What if work was never the thing to survive on the way to your real life — but the very medium through which you offer yourself to God?

In the finale of our "Get(ing) Out of Work" series we consider a few of the ancient, yet ever new, practices that the church has used to help God's people stay in step with the Spirit during the daily rhythms of work and rest, rest and work.

Drawing on Irenaeus and Hans Urs von Balthasar, the message recovers an old picture of the human being: not merely shaped clay, body and soul, but body and soul and spirit together — the complete person, bearing not just the image but the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). To be spiritual is "by definition to be moved by the Spirit of the Logos," Christ our Beginning, our Salvation, our End.

This reframes work entirely. With Dorothy Sayers, work is "not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do… the medium in which one offers oneself to God." We do not offer our work to God; following Paul in Romans 12, we offer our whole selves — as a living sacrifice — through it. So we stop striving to get out of work the identity, prosperity, and purpose it was never meant to supply, and instead receive from it the life we're made for: the good work God "got ready for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).

Then the practical question: how? The answer is ancient and unglamorous — habits. As Annie Dillard wrote, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives… A schedule defends from chaos and whim. They are a net for catching days." Three habits to structure an ordinary day:

• Enter the day with the Lord's Prayer for Work — before the phone, before the lunches, perhaps before you're out of bed: "I give my whole self to you through the work you have given me this day."
• Recollect yourself midday with a centering prayer from Psalm 139 — breathing in, "I am…"; breathing out, "…still with you."
• Exit the day through the Examen — asking the Spirit where your work was out of step with Jesus, where it was in rhythm, and letting him lead you into rest.

How we start matters. How we stay centered matters. And how we exit our labors into the rest of the night, made new, matters just as much.

Reflection: Where was your work out of step with Jesus today, and where was it in rhythm with him?

Scripture: Acts 2:1-3, 38-39 · Psalm 104:23-30 · Genesis 1:26 · Romans 12:1 · Ephesians 2:9-10 · 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Voices/Quotes: Annie Dillard, The Writing Life · Dorothy Sayers · Tom Nelson, Work Matters · Irenaeus of Lyons · Hans Urs von Balthasar

Christ City Church is a small faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas. We gather Sundays at 10:10 AM at 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218, in the chapel @ LHB.