How do you feel the first day back to work after a break? Overwhelmed? Glad to be back? Depressed as you face the reality that the most consistent quality of your daily work is its affect on you: misery? I’m writing this post, 3 working days after the 2015 Thanksgiving break in the USA. Most of us have been back at work long enough for the joy or shock of reentry to wear off. We’ve settled back into the flow... Read more

How should we pray for our work? Some of us pray constant “help me” prayers. Some of us don’t pray at all. Some of us share pray requests for every detail of our work. Some of us only bring work up when we are faced with a terrible boss or a job-transition. Jesus followers have always struggled with how to pray. His first class of trainees asked him “teach us to pray.” Jesus’ response, what we call the Lord’s prayer,... Read more

The news over the weekend has been dominated by the horrible terrorist attack in Paris, which took place Friday night in the City of Light.  At least 129 people lost their lives and 100’s more were wounded.   For helpful background on ISIS check out Max Anderson’s weekly reader.  And for some general commentary,  Jim Dennison’s Monday morning post is worth the read. Here I want to entertain 3 faith and work related responses to the events in Paris.   3 Work-Related... Read more

  This is post #7 in a series on how to pray about your work life. Jesus’ first followers assumed he could teach them something about how to carry on an interaction with the Divine so they asked “teach us to pray.” I am applying Jesus’ answer—usually called the Lord’s prayer—to our work life. At this point in his instructions, Jesus model prayer turns to the darker side of life. He says “pray this way; lead us not into temptation,... Read more

Cash Is King Ever since the Dutch settled Manhattan, Faith has been playing catch-up on this island. New Amsterdam was founded not by Pilgrims seeking religious freedom (as compared to Boston) or with Quakers seeking freedom of conscious (as compared to Philadelphia). New Amsterdam was founded by Dutchmen seeking the freedom to make money. When the immigrants from Holland arrived, they built a fort, farms, shops, and drinking houses. Yet it took them 18 years to build a church. Today,... Read more

  Spiritual Debt-Forgiveness:  The how and why of writing off workplace wrongs and moving on. A friend sits across me at a café. In measured words they recount a detailed account of a wrong they have suffered. I ask clarifying questions, nod my head, and follow along. At some point, I ask when this injury took place.   Without missing a beat they say, “oh, ten years ago.” They say this as if I should know. They say this without any... Read more

How should we pray for our work? This is part 5 in a 9 segment focus on this question. It is driven by a number of factors I’ve observed over the years. The primary time people ask for work-related prayer is when they need a job. Dealing with difficult people at work, usually the boss, is a distant second in pryer request frequency. I’ve observed in myself, that much of my work focused praying is about avoiding failure or finding a... Read more

  What A Greek God Has to Say About My Work-life Prayers. In ancient Greek mythology, the god Narcissus was lured to his death in the most startling of ways.   Nemesis drew him to a reflecting pool. There the handsome and arrogant Narcissus became fixated on his reflection to such an extent that he was pulled into the water, where he drown. Today we use the term narcissism to refer to an unhealthy obsession with the self.  This obsession leaks... Read more

How do we pray effectively for our work?  We are in a series of posts to answer that question.   (For prior posts click here: Part 1 and Part 2.)    In this post we shift from foundational assumptions to practical advice. We focus on Jesus instruction, often called the Lord’s prayer and the the first request he coaches us to make. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth... Read more

This is part 2 in a series on praying for our work.  In this post we consider the question “why prayer for our work, works.” In my last post, I shared 2 big ideas: Jesus’ model prayer, often called the Lord’s prayer, provides a framework on which to build prayers that will transform our experience of work. The first word Jesus instructs his followers to pray is the word “our,” which takes prayer from a “me” to a “we” activity.... Read more