The spirit of the craftsman is alive and well in Colorado.

Two weeks ago my brother-in-law stopped over to our house after our kids went to bed. After an 8pm burrito, he said he was planning on doing a 14er (climbing a Colorado mountain that’s greater than 14,000 ft in elevation) with some friends in the wee hours of Sunday morning. In such darkness, he was considering buying a headlamp to light the rocky mountain path. “No problem,” I said, “You can borrow ours.”

I went up the attic to get a headlamp from our camping bin. Hardly ever used, I was dismayed to press the small red button and see it didn’t work. No worries, just needs batteries.

So I headed to the kitchen, and slipped in 4 new AA batteries. I pressed the button again. No luck. “Dang, Brian,” I said, “Doesn’t look like it’s working.” Brian came to the kitchen, and we began to puzzle over what had gone wrong.

At this point, I feigned like I could fix it. So we grabbed a Phillips-head screwdriver and began to look in the headlamp’s intestines. Was it a corroded contact point? Bad button? I had no idea.

After about 15 minutes, I gave up. But Brian was engaged. He grabbed the light and its pieces, tossed it in a mesh bag, and brought it home. “Oh well,” I thought, “It’s not like we use it much anyway.”

The next morning I checked my email inbox. Brian sent me the following message:

Jeff,

At 12:20am I have successfully fixed the headlamp. One may think this was a complete waste of time. However, I haven’t the slightest care…I am victorious.

Photo 1) I removed and cleaned the contacts with electrical cleaner spray and a scotch bright pad. No success, but I was confident this was our issue since the contacts were pretty dirty.

Photo 2) Soldering iron; ready to do business.

Photo 3) Connected one battery directly to the wires to make sure the bad connection was in the battery clips. It was at this point that I saw the light at the end of the tunnel (pun intended).

Photo 4) The aftermath of me going crazy with solder and wire so that all points are so interconnected it’s stupid.

Photo 5) Afterwards I realized my conglomeration of wire and solder had completely messed up the fact that the batteries were supposed to be wired in a series. I undid everything and rewired, leaving the batteries in series. I kept things a bit prettier this time.

Photo 6) Rewire the modified clip back to the wires that run to the bulb.

Photo 7) Victory. Lesson learned: perseverance eventually leads to success.

I would have thrown the headlamp away. My wife knows I can barely put together a piece of IKEA furniture, much less fix an electrical problem.

Brian, however, exhibited “the kind of spiritedness that is called forth when we take things in hand for ourselves, whether to fix them or make them.” Michael B. Crawford’s well-known essay “Shop Class as Soulcraft” notes how modern capitalism has depreciated the craftsman, those who display a “manual competence” in fields like carpentry, plumbing, or motorcycle repair. As we’ve prepared students to be “knowledge workers”, Crawford argues we’re unwittingly encourage a kind of “virtualism” that prizes office jobs over manual trades, a “ghostly” view of work divorced from the physical world.

Brian, my brother-in-law, exhibits just such a manual intelligence. Whether fixing headlamps or motorcycles (his real love), he thinks and works best with mind and hand as a single unit. During the day, however, he’s an engineer who mostly answers emails in an office. He got into engineering, however, because of the intrinsic satisfaction of creating, fixing, and bringing isolated parts to life. He showed his engineering acumen with the headlamp. He showed not just fierce perseverance, but also a part of his own design and calling.

Yet perhaps it is the spiritual aspect of his headlight fixing that’s most compelling. After he sent me the email, I sent him a text, “Do you mind if I use it in a blog post?”. He replied:

“Not at all. I sorta felt the Spirit moving and encouraging me to succeed while doing it anyways.”

A Spirit-led fix. Of course, we know God chooses certain individuals to make artistic designs, cut stones, work with wood, and in engage in all kinds of crafts (Ex. 31:5). He may even fill electricians and midnight tinkerers with his Spirit to solder, re-wire, and repair – and to declare after a hard day’s work, along with the Creator himself, “And then there was light.”

A word to well-meaning parents and educators who see the manual trades as an “unsuccessful” career path: craftsmanship is foundationally important to our hand-made built environment. And it can be a good deal of fun, too.

Art Work

Where Love and Need Are One: A Vision For Work

September 30, 2013

In the Fall 2013 Issue of Comment magazine, James K.A. Smith tells the story of a beautiful vision of work.

In 2009, US Supreme Court Justice David Souter retired to his New Hampshire home. Chief Justice Roberts wrote, on behalf of the court, “We understand your desire to trade white marble for White Mountains, and to return to your land of ‘easy wind and downy flake,’” citing a Robert Frost Poem.

Justice Souter responded with a quote from a Robert Frost poem of his own: “Two Tramps in Mud Time.” Souter wrote that Frost set out “the ideal of a life engaged,” when he wrote work should be “where love and need are one.” The finest moments of Souter’s professional life were described by this unity of love and need, work and passion.

