Seeing the divine in everyday tasks

Book calls readers to reflection, rituals to find spiritual meaning in our labors

Working in the presence of God: Spiritual practices for everyday work By Denise Daniels & Shannon Vandewarker (Hendrickson Publishers, 2019 216pp, $22.00 US)

In the beginning, God was a worker.

God invited the first humans to be co-creators with God, modelling work as a good, positive activity meant to provide meaning and structure to life.

Circumstances have often made work seem otherwise. Multiple studies indicate that most employees are neither fully engaged nor content at their jobs. A sizeable minority hate their daily toil.

For people whose daily interactions with co-workers are an important part of finding joy in their labor, layoffs or work from home dictums due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic have eliminated the stress relief provided by collegial joking. In some cases, there is heightened stress due to uncertainty over finances.

In their thoughtfully argued book, Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual practices for everyday work, Daniels & Vandewarker remind readers of God’s original intention for work. They suggest a series of habits and rituals to help us maintain or regain that orientation.

“Spiritual practices open our eyes and tune our ears to where we may have missed God working,” they write.

“If God cared enough to show up at wells and in mud, then certainly he can show up in spreadsheets, commutes, meetings and performance reviews.”

Eleven chapters broken into three sections cover multiple aspects of the spirituality of work.

The first section, on orienting work, covers the liturgy of commute, workplace as holy ground, surrendering the calendar, and reading the scripture at work.

The middle portion, engaging in work, explores affirmation of calling, gratitude and celebration, confession at work, and lamenting work.

Part three, reflection on work, includes discussions of solitude, a prayer of examen (a way of reviewing the day with God) for work, and ceasing from work through Sabbath.

The chapters include scriptural explanations around each theme, stories of how individuals relate to or reinforce each suggested practice, and questions for reflection or discussion.

Sections on gratitude and celebration, lament, and Sabbath are

particularly intriguing.

Keeping a gratitude journal, the authors note, provides physical and psychological benefits. “These people (who write journals) sleep better and have better mental and physical health than those who do not document the things for which they are thankful.”

They also encourage people to take a service-oriented mindset around work, to seek “to bring out the best in others, not just in yourself.”

Discussion of lamenting work is the most poignant section of the book. The authors draw on examples of lament from the biblical examples of 1 Samuel, Psalms, Job, and the gospel of John. They note that while lament is not common in the Western world, in Scripture it was frequently a way people expressed themselves to God.

Lament, they note, is not a whine. “Rather it is a prayer that opens us to God’s response, input and correction to the situation.”

They also encourage the practice of solitude, being alone and away from distractions in order to hear God’s voice.

The book’s concluding section, dealing with Sabbath, provides useful reminders and advice for our always-on society. God, who rested out of a sense of abundance, cares deeply about both our work and our rest, the authors note.

As is the case with many volumes which challenge the ways we tend to live, Working in the Presence of God is a book that will require rereading and contemplation over time.

The prescriptions offered within are well worth considering and attending to. — MS