Finding God At Work In A Time of Change
by James L. Nolan
a presentation at the Workshop on Church and Theology in the Contemporary World, Boston University,
April 28, 2000
Introduction
From my meetings with business and professional men and women across this country and
Canada and from reports from our Woodstock Business Conference chapters in 18 locations, I
see a number of important changes at work in our communities and the wider society. The
protests last week in Washington and the recent stock market turbulence help to highlight the fact
that the world seems to be right in the middle of a profound sea change affecting all aspects of
life: social, cultural, economic, and political. A frequently used shorthand term for this is
globalization. Business, economic exchange, commercial transactions, and related exploding
technologies are driving many of the changes we see. The whole world is the arena where the
changes are being played out.
At the same time we are seeing another growing phenomena at least in North America. People
want to integrate their whole selves, integrate who they are with what they do. Some have named
this change - the spirituality and work movement. Observers calling this an "explosion of
spirituality in the workplace."
An good example of what I am talking about was the Business Week cover story last November.
Perhaps, you saw it. The cover had a picture of a Muslim attorney kneeling on a prayer rug in his
office. The story reported such incidents as:
. a company-hired chaplain who counseled and prayed with a Taco Bell cashier
whose husband was in prison and daughter in rehab;
. a team of Xerox engineers gathering for a retreat to summon the spiritual energies
to help build the company's first digital copier-fax-printer;
. Bibles being distributed in kitchens of fast-food restaurants; and
. New Age workshops where self-styled shamans help executives get in touch with
their "inner warriors."
In our view, one shared by many, this movement is a mixed bag. There is no doubt that some
very large and powerful companies are attempting to harness this quest for meaning for their own
benefit believing that it will make people more productive and increase profits. But the real story
is a very old one. What we're seeing is not some desire for soothed feelings or a gimmick to
increase output, but the manifestations of a deep-seated drive within each one of us to use our
talents, intelligence, and imagination for the greater good. The search for meaning in the rapidly
changing, technologically charged world has brought on these latest yearnings. The changes we
call "globalization" and "spirituality in the workplace" are not unrelated.
Two Questions
We have to ask however, is it possible in a time of rapid change, shifting boundaries, faint
allegiances, and globalization to lead a spiritual life in the world of work? And if so, how might
this be done?
1. Finding God at Work
The answer to the first question is in finding God at work. At first blush this may seem to be an
outrageous thought. What saint spent her workday behind a computer screen? How many
famous holy men or women have we heard of who taught middle school kids, worked in the ER,
prepared tax returns, or served as the CEO of a multinational Fortune 500 company? Not many.
But that is not the point.
The point is to understand what we are really doing when we work. As in all things in this world,
there are element of progress and decline in what we are doing at work. On a positive level we
can see that our work:
. Provides others with needed goods and services.
. Gives us the opportunity and the platform to grow and better realize our skills,
talents, God-given gifts. As we do so we are becoming more and more
authentically human, more and more what God created us for.
. As we combine our efforts with others we enhance the common good by:
Creating and distributing wealth
Promoting the growth of community within work places and beyond
Developing new technologies
All of that is true but it is not the whole story. All our work is not yet heaven on earth by a long
shot. There are downsides that must be acknowledged. There are dehumanizing organizations
and systems that promote and reward - not what is the best in us and for us - but what is worst
in us. Think of an illegal drug cartel as an example of a hard working, very profitable
organization that promotes the evil and does harm.
We also must note here the decline in loyalty, of organizations toward individuals and of
individuals toward organizations. It seems like everyone is a free agent now. We see a
diminishment in professionalism in the practice or law and medicine. Individualism and
selfishness seem to be elevated and rewarded defeating true teamwork and community.
We have to ask, just where is God in all of this? In the positive and the negative aspects of
work? The answer is "all over the place." God's most apparent manifestation is his working in
his creation. Here we see God at work, laboring. God's work is being accomplished in history,
working its way over time. But toward what end? Toward where we will live in profound peace,
pervasive justice, and joyful love. Now, that sounds like heaven on earth. Christ called it the
Kingdom of God.
Where are we in all this? We are God's creations who are called to be co-workers in God's
project. We are invited to use our intelligence, our energy, our savvy, and all that we care about
to that end. When we do so, when we understand and chose the positive and recognize and
diminish the negative, when we work and make life better in any way - we are not doing it
alone. We are in league with God, being led by the Holy Spirit working within and through us.
Our work is much more that a job category or a pay grade. It is where we work out who we are.
This is where we know, choose, and do what is best. This is the place where we can truly team
up with God. God, who is already there, working in us, moving us to work for the greater good.
How do we know is so? One way is to check the evidence within ourselves. We can check on
the very dynamic at work in each of us that drives us to seek what is true when we ask who, what,
when, where and how. We can check the dynamic that pushes us to chose what is valuable and
worthwhile. We want to know the truth and do what is right. You do not have to be a believer to
be asking these questions and making these judgements. We are doing it all the time. It is a part
of being alive.