In the context of the simple task of splitting wood, Frost wrote about his vision more fully:

My object in living is to unite

My avocation and my vocation

As my two eyes make one in sight.

Only where love and need are one,

And the work is play for mortal stakes,

Is the deed ever really done

For Heaven and the future’s sake.

For Frost, and for Justice Souter, when work and play are united, we are most useful God, to society, and to those who would come after us.

As I speak with an increasing amount of people in Denver about their work, occasionally I am lost in somebody’s description of their craft. And it seems they’re lost in it too – so engaged with the task they almost emit a fluffy, self-forgetful delight.

My neighbor Jodi is an artist. She painted a picture for our home of our oldest daughter near a river with balloons, inspired by the quote by Jean Pierre de Caussade, “The soul, light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responding to every movement of grace like a floating balloon.” As she was doing the last touches in our living room, her eyes, her hand and her canvas almost became one. She was “out of time” – for that moment, her work and her delight were one.

Broadly speaking, Americans don’t like their jobs. Over 70% of America’s workforce is either passively disengaged or actively disengaged from their work. It seems to me that if we’re going to chip away and this soul-emptying number, we need to collectively pay attention to the times when we notice our love and need becoming one. As Fredrick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

If you feel that delight, share that experience with somebody. Here is where “the deed is done / For Heaven and the future’s sake.” Here’s where manual laborers, teachers, nurses, business leaders, and even Supreme Court Justices come alive.

Photo: Splitting Wood

Culture

Three Lessons for Evangelical Leaders

September 25, 2013

Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics won Christianity Today’s 2013 “Best Book of the Year” award in “Christianity and Culture” for a reason. Check out this stunning quote, pasted on the back of the Fall 2013 Issue of Comment Magazine:

“This turn boded ill for Evangelicalism’s long-term future, because although the ‘para’ groups were immensely successful at religious mobilization, they weren’t as effective at sustaining commitment across a life span or across generations.

“They were institutions for an anti-institutional faith, you might say, which meant that they were organized around personalities and causes and rarely created the sense of comprehensive, intergenerational community…You couldn’t spend your whole life in Campus Crusade for Christ, or raise your daughters as a Promise Keeper, or count on groups like the Moral Majority of the Christian Coalition to sustain your belief system beyond the next election cycle.

“For that kind of staying power, you needed a confessional tradition, a church, an institution capable of outlasting its charismatic founders.”

As one who’s now launching another one of those ‘para-church groups,’ this quote struck a chord. Some immediate takeaways for me – and maybe for you if you’re a part of Evangelicalism:

(1) Build inter-generational (and intercultural) partnership into your organization. The powerful para-church movements of the 20^th century were great at reaching college students, political interest groups, or middle-aged men, but not at building deep partnerships between generations and cultures. Woe to us if we don’t intentionally create teams of leaders who are different from us! Double the woe if we serve our narrow market niche and consign ourselves to yet another “tribe” in social media land – while ignoring the rich diversity of Christ’s body.

(2) Quit building movements and organizations around charismatic leaders. I don’t think this is the intention of ministry leaders, but it’s what happens when we’re not more institutionally-minded. It happens when we build great conferences, praise great speakers, and publish great books, but neglect the time-consuming work of crafting policies, habits and practices that are intended to outlive their founder. Please, serve the vision, serve the organization, serve the ideal – but let our leaders become servants who become less while others become greater.

(3) Love the church. Go to church. Serve the church. Attend the church. Give to the church. Pray for the church. Quit criticizing the church. Join a church. And remember, when companies, non-profits, and even states pass away and are long forgotten, the Church will still be there. And oh yeah, if you’re in business or a non-profit, listen to the leaders of the church. The stewards of the mysteries of Christ may just surprise you.

Theology

Jesus Set Priorities

September 23, 2013

We’d be less busy if we understood our callings. Knowing your calling allows you to say No to good, worthwhile things, simply because God has other things for you to do.

In Mark 1, Jesus is in Capernaum, near his hometown. He spends a day healing the sick and driving out demons. The next morning, Jesus awakes before dawn, “left and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” His disciples get up and begin frantically searching for him. There are demons to drive out, and people to heal! When they find him, in exasperated tones, they declare “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus replied: “Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Jesus tells his disciples he’s not going to stay and heal all the folks in Capernaum who needed his help. Did he care about them? Absolutely (Mark 8:2). But after prayer, he was very clear on his mission – to preach the Kingdom of God in other villages as well (Mark 1:38).

I recently interviewed Kevin DeYoung on his new book Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book on a (Really) Big Problem. We “freak out” about our kids, try to prove ourselves through big cars, houses, and promotions, and respond to every How are you? with a singular response: Busy. Americans have willfully put too much on their plates.

But DeYoung points out that Jesus set priorities. Even the son of God, who could have done it all, chose not to. He turned away from doing good things because he knew his mission. If this isn’t permission to say no the the 1001 activities we sign up for, what is?

At work, if we simply chose to do the most important work, and ignore (or at least postpone) the rest, our companies and organizations would thrive. Instead, we get busy and let ourselves be pulled this way and that – between email, side projects, or just long conversations. Because we never define (actually write on a piece of paper) what our God-given mission is (and the goals that mission entails), too often we spin our wheels and never leave the gate. A better way would be to clearly define our priorities – and let all the details that make us so busy stay on the sidelines, where they belong.

Two simple questions: (1) What is your top priority today? (2) What will you put on your “not to-do” list?

Photo: Overwhelmed

World

Helping Colorado’s Flood Victims

September 18, 2013

The West’s Hurricane Katrina has hit. My sister, who lives in Fort Collins, has said the scene is surreal. Churches packed with families, helicopters still rescuing people from the mountains, entire towns ravaged with water.

Perhaps one of the biggest tragedies is the media. It’s on the homepage of cnn.com one day, but on to another story the next. Yet the destruction and the human need is still growing. Covering disaster, it seems, is not as popular as covering efforts to rebuild.

But rebuilding is what now needs to happen. Here are three ideas anybody can do to help:

Give personally. If you live in Colorado, go and volunteer to help flood victims. Offer to begin the arduous process of gutting homes and businesses to rebuild. Give groceries, loan your car, open you home to victims. If you’re outside of Colorado, give to one of many local charities on the ground.
Volunteer with your whole office. Talk to your boss, and in the next two weeks, take a day to volunteer in Boulder, Greeley, Fort Collins, Estes Park or several mountain towns. Gut basements, rebuild homes, clear debris. See if God doesn’t smile on your act of generosity.
Donate one day’s profits to the relief effort. If you’re in a leadership position at work, consider taking 100% of one day’s profits and donating it all to relief efforts. Watch your sales climb.

Sometimes applying your faith to your work requires creativity and imagination. Sometimes it’s obvious.

Work

Denver Institute for Faith & Work: A Beginning

September 16, 2013

For me, today is a landmark. Today we launch the website for Denver Institute for Faith & Work. (To celebrate, we’re giving away a copy of Tim Keller’s Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. To enter the drawing for the book, just “like” our Facebook page from 8am-5pm today. We’ll announce the winner tomorrow.) Today is a small, humble beginning, but nonetheless, one that reminds me of God’s faithfulness. As I look back over the last year, there were many “firsts” that confirmed that this project was not just my own, but was growing in the hearts of many – and was being led by God himself.

First ideas. It was August 2012, and I sat on my bed scribbling out ideas for a new organization. Inspiration came from both the confluence of many streams of thought – Bonhoeffer, Newbigin, JD Hunter, Andy Crouch, Dorothy Sayers – and the newfound realization that work was the heart of influencing and creating culture. Three weeks of ideas eventually led to a simple business plan of what I was calling The Denver Institute. But of course, I’ve never lacked for ideas. My wife can testify to this! Would this idea be any different? Could it actually happen?

First meetings. Q Cities Denver took place only a month later. Being completely cash poor, I reached out to the organizers and asked if I could write an article in place of a registration fee. They graciously accepted my proposal (even though the editor at The Gospel Coalition eventually rejected my article – sorry Q!), and I met a city full of people interested in the gospel, work and culture. Having really no idea how to start a new organization after the conference, I started recruiting church advisory council members and board members from the list of conference presenters. The first three meetings were with Stephen Redden, pastor at New Denver Church, Patton Dodd, Executive editor of Bondfire Books, and my pastor, Robert Gelinas, of Colorado Community Church. I felt a bit odd recruiting people for what was at that time a figment of my imagination – but it was also in those early meetings that an idea was starting to become a reality. We drank coffee, talked, dreamed, and something amazing happened – each of them actually took me seriously.

First calling. And so I spent my evenings in my office, working, planning, reading, praying. One afternoon, however, my wife and I were struggling deeply with finances. Before church on Saturday, December 1, I broke down in my office in tears. Here I was, pursuing this dream, while we could barely pay our bills. Yet after church that day, something I’ll never forget happened. (You can read the full account here.) Terri Powell, a fellow member of Colorado Community Church, approached me after the service, and boldly said, “I have a word from God for you.” Not being a charismatic, I didn’t know what to make of this! She said, at just the right moment, at just the time I was wondering what God was doing in my career and vocation, Terri said, “God says to you, ‘Your work matters to me.’ He sees what you’re doing, and it’s important to him.” That moment converted a personal interest to a divine mission – from that time on, it was clear I was only a part of God’s larger plan, one that he himself was orchestrating.

First donation. My dear sister was our first donor. (Thank you sis!) She gave enough in November of 2012 for our logo and identity package. Having the spiritual gift of discernment, she could see something that I could not yet see. When the check came in the mail, I was really astounded. Here was faith that I barely had yet! But of course, it was her prayers that led me to Christ, and now her faith that led me to step out in faith myself.

