By Chris Horst For two summers during college, I worked ten-hour days under the hot and humid Pennsylvania sun as a mason tender—or more commonly, as a mud boy. I mixed concrete, hauled cement blocks and attempted to assist our masons. Some days I lugged, stacked, and mixed like a champ. Other days I became the target of creative expletives. Many of my colleagues were rough around the edges. They were hardened by years of heavy labor. At first, I only... Read more
By Joseph Sunde In a powerful profile of his son Jamie, a young man with Down syndrome, Michael Bérubé explores some of the key challenges that those with disabilities face when trying to enter the workforce: The first time I talked to Jamie about getting a job, he was only 13. But I thought it was a good idea to prepare him, gradually, for the world that would await him after he left school. My wife, Janet, and I had long been... Read more
By Evan Koons St. Porphyrios writes “Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet…” There is no better place to start than Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Go to the Limits of your Longing” from Book of Hours. We celebrate the risen Lord, the one who conquers death and restores our priesthood. As we proclaim, “He is risen. He is risen, indeed,” let us rejoice in God’s abundant majesty and grace. Let us rejoice over his victory over sin, death, hopelessness,... Read more
By Peter Johnson Bill Dalgetty’s Hope for the Workplace: Christ in You is rich with stories of people in business who are struggling to integrate their faith and work lives. Weaving biblical parables with dozens of real life stories gleaned from his experience as president of Christians in Commerce International, Dalgetty points to universal truths of human conscience. Dalgetty, a career attorney and executive for Mobil Corporation, is sensitive to corporate America’s overly PC culture. He acknowledges that living one’s faith in corporate... Read more
By Joseph Sunde Today’s parents are obsessed with setting their kids on strategic paths to supposed “success,” pre-planning their days to be filled with language camps, music lessons, advanced courses, competitive sports, chess clubs, museum visits, and so on. Much of this is beneficial, of course, but amidst the bustle, at least one formative experience is increasingly cast aside: good, old-fashioned hard work. In an essay for the Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Breheny Wallace points to a recent survey of U.S.... Read more
By Dylan Pahman Before Max Weber ever conducted his study of the “Protestant ethic” of hard work and commerce as a matter of one’s election before God, there was the ascetic ethic of the ancient Church. A story from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers illustrates this ascetic business ethic well: A brother said to Abba Pistamon: “What am I to do? I find it painful to sell what I make.” Abba Pistamon replied: “Abba Sisois and others used to sell what they made. There... Read more
By Jordan Ballor On August 12, 1943, months after having been arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned, the Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his young fiancée Maria von Wedemeyer: When I consider the state of the world, the total obscurity enshrouding our personal destiny, and my present imprisonment, our union—if it wasn’t frivolity, which it certainly wasn’t—can only be a token of God’s grace and goodness, which summon us to believe in him. We would have to be blind not to... Read more
By Joseph Sunde In the early 2000s, Broadway United Methodist Church had a series of outreach programs, including a food pantry, after-school program, clothing ministry, and a summer youth program that served up to 250 children per day. Today, these programs are completely absent, and it’s no accident. “They’ve been killed off,” writes Robert King in a fascinating profile of the transformation. “In many cases, they were buried with honors. But those ministries, staples of the urban church, are all gone from Broadway. Kaput.” “One... Read more
By Chris Horst Since the Hobby Lobby case, there’s been lots of talk about what makes a corporation “religious,” if anything. Of course, corporations can’t really be religious, but their founders can and are, and they often express their religion in and through their corporations. Religion plays a big role in our country’s enterprises — in ways that may encourage you, discourage you, or both. Regardless of whether I agree, disagree or am indifferent toward the faith of the owners, I... Read more
By Joseph Sunde “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.” –Proverbs 3:9 In his latest video, Dan Stevers highlights the importance of giving God our first and our best, focusing mostly on the story of Cain and Abel. “The concept of firstfruits extends to every aspect of our lives,” he writes. “God doesn’t accept leftovers; God must be first.” The video contains excerpts from Robert Morris’ popular book, The Blessed Life: Unlocking the Rewards of... Read more
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