Sermon Series: "Faith at Work: Being a Spiritual Person in a Secular Job"

"WHEN JESUS MEETS DILBERT"

This week...we're going to recognize that, regardless of who we are, most of us do something for a living...or have at some point...and there is a certain need for all of us to learn how to stay centered in the midst of the chaos that can exist in the working world. Thus, today...in part 2 of our series...we will examine what can happen "when Jesus meets Dilbert."

Now surely...if you ever look at the comics in the newspaper or walk into a book or stationery store, you have encountered "Dilbert." Dilbert is a cartoon character and his world has come to symbolize, in our culture, the absurdity and chaos of employment at the brink of the millennium.

Dilbert is an engineer; he's kind of a goofy looking guy with a white shirt and pens in his pocket and a tie that just won't lay quite right. He works out of a cubicle with a lot of other "cubicle-dwellers" plus an evil cat who's in charge of Human Resources, a sarcastic dog who handles training, a host of varyingly dysfunctional co- workers and a boss who epitomizes the theory that the truly inept are put into management.

In the introduction to his book, The Dilbert Principle, the creator of the strip, Scott Adams, writes: "Most of the themes in my comic strip "Dilbert" involve workplace situations. I routinely include bizarre and unworldly elements such as sadistic talking animals, troll-like accountants, and employees turning into dishrags after the life-force has been drained from their bodies. And yet the comment I hear most often is: 'That'sj ust like my company.' No matter how absurd I try to make the comic strip I can't stay ahead of what people are experiencing in their own workplaces."

Yikes! We desperately need to introduce the calm of Jesus into the chaos of the "Dilbert" world! But that's not easy to do. Often our natural behavior under the pressure of needs and expectations is to adopt "The Martha Reaction."

In our reading this morning from the Gospel of Luke, we heard the story of Martha...a woman with good intentions who gets so caught up in the "doing" that needs to be done that she neglects the need to "be" with the Lord. Martha looks around and sees so much that she thinks needs to be "handled" and she complains that her sister Mary isn't jumping into the fray with her. Jesus responds, "Martha, Martha! You're anxious and upset about so many things....Mary has chosen better...."

This reading teaches a very valuable lesson to all who find themselves sucked into the "busy-ness" of life and work: it is possible to lose one's soul in the pursuit of highly useful activity. In the "Dilbert" world of the workplace, we too need to hear Jesus' voice saying, in essence, "Don't buy into the chaos going on around you. Staying centered on me is more important that any work you have to do."

So how can we learn to stop "The Martha Reaction" to the demands around us and learn to stay centered in the midst of chaos? Well, I believe there are least three very practical things we can do...and none of them is "quit working!" (Sorry!) But these things can help you to bring Jesus into the Dilbert world around you.

1. Make a place for God in your day.

2. Make a space for God among your work. and

3. Make the face of God visible to those around you.

First...make a place for God in your day. Preferably, first place. Put a priority on your time with God. That's so basic that it's sometimes the easiest thing in the world for us to forget! Yet...ifwe don't intentionally make sure that we give God our first and best attention, we'll quickly discover that our days fill up and there's no room left for what really matters.

One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, "O.K., time for a quiz" and he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"

Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes!"

The time management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is this jar full?"

By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," one of them answered.

"Good," he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand into the jar, filling the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Then he brought out a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "And what is the point of this illustration?"

One eager beaver raised her hand and said, "The point is no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things into it!"

"No," the speaker said, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."

What are the big rocks in our lives? Our health? Our relationships with loved ones and friends? Service? God? Or the never-ending demands of work? Work doesn't have to be eliminated...but it shouldn't be the first rock put into the jar.

Now, I know. It's not easy to discipline ourselves to make sure that God gets our first and best time each day. And if it'll make you feel better, even those of us who work in Christ's church often have trouble with this. I'll even go out on a limb and bet that Troy Perry himself sometimes gets so caught up in a demanding schedule of "doing" for God that he fails to make enough time to "be" with God. None of us is immune to "The Martha Reaction." We have to remind ourselves to always put a priority on our time with God. Make a place for God in your day.

