Faith at Work: Phillip Brooks
I had not thought meaningfully, if at all, about using my faith at work Why should I? I am in the finance business, negotiating deals; arranging financial partnerships. It’s hard core; counting money, spending money, borrowing money, playing with money, making money. By association, I am part of an industry the led to one of the greater financial/economic meltdowns in history. Jesus didn’t like money changers – remember? No need for Christianity in my work. I served Christ on Sundays.
Over the past few years, I have gone from being a self-proclaimed “Master of the Universe” to suffering through two company collapses, being unemployed, dealing with huge uncertainties. All the while, I felt at ease, in part because of my conversations with my priest I had learned more about my faith and found my faith was at work. This faith awareness had begun to transform me from seeing my work as a career to seeing it as a craft.
CAREERISM is a life pattern. The most powerful CAREER pattern is competitive ambition, an intense form of self-involvement. But, as time goes by, ambition can become viral invading most spheres of life, from family to dreams, and even digestion.
I was probably like this, but, didn’t recognize it until I was fired. There was emptiness, little peace of mind.
I turned more to my faith – to shake Careerism. I began to look at myself more as a craftsman. Craftsmen are people who love their work for its own sake. The rewards are intrinsic. They offer a skill or a product to benefit others, to improve a situation, to make a life better. Jesus was a craftsman.
Instead of doing deals for the sake of doing deals and the accompanying financial rewards, I began to project my business as rendering good service, offering guidance and skills to the satisfaction for those using it. Those with whom I work treat me more like a craftsman than a careerist. To that I say -- Amen.
And the church, it is my base camp for spirituality and recharging my life.
Over the past few years, I have gone from being a self-proclaimed “Master of the Universe” to suffering through two company collapses, being unemployed, dealing with huge uncertainties. All the while, I felt at ease, in part because of my conversations with my priest I had learned more about my faith and found my faith was at work. This faith awareness had begun to transform me from seeing my work as a career to seeing it as a craft.
CAREERISM is a life pattern. The most powerful CAREER pattern is competitive ambition, an intense form of self-involvement. But, as time goes by, ambition can become viral invading most spheres of life, from family to dreams, and even digestion.
I was probably like this, but, didn’t recognize it until I was fired. There was emptiness, little peace of mind.
I turned more to my faith – to shake Careerism. I began to look at myself more as a craftsman. Craftsmen are people who love their work for its own sake. The rewards are intrinsic. They offer a skill or a product to benefit others, to improve a situation, to make a life better. Jesus was a craftsman.
Instead of doing deals for the sake of doing deals and the accompanying financial rewards, I began to project my business as rendering good service, offering guidance and skills to the satisfaction for those using it. Those with whom I work treat me more like a craftsman than a careerist. To that I say -- Amen.
And the church, it is my base camp for spirituality and recharging my life.
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