First board member. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was sitting on a Lazy Boy in my sister’s living room, checking my email. For the previous three weeks, I had been pitching the idea to potential board members. Yet one person stuck out. I had coffee at Stella’s one day with Chris Horst, the Director of Development for HOPE International and the de facto leader of faith and work efforts in Denver. As one of the Q Cities Denver organizers, I knew he was an important voice. But after our meeting, I said to myself, “If I can get this guy, the whole plan works.” He was a passionate follower of Christ, humble, intelligent, and had networks a mile deep in the Mile High City. A couple weeks after our meeting, I sent him an impassioned plea for joining the board (unconvincingly trying to prove what a great leader I was!). While checking my email that afternoon, January 24, 2013, this is part of what he wrote:

Jeff,

Thanks for your patience in walking through this decision-making process with me. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this…The longer I considered it, the more excited I became about the opportunity. It’s right in my “enthusiasm wheelhouse” and a cause and leader—you—I deeply believe in.

I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and help you move toward the vision God’s planted in your heart. I’ve concluded a few commitments I made for 2012 and believe I have the margin to support this fully…

There are many whose life experience and natural intellect exceed mine by (very) wide margins and I’m really honored that you even considered asking me to join. I’m looking forward to serving however I can to bless The Denver Institute and, hopefully, bless our churches and communities in the process.

Warmly,

Chris

Immediately I jumped up from my chair, and triumphantly shouted, “Yes!” My mother, sister, brother-in-law, and wife all thought I had lost it. I said, “It all works! Now the whole plan works!” Not only was Chris the first board member, he was the first to take a huge risk and dance with me. Having just one other person willing to join meant number two, three, four, ten and twenty were not far behind. Know I new that this vision now would become a reality.

First Church Advisory Council meeting. In February I first met with our church advisory council. As I looked around the room, I thought, “There’s one person here who doesn’t belong. Me.” Honestly, to see nine top-notch pastors come together and express support for this new project was an odd feeling. To me, it was both a confirmation of God’s work, and a cause for deep gratitude – something I would be feeling a lot in the coming months.

First board meeting. Shortly after, we had our first board meeting. Chris introduced me to Hunter Beaumont, Jill Hamilton, and Jim Howey. Patton Dodd and Bob Cutillo, who would become the chair of our board, also joined. Each yes to a board invitation was further evidence that the Spirit was working in hearts and minds. He was working in soil I had not tilled, and bringing a harvest I had not worked for.

The 501(c)3 app. Through my friend Gary Hoag, God also provided Scheffel and Associates, and Matt Paulk, who generously offered to front us the costs associated with filing a 501(c)3 application. Things were moving fast – and on March 22, I signed on the dotted line.

Confirming the Call. Over the summer, we worked on program design, board development, and our first fundraising request. One meeting, however, stuck out. I met Bob Cutillo at Blueberries in Littleton for coffee on a Saturday morning. The purpose of the meeting was to talk about whether he would chair the board. What stuck out, however, was his deep wisdom – especially about calling. That morning, Bob clarified my own sense of “boundness” to this project. I’ll paraphrase what he said.

People often say, especially to high school graduates, “You can be whoever you want to be.” Well, that’s a bunch of bologna. When you discover your calling, you can either choose your destiny, or become less of who God created you to be…In my career, at times I’ve stepped away from being a doctor to the medically underserved. Things didn’t go well. I stepped outside of my calling, my “fit.” Do you feel the same way about starting this new organization?

After that day, it became clear: truly embracing the call to lead this organization actually was limiting my freedom. I don’t have the choice to do something else (a very un-American idea)!Well, I do, but if I did choose to go another direction, I would be denying my very own shape, the way God formed me for a particular purpose. In a world where people will change careers an average of 12 times in a lifetime, this view is exceedingly rare. Nonetheless, the call to this project was not only confirmed by others, but was being solidified in my heart as I peered into the future.

First event. Toward the end of the summer, we put our first event on the calendar. In partnership with The Well Boulder, The Tango Group, and All Souls Boulder, we’re bringing John Dyer, author of From the Garden to the City:The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology, to Boulder to equip those who work in the tech industry to better integrate the gospel with their work. In addition to our first event, we have leaders for 5 vocation groups, one that’s going now, the other four which will begin this Winter.

New Website. And today, we have a new website. Little did I know what I was getting into when I started this project! Words like widget, plugin, and CSS code have all moved into my vocabulary. But thanks to friends like Stephen Redden, Jill Hamilton, and Andrew Wolgemuth, we have a reasonably good website (with over 40 pages!) and three social media outlets. The website was a good reminder for me – living out your call doesn’t mean the absence of frustration or hard work!

