Here, Robert shares a prayer from our recent Reimagining Work event. Join us in prayer over our public servants and the important work they do for the flourishing of our communities.
Labor Day Rest
Labor Day is seen by most Angelinos as the last gasp of summer; a three-day weekend serving as summer’s conclusion—the bookend to Memorial Day’s launch of summer. It is well known that Memorial Day honors those who died in the armed forces defending our country, but less is known about the significance of Labor Day. Is it a secular holiday—a materialist nod to the role workers play in building the economic prosperity of the United States? Or should we include Labor Day among holidays Christians take note of?
Read on to hear more as Robert Covolo explores why Christians have good reason to enter Labor Day with celebration.
A Prayer for Students
The Myth of Work-Life Balance
I’m just coming out of a very intensive season of work with many overlapping activities and needs. We recently experienced several mountaintop-like signs of God’s goodness and fruitfulness through our work this past year with great encouragement. Included in all this, however, is a sense of exhaustion and burnout. I need to slow way down, reflect, get some deep rest, experience beauty and joy, be with family and friends, and listen well to what God is calling me to in the coming season.
Read on to hear more as Steve Lindsey explores why work-life balance is a myth we mistakenly chase.
Working with the Risen Christ
Easter is upon us. For many Americans, Easter means little more than bunnies, candy eggs, and Sunday brunch with the family. For those of faith, Easter is a day to dress up for church and celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. In short—for believers and unbelievers alike—Easter is associated with Sunday. But what does Easter tell us about our Monday? In other words, does Easter inform our work life?
Read on to hear more as Robert Covolo explores the picture the Gospel of John is offering us of what it means to live as followers of the risen Christ at our work.
Christmas Cleanup
Modern Americans might love “Dirty Jobs,” but the show would have found little traction in the Ancient World. We would find the same “consumer trend” when it came to religion in the ancient world. The gods of the Ancient Near East were noted for their lives of luxury. In stark contrast to these gods is the God of the Bible. Read on to hear more as Robert Covolo explores God’s dirty jobs and the ultimate expression in the birth our Savior.
A Prayer for Biblical Equity at Work
Earlier this month at Reimagining Work Vol. 11: Biblical Equity at Work, Myesha Reynolds, Founder of Equity Lens Consultants guided attendees through a conversation on understanding equity from a Biblical perspective—specifically in the workplace—and how can we confront misconceptions about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Read on as Myesha shares with us a prayer of encouragement and blessing when navigating this topic in our lives.
Worship for the Weekend – Part II
My surfing career reached its zenith in graduate school wherein my school schedule afforded surf most days. To top it off, I would celebrate the end of a semester by taking a solo surf trip in my VW camper up the coast. I met a lot of interesting people as I hit various surf spots from LA to Portland. It was on one of these trips while catching some early Sunday waves, I invited a guy I had met to go with me to church. His response was classic, “Nah brah, the ocean is where I worship.”
In my last blog (see “Working for the Weekend”) I explored work’s relationship to the weekend. There I argued that we were made to embrace both work and rest as those made in the image of the God who works and rests. In passing, the blog touches on the fascinating and rich Biblical concept of the Sabbath. And here in Part II, Robert Covolo concludes his series with this second installment’s sights set on what the Bible teaches about the Sabbath.
Working for the Weekend? – Part I
In 1981 the rock band Loverboy immortalized the line “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” The line was written by band member Paul Dean. According to Dean, one Wednesday afternoon he noticed the beach was empty and concluded, “Well, I guess they're all waiting for the weekend." It took well over three decades for the band Dirty Heads to respond to Dean’s lyric with their own infamous line, “A-a-ay, I'm on vacation every single day 'cause I love my occupation.”
Do we work for the weekend? Or do we make our vocation our vacation?
Read on as Robert Covolo begins a two-part series on the sabbath, starting with a personal account of seeking rest in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Worship for Workers
I grew up in a nominally Catholic home. My family rarely darkened the doors of the church, save Midnight Mass. This singular experience of church stood out in my young mind. Nowhere else did I find myself in an entirely other-worldly space. The architecture, the art, the strange crowd reciting things I didn’t know—it all struck me as odd. But most striking were the priests dressed in their ornate vestments. Who were these ominous people?
What comes to your mind when you think of a priest? Do you conjure up long beards and clerical collars? And what comes to your mind when you think of the work of a priest? Do you picture someone hearing a confession, performing a Mass, or standing before an altar with a sacrifice? For most of us, a priest is an austere individual, and their work is about as different from our own as we can imagine.
But is it? What if I told you that every Christian is a priest? Read on as we dive into how God’s people can learn to reclaim their priestly callings for Monday through Friday.
Making Peace With Work
I like to read. But I am a slow reader. This has left me with a growing stack of unread must-reads which sometimes feels like a metaphor for other areas of life. Elements in our work lives can feel similar. We often wish much of our labor could be different, better, or more.
I recently slowed down and re-read Kara Martin’s Workship: How to Use Your Work to Worship God. The resources she provides help keep us moving forward in balance with all that God desires, especially in our work lives. Read on as we explore her insights and how they provide a very realistic overview of how to have an integrated life of faith and work.
A Prayer for the Film Industry
Last week at Reimagining Work Vol. 10: Film in LA, our moderator and CFWLA Advisory Board member, Caleb Monroe, artfully walked our panelists through a conversation on how the work of those in film echoes the work of the Creator and how filmmaking itself provides ways for believers in the industry to serve + love their neighbors. Read on as Caleb graces us all again with a prayer of encouragement and blessing.