Participant's booklet for a workshop on the significance of human work. How does Christology help us be BOTH optimistic and realistic about the expectations we have for human enterprise?

2. “...meaningful work is not a luxury.
It determines the greatest issue of all
in economics and modern politics:
how hard and well people will work,
and therefore how successful and
wealthy our societies can become.” Alain de Botton
In his youtube video“How to find a meaningful job” Alain suggests three things are crucial
in securing meaningful work:
1. It must tap into the deepest aspects of ourselves
2. It must to some extent serve humanity
3. It must give us a sense of positively engaging us with others
What do you find attractive about Alain’s 3 keys to meaningful work?
What do you find unsettling about Alain’s 3 keys to meaningful work?
What are the down-sides of so closely equating“our jobs” with“our work”?
I said to myself,“Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that
also proved to be meaningless.2
“Laughter,”I said,“is madness. And what does pleasure
accomplish?” 3
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding
me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during
the few days of their lives.
4
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5
I made gardens
and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6
I made reservoirs to water groves of
flourishing trees. 7
I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in
my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
8
I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired
male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9
I became
greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
11
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything to be futile, and a pursuit of the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11
GRASPING AFTER MEANING IN WORK

3. “The thought once occured to me that
if one wanted to crush and destroy a
man entirely, to mete out to him the
most terrible punishment, one at which
the most fearsome murderer would
tremble, shrinking from it in advance,
all one would have to do would be to
make him do work that was completely
and utterly devoid of usefulness and
meaning.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“In sum, he wards off emptiness by
working for 1.fulfilment, 2.reputation,
and 3.consumption. Work meets the
desires & inclusion systems of his flesh.
The cocktail of fulfilment, reputation,
and consumption is intoxicating -
for a while.” Andrew Cameron
How have you noticed the promise of 1.fulfilment, 2.reputation, and 3.consumption shaping
your own attitudes toward work?
Do you have the same sense the writer of Ecclesiastes did: that work is a pursuit of the
wind? Why / why not?
Do you agree with Dostoyevsky? Why? Why not?
Is any work ever really “completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning”?
FULFILMENT, REPUTATION, AND CONSUMPTION ?
In his book“Joined-up life”christian ethecist Andrew Cameron observes that the writer of
Ecclesiastes also has three keys to achieving meaninful work:
1. FULFILMENT: “My heart took delight in all my labor” (2:10b)
2. REPUTATION: “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me” (2:9)
3. CONSUMPTION “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired” (2:10a)

4. 10
“But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the
land the Lord your God is giving you as an
inheritance and he will give you rest from all your
enemies around you so that you will live in safety.
DEUTERONOMY 12:10
GOD CREATES AND ESTABLISHES ORDER:
IN GOD’S IMAGE: HUMANITY ORDERS
ORDER BRINGS REST:
THE GOAL OF DIVINE & HUMAN WORK
2
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3
Then God
blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested
from all the work of creating that he had done.”
GENESIS 2:2

5. 1. Discuss together - what kinds of work might fit into the following categories?
Recognising Order:
Communicating Order:
Guarding Against Disorder:
Cultivating Order:
2. Can you think of any type of work that could never contribute to the good ordering
of God’s world?
3. Think of the work you do on a monthly basis.
Identify at least one way that your work contributes to EACH kind of “ordering”.
Recognising Order:
Communicating Order:
Guarding Against Disorder:
Cultivating Order:
HOW YOUR WORK BRINGS ORDER - AN EXERCISE
We often speak about work, rest, and play as if they are opposites: as if working and rest are
opposed to each other. We speak about work as a nessecary evil, that allows us to gather the
required resources to later enjoy ourselves. However, we see that in the bible, rest is not the
opposite of work. REST is the state of active living in which everything is ordered just as God
intended: a state of living and acting in which we are untroubled by the striving for some
unattained goal.
How are WORK and REST sometimes harmonised in the contexts of Hobbies & Retirement?
PSALM 132:13-14
13
For the Lord has chosen Zion,
he has desired it for his dwelling, saying,
14
“This is my resting place for ever and ever;
here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
GOOD LIVING: THE HARMONY OF WORK AND REST

