Working in the Spirit

[Jonathan Evens]

Bible reading

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1. 26 - 28)

Meditation

“Research shows that the best moments of our lives don’t come from leisure or pleasure. They come when you’re immersed in a significant task that’s challenging, yet matches up well to your highest abilities. In those moments, you’re so caught up in an activity that time somehow seems to be altered; your attention is fully focused without your having to work at it. You’re deeply aware, without being self-conscious; you’re being stretched and challenged, but without a sense of stress or worry. You have a sense of engagement or oneness with what you are doing. This condition is called ‘flow’, because people experiencing it often use the metaphor of feeling swept up by something outside themselves. Studies have been done over the past thirty years with hundreds of thousands of subjects to explore this phenomenon of flow.

Ironically, you experience it more in your work than you do in your leisure time. In fact, your flow is at its lowest ebb when you’ve nothing to do. Sitting around doesn’t produce flow. This picture of flow is actually a description of what the exercise of dominion was intended to look like. God says in Genesis that we’re to ‘rule’ over the earth, or exercise ‘dominion’ (See Genesis 1: 26, 28). We often think of these words in terms of ‘dominating’ or ‘bossing around’. But the true idea behind them is that you’re to invest your abilities to create value on the earth, to plant and build and write and organise and heal and invent ways that bless people and cause God’s kingdom on earth to flourish.

The psalmist says, ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain.’ Flow is part of what we experience in that partnership and, in that, God in turn uses flow to shape us. Bezalel experienced flow when he carved wood, David when he played the harp, Samson when he used his strength, Paul when he wrote a brilliant letter, Daniel when he ran a government, and Adam when he gardened. If other people report to you, one of the great spiritual acts of service you can perform is to ask whether they’re experiencing flow in their work, and help them experience it even more. When you’re working in the flow of service to God, when you’re experiencing flow in activities that enhance and bless the lives of others – you’re working ‘in the Spirit’.”

(http://www.ucb.co.uk/word-for-today-31287.html)

Prayer

Creator God, we thank you for those moments when we experience flow: when we’re immersed in a significant task that’s challenging, which matches up well to our highest abilities; when we’re so caught up in an activity that time somehow seems to be altered; when our attention is fully focused without our having to work at it; when we’re deeply aware, without being self-conscious; when we’re being stretched and challenged, but without a sense of stress or worry; when we have a sense of engagement or oneness with what we are doing; when we’re swept up by something outside ourselves. We pray for more of these moments and for more of these moments this week.

May we experience flow in our work this week and know that we are being swept up by your Spirit.

We pray that the work we do this week will in some way create value on the earth. Show us how to invest our abilities to plant and build and write and organise and heal and invent ways that bless people and cause God’s kingdom to flourish here on earth. May we also share this great spiritual act of service by asking those with whom we work whether they are experiencing flow in their work, and by helping them experience it even more.

May we experience flow in our work this week and know that we are being swept up by your Spirit.

Give us the attitude that whatever we do, we do it with a thankful heart, as though You were our boss. Bring us alive, as we work with that attitude. May we recognise that when each of us is doing what You designed and called us to do, the world around us is enriched. May we acknowledge that all skill is God-given, and that you invite us to live in conscious interaction with the Holy Spirit as we work, so that we can develop the skills You give us.

May we experience flow in our work this week and know that we are being swept up by your Spirit.

Blessing

Planting, building, writing, organising, healing, inventing ways that bless people and cause God’s kingdom to flourish here on earth. May those blessings of almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

 

Priest for Partnership Development - St Martin-in-the-Fields (tel: 020 7766 1127, email: jonatha...@smitf.org) and St Stephen Walbrook (tel: 020 7626 9000, email: pri...@ststephenwalbrook.net) Secretary - commission4mission (http://www.commission4mission.org/) Director - Sophia Hubs Limited (http://sophiahubs.com/) Twitter: @jevens / @commission4miss Blog: http://joninbetween.blogspot.co.uk/ Book: 'The Secret Chord' - http://www.thesecretchord.co.uk/ Meditations: 'Mark of the Cross' (http://www.theworshipcloud.com/view/store/mark-of-the-cross-pdf) / 'The Passion' (http://www.theworshipcloud.com/view/written/the-passion-the-passion)