WORK AND WORSHIP

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“In the beginning was the Word….All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life and the life was the life of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it…. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”

The Incarnation according to St. John

Some other items on this page:

"Work as Sacrament"

The above title belongs to a talk given to the Derby Diocese NSMs and MSEs Oasis Day on January 31st.

In this talk, Rev'd Carol Williams, who is Chairman of Industrial Christian Fellowship (their website can be found on LINKS page), spoke on the following headings:

WORK as:

This excellent talk on these topics can be linked to at: derbytalk

Carol starts by quoting ICF's first Chief Missioner, who calls to us from 100 years ago, in saying:

"............It (Christian Theology) has always been a SACRAMENTAL RELIGION, calling us to find God in the world."

The ensuing question and discussion can also be linked at: derbypoints

The convenors of Derby Diocese NSM's/MSE's (and former IMD Chairman), Rev'd Canon Keith Orford, has asked for readers "....to add their own thoughts to generate a debate on Work as a sacrament"

Surely a subject to dicsuss ideas and how it affects us personally. Come on, then, we're waiting! mailto:imd002@googlemail.com Your web editor undertakes to contribute further next week.

St Albans Diocese motion to General Synod on Faith, Work and economic Life

The St Albans Diocese recently submitted this motion to the General Synod of the Church of England.

It's opening line states:- "Work is, in essence, a spiritual activity."

The motion submission goes on to describe workplaces in various ways, including the extent to which they are regarded in a spiritual way, how the Christians view their workplaces, recent issues and problems in finance and markets, organisations doing good work in this field, and queries the extent of the CofE's engagement with work as an area of ministry.

The Church's Mission and Public Affairs Council is called on to "assess the nature and extent of the current engagement of the Church of England within the economic sector and to discern ways forward". See the full submission at:

Faith,_Work_and_Economic_Life_St.Alban's_Motion

Following this submission the Church has commissioned a report "Work, Values and Spirituality".

Ian Yearsley's Address to MSEs at Oasis Day on the topic of 'Money'

At the Oasis for Ministers in Secular Employment (MSEs), the main address was given by Ian Yearsley, who is an advisor to Industrial Mission in Derbyshire. The convenor of the MSEs in the Derby Diocese, Rev'd Canon Keith Orford, has supplied a copy of Ian's address. The subject was money. it is linked at:

Ian Yearsley address on money

In this talk, Ian covers a range of topics such as:

finishing with a list and descriptions of his sources.

Ian makes clear the notion that we, as individuals have a part in the financial crises caused by the actions of all us together.

He considers that Christians and Churches should be considering the world's corporate structures a lot more than we do.

He has lots of references to the Old Testament concepts of Sabbatical Release and the Year of Jubilee.

"......one of the exercises we used to do was to get people to draw a chart of how they spent their waking hours each week. It was very quickly apparent that the largest single slice of their time was devoted to the their main employment, whether paid or unpaid.

So, I would then say, can I take it from this that the largest single topic for prayer and for preaching in your Churches is about the workplace?"

What would the response of your Church be? What did Ian describe as the response he usually got? Read Ian's address and find it!

Locating Chaplaincy: A theological Note

This is the title of an article by Paul Ballard, in the recent edition of Crucible.

Article_Paul_Ballard_Crucible_July-September

The introduction cites how chaplaincy has grown in recent years to the extent that the religious press regularly has job adverts for chaplain posts.

Paul notes that chaplaincies have hitherto been regarded as 'sector' ministries, which in some way addresses a 'narrow facet' of society, and distinguishes them from 'normal' ministries, taken to mean that of Parish and Church activity.

"If, however, chaplaincy is of growing importance, then it needs to be understood as having normative status and to be more firmly grounded both theologically and structurally."

Bishop's Address on Faith and Work Today.

At the IMD AGM in May, Bishop Humphrey Southern spoke on the theme of 'Faith and Work' today, followed by questions and discussion. A report of the talk and the following interactions can be linked at: Faith and Work Today

St Ireneus and Lyon.

The former Principal Workplace Chaplain, Rev Canon Ian Winterbottom, has sent in an article about St Ireneus and the City of Lyon, of which he was Bishop in the very early days of the Christian Church.

What was Ian doing in Lyon? he was attending the Assembly of the Conference of European Churches as a representative of the European Contact Group (ECG).

What's ECG? It's basically a Europe-wide body looking at faith and work issues. (A continent wide version of IMD??)

Have a look at what Ian reported: IN_THE_FOOTSTEPS_OF_IRENEUS

Did you have a pre-conception of the notion of work. Try this story (supplied by Margaret Cook):-

God blesses us in the smallest ways . . .

I sat with two friends in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him.. I made a few purchases and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've driven once more around the square.'

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

'Sure,' he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. Where you headed?'

' St. Louis '

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida .'

'How long you been walking?'

'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God.

'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

'What?'

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments.. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It travelled well and was nottoo heavy. It was also his personal favorite. 'I've read through it 14times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see'. I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful..

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hoursearlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

A long time,' he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem .'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dang ling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem ,' he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...
 

Rev. Dr. Moira Biggins, IMD Council Member and Chaplain for East Midlands Airport, has kindly supplied a prayer for chaplains everywhere:

God bless the chaplains,

with oil on their boots, noise in their ears,

cranes rumbling overhead,

God bless the chaplains to manufacturing.

God bless the chaplains,

in hushed offices, busy shopping centres,

on the buses, beside the phone desks,

God bless the chaplains to service industry.

God bless the chaplains,

with tired and angry police,

with firefighters, sharing bacon sandwiches,

God bless the chaplains to emergency services.

God bless the chaplains,

in long meetings, trying to keep the vision in mind,

alongside people who struggle to make a better world,

God bless the chaplains of regeneration.

God bless the chaplains,

however they operate, full time, part time,

paid, unpaid, with church, without church,

harassed or not.

God of fishers and carpenters, bless the chaplains.

On Sunday 15th March Roderick Prince preached a sermon in which he reflected on the present economic crisis in relation to turning the tables upside down. See John 2 v 14-22. Other scriptures referenced were the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20 v 1-17) and Christ the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1 v18-25).

Rod is International Director with an animal feed business in Ashbourne and is a Reader in the Wirkworth Team Ministry of the Anglican Church.

The sermon begins with a "traveller's tale" describing how hard-hit the Middle Eastern oil-rich states have become, with property prices affected as well as employment, particularly of ex-pat workers.

He also reminds us that the "poor in the developing world are the first to feel the pain of our mistakes."

With quotes from Bishop Tom Wright of Durham, and an attempt to answer the question "So should we conclude that the global recession is an act of God?", this sermon is a challenge to the established economic orthodoxy and our thinking on it.

Have a look at>

Roderick Prince sermon

                                                                                                                                                                             [Updated 8_Mar-10]