As Christians, we recognize this drive, this desire, is God working in us to make life more human
through our ordinary, everyday lives. An expert on contemporary Christian spirituality Ronald
Rohlheiser says that this desire in us is terribly important. Indeed, he goes on to define
spirituality as what we do with this desire. He says:
Desire makes us act and when we act what we do will either lead to a greater
integration or disintegration within our personalities, minds, and bodies - and to
the strengthening or deterioration or our relationship to God, others, and to the
cosmic world. The habits and disciplines we use to shape our desire form the
basis for a spirituality, regardless of whether these have an explicit religious
dimension to them or whether they are consciously expressed at all. (Holy
Longing p.7)
This desire is described as the push, the dynamism, the eros, the fire inside of us. He cites John
of the Cross, the great Spanish mystic who begins his famous treatment of the soul's journey with
the words: "One dark night, fired by love's urgent longings." For John of the Cross and
Rohlheiser it is love's urgent longings, the eros, the desires that are the starting point of the
spiritual life. "And how we[] channel it, the disciplines and habits we choose to live by, will
either lead to a greater integration or disintegration... (Holy Longing, p.11)
Another contemporary scholar of Christian Spirituality, Michael Downey, says something quite
similar. He claims that,
Christian spirituality is most profitably understood in the context of the more
basic and fundamental human quest for integration of mind, body, and soul... The
Christian life in the Spirit is a particular, unique expresssion of the universal
human desire for integration and completion through self-transcending
knowledge, freedom and love. (Understanding Christian Spirituality, p.49).
From all sides we see the desire for completeness, for wholeness, the drive to integrate all of who
we are including, particularly, who and what we are at work, as being the stepping stone to
spirituality.
Long ago the prophet Micah berated the leaders of Israel for ripping the people off, charging huge
sums for lavish sacrifices, and for corrupt life styles and greedy behavior. He predicted many
horrible consequences. He reminded his listeners that even the most extravagant of offerings to
God would not alter the judgements they had merited. Then he offered them, and us, his famous
advice:
You have been told, Oh man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you:
only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8)
2. How to Lead a Spiritual Life at Work?
Now, we come to the second of our questions. How do we do we integrate mind, body and soul?
How do we lead a spiritual life at work? What are the disciplines and habits that can help us to
channel the drive, desire, dynamic within us to greater integration? I want to suggest a three
point plan that might help.
A Three Point Plan of Engagement, Community, and Prayer.
The term engagement describes an attitude, a commitment, as well as the day-to-day activities of
a calling or profession. Further, a person seriously in pursuit of integration can find doing the
right and loving goodness much easier within a community and a discipline of prayer.
Engagement. The good we can do at work for individuals and for society is far too important to
ignore. We are all called to collaborate in God's creative and redemptive work, called to use our
skills and talents for the greater good. Human activity properly falls within the framework of the
collaboration with God that every human being is called to offer. Today we are called to echo
this divine design and collaborate with the Creator in the transformation of the world according
to God's plan.
The notion of our collaboration with God conveys the idea that human work expresses a sharing
in the divine work of creation. By our proper use of the wealth of spiritual and material resources
given us by the Creator, we contribute to the progress of society.
The obvious implication of the call to collaborate is not to withdraw from society. Nor should we
construct compartments to wall off concerns generated by our religious sensibilities from the
world of work. This later tactic is quite popular today. Seeing one's work as a vocation or
calling is one way to assume the attitude, disposition, and commitment necessary to answer the
call collaborate with God in his work. The task at hand is to bring one's whole self (mind, heart,
and soul) to each day's challenges and opportunities where ever they might be found..
Community. In our very secular culture being a person who can acknowledge to herself that
religious faith informs her life can seem quite lonely. Persons seeking integration and the
strengthening of relationships with God, others, and the world want something more than skillful
bracketing off or the suppression of religious sensibilities. This requires a community of support
and encouragement. Our faith communities - going back in time, embedded in the present, and
facing the future - can help to channel and encourage our desire to do what is right and to love
of goodness.
There is evil and sin in the world. We all sin, fall short of the mark. There are systems and
structures in our society that promote evil as well as those that support goodness and justice.
Alone, we might overlook the absurdity of evil and sin. Alone, we might lack the power to
confront the structures or systems that encourage evil. But within a faith community we are
spurred to recognize what we would otherwise overlook and to question what would otherwise
remain buried in ignorance. We can find support and encouragement with others in the pursuit of
goodness. In collaboration we can design and implement practices and systems that foster justice
and free people to do what is right.
Prayer. We are not alone. In fact, we are loved by God into being and empowered in life by
God's grace. By prayer we keep our communication lines with God open and supple. The
growing awareness of the benefits of small groups for faith-sharing and spiritual direction point
the way to fuller, more fruitful prayer opportunities
Moreover, we need to probe our own religious traditions to better know God, God's works, and
God's will for us. Our religious traditions recognize that such study can be a very positive form
of prayer. The same diligence and energy spent in learning what is necessary for our jobs can,
when focused on the history, practices, and grounding of one's religious tradition, produce rare,
enriching fruit.