God calls us to remember. It is one of the most frequent commands in the OT. Remember how I brought you out of Egypt. Remember the covenant. Remember the LORD your God. As I remember this past year, I can see how true Cathy Pino’s “Servant’s Prayer” is:

Lord it’s you who has brought me to this day

Who has carried and kept me in your care

I look back and I see you in all my years

And so forward I go, knowing you are there

God does something truly amazing with our work when we offer it to him. He takes our feeble attempts at service, in all our wandering confusion and persistent sin, and uses it in his great plan of redemption. What grace! What love! What creativity! To use such a tainted pallets as us, and to paint such masterpiece of salvation – what an exhilarating life to live.

If I was to share any piece of insight from my own story in the past year, it would be this: trust in his providence, and offer all your work to him. He will make it beautiful in its own time.

Work

Man vs. Man: Ranking Ourselves at Work

September 2, 2013

Nice to meet you. So what firm do you work for? I wonder if my firm is bigger.

Webster & Associates. Just took the job last month; I was over at Leeland & Keller before that. Forward progress for me. Bigger, better…This guy’s pretty confident. I wonder where he comes from. How about you? You local? Where did you go to law school?

University of Denver. After that I clerked for Judge Merriweather downtown. Geez, Webster & Associates? I bet he went to Harvard Law. How about you?

Yale Law. I clerked federal in D.C. A long few years, but worth the sacrifice. Good thing I didn’t meet my wife until law school. Too busy.

Comparison. We all do it. A recent blog post entitled Mom vs. Mom highlighted the subtle ways moms compete and compare – organic mom, slender fit mom, working mom, super-godly mom. The push to do it all, be it all, thrives amidst mothers and their kids. It’s no different at work. Pastors subtly ask one another how many people are attending their churches on Sunday. Lawyers vet their competition by making small talk about law school. Business leaders compare balance sheets over happy hour. Entrepreneurs, feeling ‘small’ when around a venture capitalist, inflate their ideas. Authors discuss which publishing house picked up their last book. In admissions and student enrollment (where I work), of course, the marker of success is the number of students each Fall. LinkedIn profiles grow and grow – even when people aren’t changing jobs. Just look at all those endorsements.

It’s not like anybody does this overtly. But in certain contexts the feelings of inferiority – or superiority – take over. The small talk may seem innocent, but at the heart of it is the desire to prove our own worth. We play a never-ending game of professional (and personal) rank. Why? To show the world our worth. To justify ourselves.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor in WWII, wrote a little book called Life Together about Christian community during his time leading an underground seminary at Finkenwalde. A random half-quote from the book once stuck with me. The Christian, says Bonhoeffer, is simply a “brother among brothers.” With God as our Father, and Jesus himself as our brother (Heb. 2:11), Christians are family. On an equal playing field.

Holding on to this phrase “a brother among brothers” has been hugely helpful to me as I walk into appointments. In the faith and work world, I have the tendency to exalt myself over other ministries or individuals who need my help, and, conversely, cower before high powered professionals or CEOs who make my paltry experience seem microscopic in comparison. Yet when I repeat the phrase “a brother among brothers” before appointments, it does two things for me.

It eliminates superiority. How could I, a servant of Christ, really be superior to anybody else? I’m justified freely by God’s grace, and the person I’m sitting across bears the image of the King of the Universe, and is my brother (or sister). Manual laborer, Latino pastor, retired grandmother, 15 year-old high school student – all family, and worthy of my attention and careful respect. When the apostle Paul appealed to Philemon to receive back his former slave Onesimus, he reminded him that in Christ his social rank had changed. Onesimus, once a slave, is now a brother (Philemon 16).
It also eliminates groveling. If this executive sitting across from me is really my brother, do I really need to build myself up, prove my worth, or beg for their approval? Would I do this with a family member? Of course not. It wasn’t for no reason that Joseph spoke squarely and honestly to Pharaoh. He had been with God (or, more accurately, God had been with him) and that freed him to speak truth – but never lacking love – to the most high powered man in the world. Since we are both made in the image of God, there’s no need to vet competition by checking academic credentials, examining work attire, or (when getting home) measuring the green-ness of their grass. Christians are free to listen, serve and love, without the need to conquer, achieve, or exalt ourselves.

Our worth comes not from our professional success or rank. It comes from Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross and the gift of His righteousness on our behalf. Since all the treasures of heaven have been poured out freely into the lives of Christians, there’s no need to play the game anymore. Here is where we find freedom, peace and rest. Here’s also were we find an eager desire to serve those “below” us, and a strong confidence to engage with those “above” us.

My friend David Hyams, at Rothgerber, Johnson & Lyons, a law firm in Denver, has suggested a good way to put this into practice at work. Change the question. Instead of asking asking questions about which law firm, which law school, etc., when meeting another lawyer, he simply asks the question: “So why did you go into law?” This question goes to purpose and intent. It also often draws out a lawyer’s highest ideals – of justice and equality – which are often in need of refreshing amidst the challenges of litigation, clients, and daily stresses of practicing law. Questions about rank tend to have the purpose of quietly finding ways to exalt and prove oneself; questions of purpose draw peers into re-envisioning the good purposes for which God has designed their work.

