How might we reframe worship so as to engage our work? How might we reframe our work so as to include worship? What concrete actions are we talking about here?
Part 3: Worship for Workers
In this series, we have been exploring the bold claim that worship is essential to bridging the gap between faith and work. Drawing on Matthew Kaemingk’s and Cory Willson’s Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy, we’ve discussed why worship holds distinct promise for bridging faith and work (Part 1) and saw how worship served this function in the life of Israel and the early church (Par 2). In this last installment, it is time to talk details. The question here is what tangible ways can our worship practices build a stronger connection between faith and work. Said another way, what does worship that bridges faith and work look like in our current moment? Of course, there are no “one-size-fits-all” approaches. Christians worship and work in a variety of ways. Therefore, what follows are suggestions designed to stir the imaginations of worship leaders and workers alike as they seek to produce vocationally integrated worship that generates worship-infused work.
“Worship must invite workers to carry their laboring selves into God’s presence.”
Bringing Work into Worship
Worship must invite workers to carry their laboring selves into God’s presence. But how? This is where helpful questions and practical suggestions come in. For example, does the beginning of a worship service position workers to escape their Monday through Friday? Or does visual art or visual cues within the worship space reference (the congregation’s) various forms and places of work? Said another way, do introductory elements encourage congregants to ignore their work week as they “put distractions aside and focus on the Lord,” or do these elements invite the entire person—including their experiences and struggles at work?
Additional diagnostic questions and possible solutions emerge as we move deeper into the worship service. How might pastoral prayers express the challenges many find in their work? Might congregants be invited to identify and vocalize their prayers by writing down their sorrows, triumphs, confessions, and petitions for their work? In turn, what shall they do with these written prayers? Shall they place them in the offering, at the foot of a cross, or tuck them between the cracks of a prayer wall? Is there a way that offertory prayers might relay the lament of the unemployed, or the need for strength and perspective for those in particular vocations, vocational transition, or retirement? What role might a guided prayer play in reorienting workers from workplace disorientation (lament, tears, difficulties, temptations) to a hopeful or even inspiring vision of their work as the place where God wants to move? Are workers commissioned for their service to God with the same honor and passion as missionaries, church staff, or other “ministry” leaders?
“Are workers commissioned for their service to God with the same honor and passion as missionaries, church staff, or other “ministry” leaders?”
At the center of the church’s worship is The Lord’s Table (or depending on your tradition “Communion,” “The Eucharist,” “Lord’s Supper,” etc.). Before partaking, workers might be invited to consider if they have participated in workplace sins this past week. Additionally, as with Israel and the early church, it was the fruit of people’s work that was integrated into worship. Following in this tradition, workers might be encouraged to bring objects symbolizing their work to a service and then invited to leave them at the foot of the communion table as a living offering (Romans 12:1). Having confessed their sins and offered their work, workers might then be charged to approach the table with a posture of reception. For it is only when we stop our striving and rest in God’s finished work that we receive with thanksgiving what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
Bringing Worship into Work
Now, after bringing their workplace sorrows, triumphs, confessions, and petitions, and having been reoriented as workers in light of what God has done in Jesus Christ, it is time for workers to be sent back to the larger work of God in the city. In other words, worship must be brought back into work. After all, worship is not merely an event, it is a lifestyle.
“...Worship must be brought back into work. After all, worship is not merely an event, it is a lifestyle. ”
This movement from the sanctuary to the streets begins before workers have left the Sunday service. Churches can develop “mission maps” that display the various workplaces in the city where “God is on the move.” Moreover, before concluding the service, TTT (“this time tomorrow”) interviews with congregants move ministry from something that happened during the service to something about to happen as God’s people go to work throughout the city. Indeed, having regularly identified and displayed these “kingdom posts,” benedictions charging all to “go forth in love and good deeds” or closing prayers praying workers into their work week can serve as a form of implicit commissioning.
Having been reoriented, charged, commissioned and sent out, worship continues as workers bring discrete acts of worship into their workplace. This can be as simple as a worker showing up a few minutes early to do their devotional at their desk. It can involve an employer offering silent prayer as they walk through the business before operating hour. It might look like an accountant or plumber pausing to offer a brief prayer before they meet with their next client or enter their next work site. Even better, pastors can assist workers by meeting on site with workers and help them come up with a “work-based worship plan” unique to the worker. Again, creativity here is key.
For those seeking a more in-depth treatment, I highly recommend Kaemingk’s and Willson’s Work and Worship. May God grant us creativity as we seek to unleash the critical bridge worship plays in reconnecting faith and work.
Robert Covolo is a Cultural Theologian and Author of Fashion Theology. He is a regular contributor and friend to us here at the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles.