On Sunday I worshipped at the First Presbyterian of Tulsa, an energetic downtown congregation hosting the conference. It was evident that the Senior Minister had attended part of the conference when he arrived at the main point of his sermon--a public confession of his personal failure and the failure of the church to help the congregation make the "Monday Connection" between their faith and the world beyond the church campus. He then vowed that this would change.

I was moved by his vulnerable confession and wondered how many other church leaders and congregations are blind to Christ's call to the laity to follow Him in the Church Scattered? How many congregations are in denial about the importance of this call and fail miserably to equip and disciple the laity for this mission and ministry? What can church leaders and congregations do to remedy this oversight?

Books and Stories

I learn much and find great encouragement in reading and hearing simple stories of active faith in the arena of daily work. I am on the look out for spiritual principles and guidelines in stories of ordinary Christians who speak about their real experiences and sources of strength and hope in the workplace. My suggestion to congregational leaders is: become active and innovative in encouraging the telling of these stories.

A lesson of Christian work place ethics came to me in a story told by one of the three-man team working in a raisin bread bakery. Ben, Ted and Hank had worked silently for over four hours at the raisin washer when Ted suddenly stopped the machine. "What's the matter?" Hank asked.

"A stone went through," Ted said.

"How do you know?" Hank asked.

"I heard it," Ted said. Ben and Hank grumbled out skeptical comments questioning Ted's ability to hear with the machine running and the raisins pouring out.

"I just hear it," Ted said, and added, "We have to find the stone. If a lady gets it in her bread, she could break her tooth on it and we could be sued." He pointed to a large bathtub-like container full of raisins and indicated they must all go through the wash cycle again until the stone was found. Objection was senseless and millions of raisins went through the wash cycle again.

Just when Ben and Hank had given up all hope of finding the stone in the mountain of raisins, something clinked. The stone bounced off the wall of the washer and Ben removed a small purple-blue stone the size of a raisin. Ted took the stone and gave it to Hank with a big smile.

Application

The story meant a lot to me on the day I received a call from the main customer for our optical filters saying our units were falling to pieces for some unknown reason. We finally discovered that the production run for an entire year had self-destructed because the epoxy we purchased from an international petrochemical company was defective. After praying and reviewing all options, the choice was painfully obvious. Ted taught me that "sometimes the raisins have to go through the washer again". After more agony and prayer, I gave the order: rerun the year's production at no cost to our customer or our supplier.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, theologian, priest and author, brought the raisin story to the church. In his journal, The Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery, Nouwen (Hank) describes his day in the bakery with the two monks, Brother Theodore (Ted) and Brother Benedict (Ben). Although a few months have passed since Nouwen's untimely death, I must express my gratitude for his venture into the world of daily work (a part of the spiritual life of the monastery). Nouwen was impressed, not only by Brother Theodore's alertness, but even more by his determination to find the stone. I will remember Nouwen as a spiritual leader who helped me strengthen my obedience to Christ in the work place by telling Ted's story.

But Theodore's training for "ministry in the bakery" remains a mystery. Perhaps as a monk hearing St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries read each day he remembered Chapter 57 for craftsmen: "If any of the work of the craftsmen is to be sold, let those through whose hands the transactions pass see to it that they do not presume to practice any fraud." The time has come for congregations to develop, learn and practice the rules for discipleship in the Church Scattered and make the Monday Connection.

Journal Questions:
1. What can your congregation do to encourage the "Monday connection?"
2. What resources do you find helpful in making ethical decisions?
3. Can you think of a specific link between your Christian practice and you work?