A Process that Fosters Prayer, Engagement, and Community
I want to describe for you a process that fosters prayer, engagement, and community. The
Woodstock Business Conference set out to help business leaders of faith find the necessary
language and encouragement to create and maintain business cultures that were consistent with
Judeo-Christian values. To do this it initiated a national network of business leaders and
professionals who meet in local chapters. They offer each other a kind of peer ministry in
support of the mission. Over the six years, a meeting process developed. As amplified and
refined, this process has been credited with the success the Conference has enjoyed. This process
embodies a manner of proceeding that is perfectly attuned to the busy life of a business person or
professional. The real issues arising from the concrete experience of group members are surfaced
and addressed in a manner that produces small steps and incremental changes. Over time they
make a significant difference for goodness and reinforcing the right.
This process employed Woodstock groups, now in different eighteen locations, takes place in
monthly chapter meetings running about an hour and a half. The meetings are held at the same
time and place each month and aim to begin and end on time so that these busy people can count
on and set aside the time on their calendars. The meeting format includes certain elements, such
as: introductions, opening prayer, a reminder of the mission of the group, Scripture reading
followed by a period of silence and a sharing of insights on the passage, discussion of the topic
for the meeting led by one of the group, reflection and evaluation of the meeting, and closing
prayer.
We have seen some rather positive results. Let me tell you about one situation that focused on
the question of loyalty. One meeting on the topic began with the biblical account of Judas's fatal
miscalculation. We reflected on the passage in which Judas, wracked with guilt, takes the 30
pieces of silver he gained for betraying Jesus and tries to return the blood money to his new
"friends," the high priests. Of course, they tell Judas to get lost. "Look at how Judas found
himself out of favor with what he thought was his new team," observed one business manager.
Another confessed, "This is the first time I ever felt sorry for Judas. Here he left Jesus' inner
circle to
take up with the establishment. He thought he was accepted because he delivered Jesus to them
as promised. But, his so-called new friends just turned their backs on him."
Before the meeting, they read a Wall Street Journal article about investment advisors who pulled
down huge signing bonuses to leave their firms for new ones -- bringing their customers with
them. Several talked about how they had been bitten by bright young professionals whom they
trained and mentored, only to see them "jump ship" and go to work for competitors. "There
is just no loyalty these days," said one participant. Then, there was the hardest blow. Several
men and women talked about giving the company all they had for 20 years or more (in some
cases losing marriages and families along the way), and then finding themselves out on the street
after the firm was gobbled up in a merger or acquisition. And, one executive confessed to what
sounded like a lapse of loyalty. He was running the star division of an industrial-machinery
company, bringing his people along, getting them "invested" in the work. He promised them a
great future together as members of his team. One day, a headhunter called him and offered him a
lucrative opportunity with a competing organization. He took it -- "I had to consider my family
even if it wasn't altogether fair [to the team]."
A month later, group of business and professional people came together again for their regular
meeting. One CEO rushed in, looking a bit anxious. He had just flown in from a business trip,
and said he hadn't planned to attend that day, but felt he had to, because of what he heard last
month
about loyalty.
All heads turned as he explained that he had just visited his manufacturing company's two
facilities in St. Louis, where he announced a decision to close the plants. Given the bleak
financial assessments, he and his top management felt they had no other choice. They had to stop
the flow of red ink. Nonetheless, he was troubled. After the conversation about loyalty, he
concluded that he personally had to break the news to employees. Most CEOs would have sent
out a memo on Friday afternoon or put a human-resources manager on the plane. But this one
said, "I had to look my people in the eye." Moreover, he was determined to carry out the closings
in the most humane way possible. He made sure the employees were given extended medical
benefits and hired an outplacement firm to help them find new jobs. Where possible, he absorbed
the laid off people elsewhere within the organization.
Woodstock Business Conference members affirm that they have grown morally and ethically.
They say that they can better see the good and evil in their work lives and elsewhere. They sense
that they are empowered to choose and act more responsibly. They call the chapter meetings
their examination of conscience or "monthly moral checkup." They report that they become
"better spiritual leaders back at work." They speak of new insights, sharpened perceptions, and
fresh frameworks for understanding the problems they confront. They find the necessary
encouragement to take innovative and effective action and to initiate needed change.
Conclusion
Whatever our job description might be, we all carry the challenge to bring peace, justice, and joy
to the world. One who is aware of his or her desire for integration and in touch with the inner
drive for the transcendent is called to a way of being - to live and profess the same values and
behaviors in the office, the clinic, the classroom, or the courthouse as in the home and the faith
community. Our religious faith challenges our notions and behaviors by promoting prayerful
reflection and disciplined lives. A religious horizon empowers us to recognize important
questions as our actions affect the lives of those we encounter at work and the structure and
systems embedded in our work itself. We must engage intelligently, reasonably, responsibly, and
lovingly. Alone, it is hard do this well. We are sustained in this time of challenge and change by
our relationships with our neighbors and coworkers, in our faith communities, - and when we
"walk humbly with our God" who we find at work.
James L. Nolan is executive director of the Woodstock Business Conference, a
program of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in
Washington.
