The spirituality of work starts with the premise that every job is - or should be - an opportunity for service and for exercising creativity. Every now and then we need a reminder that service, doing God's work, takes place outside the walls of the parish. Here is a reminder, taken from On-The-Job Prayers by William David Thompson.
A few years ago a young taxi driver drove me to John F. Kennedy Airport on Long Island. "So, rabbi" he asked while we sat in heavy traffic, "what do you say to a Jew like me who hasn't been in a synagogue since his bar mitzvah ceremony?"Thinking moment, I recalled that in Hasidic lore, the ball aqalah (wagon driver) is an honored profession. So I said, "we could talk about your work."
'What does my work have to do with religion?"
"Well, we choose how we look at the world and life. You're a taxi driver. But you are also piece of the tissue that connects all humanity. You're taking me to the airport. I'll go to a different city and give a couple of lectures that might touch or help or change someone. I couldn't have gotten there without you. You help make that connection happen. I heard on your two-way radio that after you drop me off, you're going to pick up a woman from the hospital and take her home. That means that you'll be the first non-medical person she encounters after being in a hospital. You will be a small part of her healing process, an agent in her re-entry into the world of health. You may then pick up someone from the train station who has come home from seeing a dying parent. You may take someone to the house of the one that he or she will ask to join in marriage. You're a connector, a bridge builder. You're one of the unseen people who make the world work as well as it does. That is holy work. You may not think of it this way, but yours is a sacred mission.'
Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, Being God's Partner
Of course, sometimes we find ourselves in a situation in which our job is not in any sense a service to others. When that happens the spiritual problems are of an entirely different dimension and some serious discernment of spirits on the corporate level may be required.
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