Discussion question: In your field, what questions are asked that are subtly intended to “rank” one another? How can you “change the question” when meeting people in your field?

Photo: Two Lawyers Conversing

(PS: Have a restful Labor Day.)

Theology

Satisfying Work in the New Jerusalem

August 29, 2013

What’s heaven like? In Isaiah 65, God promises to create new heavens and a new earth, to undo a world of suffering and renew his beloved Jerusalem.

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.”

So what will this new Jerusalem be like? And is there anything we can do now to better reflect this new world? Isaiah 65 gives four key features of the new heavens and earth in this passage – and one that we hardly ever mention:

Long Life. In the new Jerusalem, there will no longer be infants who live just a few days, or people who do not live out their years to old age. Untimely, tragic death will be no more, and life will reign (Is. 65:20).
Peace and Justice. “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox…They will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain” (Is. 65:25). There will no longer be violence or destruction. Peace and justice will flow in the streets – and even the fields – of the new Jerusalem. Strong and weak, powerful and powerless, will sit at the table of fellowship, a vision not much different from Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision that one day “on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
Renewed Family. No longer will women “bear children doomed to misfortune” but instead God will bless families and their descendants (Is. 65:23).
Satisfying Work. Because we so rarely mention work in the context of heaven, I’ll quote Isaiah 65:22-23a at length: “They will build houses, and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain.”

There are two things to notice about this passage:

The structure of the passage is built around Genesis 3 and 4. The new heavens and earth is a reversal of the effects of the Fall. Death was a result of sin (Gen. 3:19, Rom. 5:8), and Isaiah states God will reverse the effects of death with fruitful life (Is. 65:20). God curses both childbearing and work as a result of sin (Gen. 3:16-19), but both the family and work are restored in the new heavens and earth (Is. 65:22-23). Finally, one of the most devastating effects of the Fall is violence. Genesis 4 – when Cain murders his brother Abel – prefigures a world of injustice and bloodshed; Isaiah 65 envisions wolfs and lambs living side-by-side in peace.
Satisfying work is at the center of the new heavens and earth. The reason God’s chosen ones “enjoy the work of their hands” is because the can live in the houses they built, and enjoy the fruit of the vineyards they planted. The very opposite of this is “laboring in vain” and having others live in the houses they built, and others eat the vineyards they plant. Now, I think the immediate context of this passage is a promise that foreign armies would no longer rule over Israel, and essentially plunder their wealth (homes and vineyards). But nonetheless, this passage makes it clear that seeing and enjoying the work of your own hands is central to shalom, to peaceful communities. (Ecclesiastes makes similar statements about the curse of toiling so that others might enjoy your work, and, conversely, the divine blessing of finding satisfaction in your work [Ecc. 2:17-18, 3:13]).

In this post, I wanted to just lay some biblical groundwork for discussing further questions about satisfying work down the road. But for now, I’d really like to get your feedback on a couple simple questions:

What makes for satisfying work? Or, perhaps more easily answered, what do you think are the core features of frustrating work? In what situations do you say, “That was a good day’s work?”, and when do you lament, “I accomplished absolutely nothing today?”

(Note: Thank you to Robert Gelinas and Colorado Community Church for asking us [the congregation] to memorize this passage. It’s well worth our in-depth reflection.)

Photo: Jerusalem Sunrise

Theology

The Way of Nature, The Way of Grace

August 26, 2013

What really makes the work of Christians any different from the work of anybody else? Or put another way – how could we distinguish between the daily work of a Christian versus that of, say, a Muslim, secular humanist, Buddhist, or religious pluralist? Would we (or should we?) see a difference?

Some would say the actual work would be no different; work would just be done with a different motivation (a view I’ve disagreed with on this blog). Others would boil it down to the “three e’s”: excellence, ethics, and evangelism. However, I think there’s a problem with making these the distinguishing marks of the Christian’s work.

First, as best as I can tell, secularists, Muslims and other non-believers care about excellence just as much as Christians. They may do so out of the wrong motives – but nonetheless, I’ve often been amazed at the art, business structures, or literary achievements of my peers from other faith.

How about ethics? Again, I think there’s much truth in saying that Christians should outshine their peers in their ethical choices. They have a foundation for right and wrong that is founded on God’s revelation in Christ and a relationship with Him, not just a set of moral norms. However, I know many people of other faiths who are far more ethical than I am. One of my favorite bloggers, Seth Godin, often surprises me with his moral vision and rapt encouragement for fellow “artists” and entrepreneurs. I regularly read The Economist – not exactly a haven of orthodoxy – and am also impressed by the moral vision of many of its non-Christian writers.

