Evangelizing at Work - Help from Psalm 89
Evangelizing at work has always puzzled and somewhat eluded me. We've discussed it here numerous times. Just discussing it doesn't always lead to action, but I find it does help incline the mind and heart to taking action, or at least a start.
In his excellent series, "Learn Your Faith" published this year in The Wanderer, in recognition of the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict, Don Fier points out the primary obligation we all have to evangelize, spread the Gospel, or Good News, of Our Lord Jesus Christ. According to Pope Paul VI, "Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the the Church, her deepest identify." So, as the Church Militant, we become the bearers of the Good News to the rest of the world. We must evangelize, and since most of us spend many waking hours at work, this logically includes doing so at work.
Ah, but how to do it?
Well, it continues to present a challenge to me, that is, I continue to believe I can do more. In this spirit I pray for guidance and grace to do more. And as I frequently urge you to read Scripture each day, occasionally pointing out specific times when doing so resulted in a prayer being answered, or some specific guidance being provided in response to some need or request, here is yet another example. As I was praying for guidance in exactly how to go about evangelizing, I came across Psalm 89, which begins (with selected verses following):
The Psalm pulls no punches: "proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations." Nothing here about proclaiming only when you're not at work, or proclaiming to everyone except the people you work with. I'm no Biblical scholar, but I suspect "all generations" means, simply, everyone.
Psalm 89 continues:
God created the world - everything in the world. And everything, seen as part of His creation, praises God. We are His creatures. We too praise God. There's nothing here about praising God only at certain times, in certain ways, to a limited audience. The mere fact that we are created by God puts us in the category of His Creation praising the wonder of the Lord.
Of course, this doesn't mean we storm about in the workplace singing hymns or Gospel songs. It's doesn't mean we stand up and begin praising God or preaching the Gospel when we're suppose to be doing our job. But ask yourself whether your words and actions during your time at work indicate that you know that not only are you God's creature, but that you know that all the people you work with are God's creatures too - and that you treat each and every one of them that way.
More next time...
In his excellent series, "Learn Your Faith" published this year in The Wanderer, in recognition of the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict, Don Fier points out the primary obligation we all have to evangelize, spread the Gospel, or Good News, of Our Lord Jesus Christ. According to Pope Paul VI, "Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the the Church, her deepest identify." So, as the Church Militant, we become the bearers of the Good News to the rest of the world. We must evangelize, and since most of us spend many waking hours at work, this logically includes doing so at work.
Ah, but how to do it?
Well, it continues to present a challenge to me, that is, I continue to believe I can do more. In this spirit I pray for guidance and grace to do more. And as I frequently urge you to read Scripture each day, occasionally pointing out specific times when doing so resulted in a prayer being answered, or some specific guidance being provided in response to some need or request, here is yet another example. As I was praying for guidance in exactly how to go about evangelizing, I came across Psalm 89, which begins (with selected verses following):
I will sing of thy steadfast love, O Lord, for ever;
with my mouth I will procliam thy faithfulness to all generations.
For they steadfast love was established for ever,
thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens...
The Psalm pulls no punches: "proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations." Nothing here about proclaiming only when you're not at work, or proclaiming to everyone except the people you work with. I'm no Biblical scholar, but I suspect "all generations" means, simply, everyone.
Psalm 89 continues:
Let the heavens praise thy wonder, O Lord...
The heavesn are thine, the earth also is thine;
the world and all that is in it,
thou hast founded them...
God created the world - everything in the world. And everything, seen as part of His creation, praises God. We are His creatures. We too praise God. There's nothing here about praising God only at certain times, in certain ways, to a limited audience. The mere fact that we are created by God puts us in the category of His Creation praising the wonder of the Lord.
Of course, this doesn't mean we storm about in the workplace singing hymns or Gospel songs. It's doesn't mean we stand up and begin praising God or preaching the Gospel when we're suppose to be doing our job. But ask yourself whether your words and actions during your time at work indicate that you know that not only are you God's creature, but that you know that all the people you work with are God's creatures too - and that you treat each and every one of them that way.
More next time...
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