We Can Work It Out

Sunday, Sep 04 2011

Speakers: Rev. Laura Loving

Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 119:33-40, Romans 13:8-14

From the colorful cult movie “Office Space” to the black and white comic strips of the hapless Dagwood or the feckless Dilbert, American pop culture has often characterized the workplace as the cubicle of doom; the Underworld of the Underemployed; or the last stop on the inevitable train trip to “selling out to the Man”. The missing stapler, the demanding Mr. Dithers, the practical jokes played on the person in the office pool: These caricatures of the world of work continue to reinforce the drudgery and dullness of the routine of labor. In the same vein, depictions of managers and CEOs offer us grotesque portraits like Gordon Gekko of “Wall Street” or the Dragon Lady of fashion, Miranda Priestly in “the Devil Wears Prada”. Rhythm and Blues and country music continue to take their jobs and… show us their despair, wailing in minor keys with twanging guitars.

Work: Who needs it, anyway?

Last time I checked, we all need it. Work keeps the world spinning; pays the mortgage; sends our kids to college or ekes out enough income to get by in tough times. The absence of work is a blight on our economic security. The inaccessibility of work is a source of class struggles or a reflection of racism. Young people may dream of having a job to achieve some financial independence from their parents; People laid off or downsized are squeezed out of the American Dream. Retirees may breathe a sigh of relief to leave the work world behind OR may look wistfully back on work as a defining role that is missing in their lives. Any way we cut it, work (or the lack of it) dominates our collective consciousness, and the National Holiday of Labor Day invites us to reflect on the role of work in our lives.

 

One method used in recent times to lend more meaning to the world of work is the use of the Business Mission Statement. Maybe Dilbert’s problem is that he lacks direction. Maybe Dagwood doesn’t understand the purposiveness of Mr. Dither’s project. Maybe Miranda Priestly isn’t sharing her personal mission statement with her employees. But a clear mission statement can be a clarifying, galvanizing tool for a successful workplace.  

In a 1998 article on How to write a Mission Statement, Janel Radtke poses the following three questions as guiding principles for an organization :

1. What are the opportunities or needs that we exist to address? (the purpose of the organization)

2. What are we doing to address these needs? (the business of the organization)

3. What principles or beliefs guide our work? (the values of the organization)

Understanding the PURPOSE, the BUSINESS and the VALUES of an organization should set us on the right path to understanding our mission. Do these principles automatically guarantee meaning? Not necessarily. But what if we apply these questions to our work here in worship this morning?

What if those of us gathered here on this holiday weekend were to imagine or affirm that our work, in addition to being our livelihood or our source of income, also included the work of discipleship; the task of being the church; the labor of love involved in following Jesus Christ. First of all, we’d probably want to unionize, because this discipleship thing involves a lot of overtime! Belonging to a church, being a Christian, A Presbyterian, and a member of this particular community of faith is a full time job. It’s a lifetime job! But what is our mission statement in this lifelong career of being a Christian, exactly?

 

I’d say that we gather here every Sunday to remind ourselves just what the mission statement is. Each week we hear different Scripture readings, reflect on their meaning, and enact the rituals of Baptism and communion, the dedication of offerings and corporate prayers.

Our purpose? To glorify God,

Our business? To live out the Gospel.

Our values? To love one another.

 Oh, we could make it much more complicated than that. And we do. Through congregational mission statements, church by laws, annual budgets and website and newsletter, we say who we are. But do we ask ourselves, do you ask yourself, day in and day out, what’s my mission as a child of God? What work am I doing to be faithful?

Now, I want to be careful in a congregation full of Calvinists. The last thing we need is to make longer lists of work to do to get it right. We know that grace alone, faith alone, love alone redeem us.  But our way of being in the world, our incarnation of the love of God, is our mission statement, and worth working on this morning.

Our guidance has already been articulated in words from the Hebrew Scriptures (I hope you have your reminder strip from the Psalm) and in the letter of Paul to the Romans. Paul writes: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; you shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10) Notice how today’s lectionary juxtaposes this declaration of the love law with the long list of laws from the Mosaic covenant in Exodus. While the earlier laws helped define a nomadic people with an identity rooted in faith, the laws of Christian love distill obedience into the commandment to love.  While the words from Exodus set the narrative for the Passover meal in Jewish practice, the words from Romans remind us why we are here to celebrate the Lord’s supper: So that we will remember and reenact the love of Christ for all people. Our commandment as we come to the table today is a mandate; a mission statement:  Love one another as I have loved you.

Yes, this is the table where we work out our lives together; the anvil on which we hammer out our identity as a people of faith. It does not involve punching a time clock or paying union dues or climbing a ladder or enduring a cubicle. It may strengthen you for those things, though! The work here involves an eye opening, arm stretching, and circle-widening celebration of “working things out”. Together.

 

In the Beatles song entitled, “We can work it out”, the bridge offers this wisdom: Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fightin,g my friend. I suggest that that’s a synopsis of the words said at this table:

We can work it out.  This is the joyful feast of the people of God.

Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.

 This is the table of reconciliation. Lay aside your differences;

Love one another as I have loved you.

 

Jesus meets us at this table with a mission statement of ultimate purpose, with business for us to do, with values for us to embrace.  And I know that we have the tools to do this work, as well.

Over here on this ladder we see some tools of the trades that might be celebrated tomorrow on Labor Day:  an apron, a hammer, a paintbrush, a briefcase, a telephone, even the stepladder itself. All quite useful for the work of our hands. But there are two symbols here as well, which give us the tools to do the work of our hearts.

A loaf of bread, a symbol of the Body of Christ.

A chalice, a symbol of the Covenant of New Life.

The bread and the cup: That’s what we need to work it out. They are our mission statement. Bread that is broken to feed the hungry, the cup that is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. What else could we possibly need?

 

These symbols clothe us in the armor of light. These symbols give our lives purpose. They prepare us for the work of everyday. For we know what God requires of us; to seek justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly. ” Consider that as a mission statement. Or consider the words of the poet Mary Oliver, who suggests a way to pray and discern one’s mission:

“The Summer Day” excerpt”:

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

Into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

How to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

Which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and to soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life?

Yes, we can work it out. Together. At this table. Dilbert and Dagwood, Miranda Priestly and even Gordon Gekko. All of us, the hapless, the feckless, the happy and the fearful. This is the joyful feast of the people of God. So listen here for your own mission statement  for your one, wild, precious life, even as we recite words together to affirm our common mission in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Benediction from the Tao:

Live in a good place.

Keep your mind deep,

Treat others well.

Stand by your word.

Make fair rules.

Do the right thing.

Work when it’s time.