I think far too many Christians try to undermine the ethical goodness of their non-believing peers in a veiled attempt to root out hidden sin and show them their need for the gospel. I don’t think this is a very good strategy. Lesslie Newbigin, in The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, says:

“The Christian must tell [the gospel], not because she lacks respect for the many excellencies of her companions—many of whom may be better, more godly, more worthy of respect than she is. She tells it simply as one who had been chosen and called by God to be a part of the company which is entrusted with the story. She will indeed—out of love for them—long that they may come to share the joy that she knows and pray that they may indeed do so. But it is only the Holy Spirit of God who can so touch the hearts and consciences of others…”

There’s no need to try to unveil secret iniquities of others (don’t we already have plenty of our own?) and try to do the work of the Holy Spirit. Telling the story of the gospel is the task of the Christian, even as Christians work alongside of friends from other faiths, acknowledging the good work they do – work that is often better than our own.

Then it’s surely evangelism, right? Certainly, the words of the gospel are completely unique to the global Christian church – and they must be spoken. Yet far too often this becomes a project in changing the subject from expense reports, project deadlines, or lesson plans. What is it about the Christian faith that can drastically shape the actual work itself?

I believe one answer to this question is the way of grace. Christian film-maker Terrence Malick, in his beautiful film Tree of Life, opens by contrasting the way of nature with the way of grace. The way of nature is tit for tat, it is just punishment, it is competition and survival of the fittest. But more than that, it is the way of the self – getting your own way, your own reward. The way of grace, by contrast, isn’t worried about being overlooked, slighted, or insulted. It is content to simply give.

The Tree Of Life: Way Of Nature, Way Of Grace from Otto on Vimeo.

Expanding on Malick’s concept, I would say it is being so shaped by God’s undeserved favor that gifts flow from you to both friend and foe, business partner and business competitor, beloved co-worker and despised boss.

The biblical figure Joseph is a good example of the way of grace within the context of work. Sold by his brothers into slavery at a young age, he had every right to be angry and bitter. Yet we see a different response on at least four occasions:

In Potiphar’s House. When made a slave in Egypt, Joseph was put to work in the house of a military official. It would have been easy to be despondent, depressed, or outright vengeful, but he instead worked with such diligence that the captain of the guard put him in charge of his entire estate (Gen. 39:4). Yet it wasn’t just a desire for excellence that propelled him. The narrator wants the reader to know Joseph’s success came as a gift of grace. The LORD was with him and “gave him success in whatever he did.” His work flowed out of his relationship with a gracious God who did not abandon him, even in his suffering.
In Prison. Joseph was falsely accused of sexual harassment in the workplace, and, as such, got thrown in prison. Again, this was a devastating personal and career setback. He was working his way up the corporate latter, expecting perhaps to make the best of a bad situation, and instead he got severely punished for not even touching his boss’s attractive wife who was trying to sleep with him. So what did he do? File a lawsuit? No. Instead he entrusted himself to the God who was with him, and worked with such diligence “the warden put Joseph in charge of all those help in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there” (Gen. 39:22). Everybody in the prison benefited because his work became a gift of grace to all those suffering around him.
Administering Grain During the Famine. Joseph finally got his chance to get even. He finally got his day before Pharaoh. The way of nature would have been to call attention to his unjust imprisonment and get Potiphar’s wife thrown behind bars. But for Joseph, there was none of that. When faced with the CEO, he spoke truth loudly, interpreted the times for him, and gave him such swift insight it earned him a #2 ranking in the entire corporation. And perhaps what’s more impressive is his follow through. Seven years of plenty came – and they stored grain. Then came the seven of famine. And Joseph – for 14 years – faithfully brought his plan of saving resources during a season of huge economic yield to fruition, because he knew it was the plan of God. When the developed world came to Egypt’s door for food, Joseph’s role as a government official and his faithful stewardship of that role could only be considered a gift of grace.
When Being Reunited With His Family. Joseph had the opportunity to get even with his brothers – the ones who sold him into slavery. Indeed, the temptation for Joseph to use his positional power to punish those who did him so much wrong was immense (Gen. 44). But ultimately, in one of the most moving scenes in the Bible, Joseph forgives his brothers, and sends a lavish gift home to his father Jacob. The grace kept coming. And when reflecting on his painful career path, Joseph figured God had used even the evil of his brothers to bring about the good of saving lives during the famine (Gen. 50:20). Joseph acknowledge that his pain was a conduit of God’s grace.

What would it mean for Christians to universally adopt the way of grace in work contexts? The company loses millions on a big investment your employee made – and when your boss comes knocking, you decide to take the heat. Another coffee shop moves in right next door to your own, and you offer help and encouragement to your competitor. Your boss consistently overlooks your achievements – and you decide to give extra time to the new capital campaign anyway. The union requires you to say until 4:00pm, but you look at your student, a 5^th grade boy with a rocky home life and a “D” in math, and decide to stay late to help with his homework.

C.S. Lewis was once asked what makes Christianity different from all the world religions. “That’s easy,” he said. “Grace.” Every other world religion or philosophy at some point aligns with the way of nature – earning favor with God or others through personal merit. They are all a great climbing heavenward, beseeching the god’s (or other human’s) favor and getting what we deserve. The Christian God, however, comes down to earth, becomes a man, and gives his very life away to those who would scorn his sacrifice. His foundational work on the cross is a gift of grace.

When Christians choose to do these acts of grace, they’re not done to be seen by others. They’re done out of gratitude; they’re done because the universe they live in is sustained by the unmerited gifts of a loving God. So, should they ever receive praise for what looks like “ethical behavior at work,” all they can do is point to the One who first gave to them.

Discussion question: Over 70% of Americans don’t like their work. But would you like your job more if today you gave a boss, a co-worker, a client or even a competitor a gift of grace? What would it look like to build giving into the very structure of your company or your daily routines?

Education

Writing About Bill Kurtz, CEO of Denver School of Science and Technology

August 6, 2013

Recently Christianity Today published my essay on Bill Kurtz, CEO of Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST). (Read the complete essay here.) Having learned about Kurtz only this last Fall, his work was relatively new to me. As a charter school leader, and one who had spoken at both Q Cities Denver and at the Center for Faith & Work, I thought I should investigate his story to see if I couldn’t learn something about how he integrates his faith and work.

As we sat down at Udi’s in Stapleton on June 18 for a brief lunch interview, Bill was kind, humble, and self-effacing, not exactly what I expected from a successful charter school executive. We spoke for about 45 minutes on the challenges of public school education, his motivation & leadership style, and the secret to DSST’s success. I went home, typed up the interview, and got working on the article.

Little did I understand sheer magnitude and far-reaching impact of his work.

As I began to research DSST in local media, I discovered DSST is consistently recognized as one the nation’s top charter schools. Students are 75% from minority groups and 45% low income – and DSST ranks consistently as one of the top 5 schools state-wide on student academic growth. Average ACT scores are 24.6 (Denver Public Schools are 17.6), and 100% of seniors in school history have been admitted to a 4-year college.

Ed News Colorado has called DSST “the crown jewel of Denver’s high school reform efforts.” Another organization, A+ Denver, cites 10 years of failed school reform in DPS, with a single exception – DSST. Kurtz has even been to the House of Representatives in Washington to share about STEM schools in the US. He even got a $1 million donation from Oprah for his school – a pop icon with more power than the president, according to Kurtz.

As I was writing the article, I puzzled over the question: how did he do it? How did he produce not just one, but now seven schools with such stunning academic results?

Bill consistently attributed DSST’s success to their school culture. He says they have built a “values-based institution,” one that lives DSST’s ethics – respect, responsibility, doing your best, integrity, courage and curiosity – on a daily basis. In the article, I wrote about their morning meeting, a 4-times-per-week gathering of students and staff to “recognize student achievement, acknowledge the school’s values, praise service to others, own up to mistakes, and pledge to put forth their best effort each day.” In contrast to free-floating relativism or legalistic rule keeping, DSST lives a set of ideals – and these ideals shape DSST culture.

What interested me was how his understanding of the gospel shaped his engagement as a public school leader. Not only did he build his schools on concrete moral ideals, but he encourages staff and students to live out their part of “the human story.” Kurtz says, “Everybody wants to be affirmed for their unique gifts and talents, and everybody wants to make a significant contribution to the human story.” Underlying his desire to serve is this aggressive hopefulness that comes from understanding that human history in a story – with a divine story-teller – that has a good ending. Hope permeates his schools. And it drives him to do great things as an educator how has found an “opportunity for me to live out my vocation, serving the needs of others and building strong communities.”

Here’s how the article begins:

Ten years ago, a subtle desperation filled the aging halls of Denver Public Schools. In 2003, only 55 percent of Denver high school students graduated on time; that number dropped to 46 percent in 2008. As minority and low-income populations rose, achievement tumbled. Denver, along with cities like Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Oakland, became a “dropout epicenter.”

Despite noble efforts from teachers, issues like drug abuse, gang activity, and pregnancy fostered a “what’s the point?” attitude among students. Even many of those who did graduate wouldn’t go to college or be prepared to compete in a global workforce that was rapidly outperforming American students, especially in science and math. America’s high school students were falling behind, and Denver was near the back of the line.

But ten years ago, when most saw hopelessness, Bill Kurtz saw opportunity. (Read the rest of the article.)

Jeff Haanen

More Than Just Fixing a Headlamp

Where Love and Need Are One: A Vision For Work

Three Lessons for Evangelical Leaders

Jesus Set Priorities

Helping Colorado’s Flood Victims

Denver Institute for Faith & Work: A Beginning

Man vs. Man: Ranking Ourselves at Work

Satisfying Work in the New Jerusalem

The Way of Nature, The Way of Grace

Writing About Bill Kurtz, CEO of Denver School of Science and Technology