Called or Confused? Theology of Work for the Christian Health Care Practitioner

Morgan Wills, Siloam Family Health Center

Introductions

Language Barriers

Question:

What does it mean to be “called” to do health care for

the poor?

(If we’re not careful, we may find ourselves living out an ancient dualism…)

“Called” Workers (sacred)

“Not-so Called” Workers (secular)

Misconception Alert!

!   Calling is a very important concept that has blessed many of us in CCHF, including myself. I’m just suggesting that the idea of being called to a particular place or type of work may not be a scriptural norm.

Ancient View of Work:

!   Work as a necessary evil

“We work to have leisure, on which happiness depends”

- Aristotle

Medieval Catholic View

!   Work as primarily an instrumental good: !   Appreciated for facilitating the possibility

of contemplating God (Brother Lawrence) !   “the Catholic distortion” of calling, a

progressive hierarchy of sacred over secular and work (Guinness)

Protestant Reformation

“The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone.”

- Martin Luther

Impact of the Reformation

!   Gave dignity and significance to everyday work

!   Shattered work hierarchies; a vital impulse toward democracy.

!   Embraced such practicalities of work, thrift, and long-term planning, influencing the rise of modern capitalism.

!   Expanded the idea of “talents” so that they encompassed both natural and “spiritual” giftedness

Problems with Protestant “Calling”

!   Luther was a creature of his times.

!   Little missional impulse.

!   His paradigm of Vocation was largely based on a particular understanding of 1 Cor. 7:20

“Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.”

Consider this beloved hymn:

All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.

…with an overlooked stanza:

The rich man in his castle The poor man at his gate He made them High and lowly He ordered their estate.

The Modern View

your work = your calling (“The Protestant Distortion”)

Modern Challenges to “Calling”

!   Historical changes in our work: !   Agricultural Industrial Informational

Society. !   Job mobility (over time) !   Job plurality (at the same time) !   24/7 workweek !   Cultural confusion: “We work at our play,

play at our work, and play at our worship.” (Guinness)

Observation:

CCHF is helping us recover a more creational understanding

of service

(acknowledging the created capacities within poor patients and communities)

Provocation:

Our practical theology of vocation may be lagging behind our (new) theology of service.

(We tend to assume Sin/fallenness as the starting point for discussion of calling)

A Theology of Work in 30 minutes

Where to begin?

A “Cliff Notes” Approach to Scripture may be helpful:

- Look at the first and last two chapters of Scripture to get a sense for the big picture

Engaging Genesis 1-2

!   Genre?

!   Supporting cues from the Author/Context

!   Observations: (using the lens of “work”) !   Setting? !   Who is working? !   How?

Lessons from Genesis 1-2

Human Work precedes the Fall!

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work the ground (abad) and take care of it (shemar)” (2:15)

!   “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work the ground” (2:15) !   abad – means both to work and to serve –

used to describe priestly service (Deut 4:19; Num 3:7-8; 4:23, etc.)

!   “and take care of it” !   shemar – to guard, keep, take great care of –

commonly used of observance of religious commands and duties, especially Levitical responsibilities (Num 1:53; 3:7-8)

Temple Language / Imagery

Lessons from Genesis 1-2

!   Work is an invitation to partner with God, not a form of slavery (“Let us”; Fill and subdue; name the animals)

Lessons from Genesis 1-2

!   Work is limited. Sabbath keeps it in rhythm with rest and delight. (2:2)

A prayed attentiveness to the workweek of creation develops within us a realization that we live in a world of sheer gift, that we ourselves are sheer gift, and that whatever we do replicates and continues to express and give form to this basic giftedness—God-giftedness…. Or, to put it another way, it is the nature of work to provide a container for a gift.

- Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection

Moving right along…

Lessons from Rev. 21-22

!   Setting:

!   “a Holy City . . .

!   . . . coming down out of heaven from God” (21:10)

Lessons from Rev. 21-22 !   Not just any city, . . .

!   . . . But a Garden-City

“The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life,…” (22:1-2)

Lessons from Rev. 21-22

!   God and the nations reside there, . . .

!   along with “the glory and the honor of the nations.” (21:26)

Just in case…!

“Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working . . . . the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (5:17, 20)

“For we are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:9)

Fundamental Realities

!   God is at work in the world.

!   Creation is God’s temple-garden.

!   It is to be cultivated towards increasing Shalom.

!   We are his gardener / priests.

!   Because of Christ, we may cooperate with the Spirit in the enduring work of New Creation.

Implications for the Work of Health Care

!   Health care is first and foremost a form of human work—good, though now fallen.

!   All human work can be a sacramental “window” into God’s kingdom.

!   Health care—and especially among the poor—appears to be a particularly frequent “hot spot” for this phenomenon.

So What Does that Look like?

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life…"

Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

John 9:1-7

Living out the Story: “Acts 29”

Historical Health Care “Improv”

!   The first “First Responders”

!   Basil’s Hospital

!   The Nursing Profession

!   Canadian health care coverage

“Health Care & Hospitals in the History of the Mission of the Church” (Christianhistoryinstitute.org, issue 101)

Take Homes: !   Key fact: You (all of you) are called to God.

!   Key knowledge: the “bigger story” of Scripture

!   Key question: “WIGD (What Is God Doing) here? How/where can I partner with Him to foster shalom?”

!   Key skill: Improvisation Knowing the bigger Story and your character (work) well enough to “play” your role amidst changing contexts and cues.

!   Key practice: Sabbath. Practice work within the rhythm of rest and delight.

CREATOR

Inventing new things

SUSTAINER

Keeping everything running

REDEEMER

Repairing, mending and transforming

CONSUMMATOR

Bringing things to a conclusion

WHOSE WORK MATTERS TO GOD?

REDEEMER Medicine Counseling Pharmacy Technicians Advocacy

Nursing Administration Systems Dieticians

Research Information Technology Entrepreneurship Development

CREATOR SUSTAINER

CONSUMMATOR Journalism Chaplain Hospice Education

GOD THE WORKER

Further Reading:

!   Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life

!   Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour

!   Paul Stevens, The OTHER Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective

!   Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection: a conversation on growing up in Christ

!   Miroslav Volf, Work in the Spirit