So, can we help people see their daily work—jobs, parenting, grandparents caring for grandchildren—as holy, sacred work? Can we help them claim their life’s work as ministry, as spiritual practice?
Furthermore, how can our programming support this? I’m a fan of ministry that takes ministry beyond the church building to reinforce God is present in neighborhoods, pubs, coffee shops, playgrounds, social media—anywhere people spend time and gather.
How can we enable people to volunteer remotely, via phone, smartphone or laptop, when they can grab a few spare moments between activities or when the kids are down?
Do we need to have an alternate worship time outside of Sunday morning? And what would that look like?
Godless Harvard
When I served at Harvard’s Memorial Church, my mentor Peter Gomes used to talk about the controversy that erupted at Harvard in the middle of the 19th century when Harvard stopped requiring its students attend chapel. People mocked the decision and gave it the school the moniker “Godless Harvard”—but many people continued to worship, and they knew why they were there, why they practiced their faith—not because they were required to, but because they wanted to—and Harvard continues to have a vibrant, worshiping community today.
We risk making the same quick judgment in our time—that this is just godlessness all around—for we too would be wrong.
While the Church and its clergy may have been displaced in our culture, God has not.
God is where God has always been—embedded in the lives of God’s people. So, let’s stop complaining about Sunday morning sports and start helping make the connections between their faith and their daily work, their vocation.
