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.
Our twelfth Reimagining Work gathering, focused on public policy in Los Angeles, brought together distinguished guests and panelists for an inspiring evening of insights and collaboration.
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.
The Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles is excited to welcome 8 new participants into our 2024-25 class of the Framework Fellows Program.
Please take a few moments to learn a little about this wonderful group of fellows and the unique offerings they will each bring to the cohort this year.
What is the longest you have had to wait for something? When I ponder this in my own life, it becomes clear to me as a believer that I’m called to wait upon the Lord and that waiting will often be difficult. I also know that we all are to make known to God the desires of our hearts. We can only do this because the Lord is our strength and our hope.
What comes to mind when you think about salt? Salt, at its core, serves two primary purposes: it is both a seasoning agent used to enhance and draw out the best in certain foods and also a preservation tool that hedges against mold and decay. But have you ever considered the way in which your vocation, the work you do each day, might fit into these categories of seasoning or preservation?
How might our attitudes change towards our vocations if we saw them not as a means of self-fulfillment but of God-glorification? Instead of falling into the plight that Dorothy Sayers highlights of using our work to serve ourselves, what if we sought to serve the work the Lord has graciously invited us into?
Whether a book, the news, or someone’s facial expression, we all read things regularly in our daily lives. But have you ever considered reading your work? This type of reading requires discovering wisdom about what practices and principles best apply to your unique job. This skill of reading our job can lead to flourishing and prevent impoverishment.
What would our work look like if job-shaming was replaced by job-praising? What would it look like to help others see “every honest labor” as “contributing to the perfect fellowship of God’s kingdom?” Our theology of work must expand if we truly seek for it to be “on earth as it is in heaven.” (Mt. 6:10).
As we read through Paul’s words to the Ephesians in chapter two, I’m reminded of the precious and dignifying status that comes with being Christ’s workmanship. We see that Christians are not only ascended to a place of glory by Christ, but that we have been, in Christ, “created for good works … that we should walk in them.”
We’ve all seen it growing, used it, and may even have found ourselves offering our own labor and services as part of it. The Gig Economy. While great strides are being made in the industry, it also begs the question for faithful Christians on how the benefits can be weighed over concerns of destructive impact to flourishing in God’s economy.
