The only Christian work is good work done well. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is Church embroidery, or sewage-farming. As Jacques Maritain says: 'If you want to produce Christian work, be a Christian, and try to make a work of beauty into which you have put your heart; do not adopt a Christian pose.'
When I was a student (more than 40 years ago) I used to attend St Alphege's Anglican Church in Pietermaritzburg, which at that time was a thriving Christian community. A new priest came to the parish, and complained that people were not doing enough "Christian work", meaning arranging flowers for the altar, baking cakes and so on. Several people objected, saying that for many people their Christian witness in the secular world of jobs, education and working for NGOs and even political parties was their Christian work.
2 comments:
Thank you for the link Steve- point well made!
Yes - all to often we religious persuade ourselves that the real religious work is done inside the institutional church. But of course Jesus sent us 'into the world'and not 'into the church'>
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