Secondly, make a space for God among your work. In reflecting on that story of Martha and Mary, we realize that we mustn't abandon our spiritual lives and give in the unending demands ofthe workplace and adopt a "Martha" life of unreflective busy-ness. But at the same time we aren't being asked to forfeit the workplace and adopt a totally monastic, contemplative life with which Mary is associated. Instead we need to recapture the idea of a mixed life that combines the two...that joins the activity of Martha with the reflectiveness of Mary. I believe that's a spirituality that, in this Dilbert age, we all desperately need to practice.

One way to do that is to find ways to have sacred places and moments throughout your work day. If you have a desk or a cubicle, display some small item... it doesn't have to be a cross or any other overtly "religious" article...but something that will remind you of your connection to God. On the first night of our Wednesday "alternative" worship service, I gave out small stones on which the word "Joy" had been written. Anything like that can suffice. Or perhaps outside your workplace there's a pretty spot by some trees or a flower bed where you can intentionally take five minutes at lunch or on a break to go and just be still before the Lord. You can keep a special reading in your wallet or personal calendar... something that will help you feel renewed and centered whenever you take a moment to read it.

My partner, Lorraine, is a 6th grade teacher at a school up in the county that is...shall we say...a bit "challenging." She shared with me recently that on her desk, beneath a paperweight, she keeps a card on which is written just two verses of Scripture. But every morning, around 8:15, just before those 28 11-year-olds start piling in the door...yelling and laughing and hitting and throwing...she reads these words from Psalm 51 in order to quiet and center her own spirit:

"Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."

That helps her to remain centered in the midst of astounding chaos throughout the day. What can you do to make sure that you plan to stop and periodically "connect" with the Spirit through the day? Do something. Make a space for God among your work.

And possibly most important of all, if you are ever going to bring Jesus into the midst of the Dilbert world in which you work, then do just that...bring Christ in. Make the face of God visible to those around you.

It's a well-worn but still valid saying: "You may be the only Jesus some people ever meet." Especially given the amount of time that Americans spend working. I'm not saying that you should be "evangelizing" on your boss' or company's time...that's not advisable or ethical. But living a life that is obviously balanced and integrated between work and faith...having a willingness to be a little kinder than most...to speak wisely and in a timely way that's tailored to the needs of others...will be noticed - and may well spark questions and conversations about your faith that can be addressed at lunchtime or after work.

I told you last Sunday that all of us, as Christians, have a "vocation" - a calling from God - to bring Christ into the world around us. When we learn how to combine our spiritual life into our work life then we discover the greatest means we may have to fulfill that cailing...to achieve the "Great Commission" of taking Christ into all the world. In the Dilbert world of the workplace that's not always easy to do...but as Christians we are obligated to always try.

I recently read a wonderful article by a woman who articulates this principle well. Mary Dunne started her career as an attorney in general and workers' compensation practice. Her first case, as the new associate in her firm, was a divorce proceeding. After receiving Mary's standard lawyer's "we'll see you in court" letter, her client's estranged husband committed suicide. Her firm had to handle the estate. Mary says, "I had to minister to my client, a woman who not only blamed herself but was accused by her in-laws of causing the suicide ofher husband. Law school," she says, "taught me how to handle the necessary paperwork, but it was my faith that helped me to do the important work."

Eventually Mary Dunne progressed in her career and became an administrative law judge. She says, "I applied for the position as the natural progression of my career. I'm happy I did, but the fact that I consider my work a calling has not lessened the difficulty of balancing my Christianity with what often appears to be the impersonal bureaucracy necessary to maintain a state agency."

"My daily focus," Mary says, "is on what I consider to be the first steps in being a Christian lawyer: courtesy and competence. I expect this not only from those who appear before me, but from myself as well. There are so many people coming through my courtroom that it would be easy to simply label them as a number on the calendar. But I do my best not to do that and, for those times when the going gets tough, I have taped on the back of my nameplate the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

'Let nothing bother you
Let nothing dismay you
Everything passes
Patience gains all
God is enough.'

That prayer," the judge says, "reminds me throughout the day that it is with God's support that I can fulfill my call to be Christ-like in all that I do."

Jesus is more than willing to enter Dilbert's world. And Christ can...if you will make a place for God in your day...make a space for God among your work...and make the face of God visible to those around you. Do those things and I promise you: the next time your boss asks you to stop working so that you can compile a status report on your progress...you'll find yourself centered and peaceful and smiling...thinking of Jesus and Dilbert! Amen.

MCC St. Louis - Check Us Out!

This page hosted by Get your own, Free Homepage