6. ORDER BEYOND EDEN:
DISTORTION, FRUSTRATION, RECOMMISSION:

7. For the director of music.
According to gittith. A psalm of David.
1
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5
You have made them a little lower than [God / Heavenly beings]
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
PSALM 8
“ 8
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not
subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject
to them.
9
But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels
for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because
he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste
death for everyone.”
HEBREWS 2:8-9
IS EVERYTHING REALLY UNDER OUR FEET ?

8. JESUS, PSALM 8 AND MARRIAGE
JESUS’ HEADSHIP & THE WORK OF MINISTRY
DEATH AND INJUSTICE

9. “18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope
to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19
and his
incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20
he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
realms, 21
far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked,
not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”
“ 22
And God placed all things
under his feet and appointed
him to be head over everything
for the church, 23
which is his
body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way.”
“4:11
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12
to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13
until we all
reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to
the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
15
....speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him
who is the head, that is, Christ. 16
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
“19
Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both:
As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over
animals.
14
There is something else futile that occurs on the earth: the righteous who get what the wicked
deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.”
ECCLESIASTES 3:19 + 8:14
EPHESIANS 1:18-23 + 5:28-32
EPHESIANS 4:11-13 + 15-16
“5:28
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their
own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29
After all, no one
ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body,
just as Christ does the church— 30
for we are members of his body.
31
‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be
united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’

10. Do you think it is possible to choose between either “work in the world” or “work in the
church”?
Why / why not?
How might Jesus give us an increased confidence in the good/value of human work?
How might Jesus make us more humble and cautious about the future of human work?
WORK IN THE WORLD VERSUS WORK IN THE CHURCH?
“...we might be tempted to conclude that our work
would be effective in proportion to the durability of its
products. Making the terracotta army would be better
than making gingerbread men for the children’s party,
planting a tree better than cleaning a room,
manufacturing the plastic bags that hang around forever
caught in the branches of trees better than making
biodegradable ones.
...we should hesitate before
reaching such a conclusion..
because we know the deeds
valued most have often been
those whose future effects
the actor could know nothing
about.”
Oliver O’Donovan,
“Entering into Rest” p112-114, 2017.
WORK THAT FADES VERSUS WORK WHICH LASTS?

11. It is worth us considering how we can avoid the
disillusionment that gripped the teacher of
Ecclesiastes in his work. What habits of mind
might we be able to use in order to overcome
feelings of futility in work?
1.“My heart took delight in all my labor” (Ecc. 2:10b)
We’re created to work - to bring order to the world around us. However,
death and wickedness are beyond our ability to control. Don’t be surprised
when our work suffers the ravages of time and injustice. Practice the habit
of thankfulness and delight in the knowledge that Jesus has proven his
ability to redeem us and our world from the grip of both death and
injustice - this hope will strengthen us to endure in our work.
2.“I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me” (Ecc. 2:9)
Human work is deeply connected to our identity. However, it should be our
identity that shapes our work, not our work that shapes our identity.
We have been made in God’s image that we might bring good order to this
world. We have become one-flesh with Christ so that we might share in the
glory of Jesus’triumphant work. We share in Jesus’own glorious reputation.
Remind yourself of this regularly, so that your work doesn’t end up defining and
limiting you.
3.“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired” (Ecc. 2:10a)
The teacher was ruled by the desires of his eyes. He couldn’t say no to them!
He served them.
However much we might tell ourselves that living for consumption is an
expression of freedom, it is ultimately a form of slavery: our desires are NEVER
satisfied with the hard work we put in to satisfy them.
Instead of slaving away for our always ungrateful desires, remind yourself that
God sent his Son to finish the job we couldn’t finish: he even shares the
glorious“spoils”of the completed job with us!
THREE HABITS OF MIND FOR CHRISTIAN WORKERS:
RE-