mean, you might want to ask, what is work? Am I only working when I get paid or also when I care for my kids or tend the vege patch? 

All these questions sit in a complex and vitally important space that we are going to walk into this July in our Let’s Talk: Work series. 

Over three Sundays and one Wednesday night (July 5) we are going to unpack what the Bible says about work and get the conversation started among us about how we should think and act when it comes to work. That’s the purpose of our Let’s Talk sermon series - we want to come together to talk together about all the Bible has to say about important topics that shape our lives. 

So starting Sunday July 2, over three weekends we will examine work as good, frustrated and then our identity and work. On the evening of Wednesday 5th we will have Amy Brown and Bay Warburton with us to share their perspective on being a Christian at work and there will be three breakout Seminars, giving us an opportunity to talk: Women at Work, Work/Life Balance and Faith at Work in an Anti-Faith World. This promises to be an electric evening whether you have never worked, retired from work or in the midst of work. Don’t miss it. 

Now if you want some spoilers - or you just want to begin to think about this whole topic - can I encourage you to read Genesis 1-2. I think you will find in there a whole lot of really interesting points about work and your place in it, how you should think about it and even an answer to the question, what is work and what sort of work should I be doing!  

So get excited and start praying that God might be at work in you! Let’s Talk: Work. Join us, get thinking and get talking.