Creative and Redemptive Work, Seeking Balance
Lord You are the Creator and You are the Redeemer. By the Word of Your mouth You created the universe,
the earth and all that is on it, all life and all celestial bodies. You declared it very good, an extension of
Your creative power and Your perfection and holiness. In pride and idolatry, Adam and Eve rejected
Your perfection and plunged Your creation into sin, darkness, chaos and
brokenness. So You sent the perfect
embodiment of Your Word, Your only begotten Son, the Man Jesus Christ, to
redeem Your fallen creation by His death, resurrection and ascension to glory.
Lord in Your mercy ~
hear our prayer
You charged Adam and Eve with being fruitful, multiplying,
subduing and ruling over Your good earth.
In the fall, both they and we inherited pain and toil in the fulfillment
of that charge. You charged Your holy
Church on earth with making disciples of all nations, teaching and baptizing in
Your Triune Name; You also promised pain and persecution in this life which is
only now-not yet in its redemption to holiness, as we wait for the fulfillment
of all things in the world to come.
Lord in Your mercy ~
hear our prayer
Bless us in this life on earth. We struggle to be fruitful and multiply; we
struggle in our human relationships: in faithfulness and compassion in marriage
and to nurture and protect the lives of children and of all vulnerable
people. We experience the brokenness of
sin in all domains of human life: in fields full of weeds and machines that
break; in misunderstandings between coworkers and arguments in marriage; in
physical pain, disease, the effects of aging and the curse of death; in
misplaced energy and failed innovations, in good intentions gone wrong and good
intentions endlessly delayed. We are
tired. We grieve. We make honest mistakes and we choose
selfishly; we reap the consequences of our own sins and the sins of
others. Each day is full of the pain of
relationships and the painful toil of cursed ground.
Lord in Your mercy ~
hear our prayer
We are persecuted for loving as You love, for pursuing
Godliness, faithfulness and righteousness. We struggle with the charge to teach
and baptize, to proclaim Your Word of hope and salvation; we are full of doubt
and fear, we are timid and ashamed. We
know that we are only jars of clay and we fear being crushed, abandoned,
despairing and destroyed; we doubt Your power and Your love for us. We neglect Your Word. We vacillate between shallow self-reliant
self-righteousness, and conviction that we have out-sinned Your grace.
Lord in Your mercy ~
hear our prayer
You promise all of Your Children forgiveness, salvation, and
reconciliation through Christ Jesus leading ultimately to eternity in Your
presence. Preserve us, those You have both
created and redeemed, by Your mighty hand and by Your strong Word. Fill us with Your Spirit, a Spirit of wisdom
and not of fear; a Spirit of a sound mind and not of doubt. Carry us to Your eternal kingdom, to the
rooms You have prepared for us, where we will sing eternal praise to Your power
and strength, Your wisdom and honor and glory; and where there will be no more
hunger nor thirst, where the Lamb that was slain will be our Shepherd forever. AMEN.
God is both Creator and Redeemer. As we are His creation, declared very good
and redeemed to His service, we share in works of Creation and Redemption. Not to the scale, power nor with the
eternally-resonant impact of the works of our God, but we are allowed to share
in His work. The two major charges or commissions
of Scripture echo this: in Eden, Adam
and Eve (and by extension, all of humanity) were charged with fruitfulness and
with ruling the Creation; as Christ left His disciples and ascended to Heaven,
He charged them (and us as His church on earth) with the task of making
disciples through teaching and baptism, by water and the Word.
I don’t want to inappropriately conflate the spiritual work of
Christians and of the Church with the vocational work of each person within the
world. I work in a very secular job with
no direct, obvious spiritual connection; I also respect the bounds placed on me
such that my job is not a place where I can unduly influence others by directly
proselytizing. But my work remains my
mission field, the place where I serve God and my neighbor and therefore the
place where I am allowed to share His work of Creation and Redemption.
I will never create out of nothing the way that the Words of
God’s mouth created the universe. I will
also never redeem from sin the way that the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ,
redeemed the world by His death on the cross.
But I believe that nearly every human activity is some combination of
creation and redemption, and that this is true even of those who are not
followers of Christ—creation and redemption reflect the spectrum of life on
earth, and in some sense are the “yin and yang” of a complete and well-rounded
life.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. Now the earth was formless and
empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let
there be light,” and there was light.
God saw that the light was good….And God said, “Let there be an expanse between
the waters….” And God said “…let dry ground appear….then God said, “Let the
land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees….”….And God said, “Let there
be lights in the expanse of the sky….”.
And it was so…God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the
day and the lesser light to govern the night.
He also made the stars….And God said, “Let the waters teem with living
creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky….”. And God said, “Let the land produce living
creatures according to their kinds….”. Then
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule
over…all the earth….” God blessed them
and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the
ground.” (Genesis 1: 1-28, selected)
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in His blood.
He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He
had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—He did this to demonstrate
His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies
those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans3: 21-26, emphasis added)
Creation and Redemption.
To intentionally, dramatically oversimplify things, I consider nearly
all (maybe completely all?) human activities to fall by some percentage into
one or both of these categories. We are either making things or are fixing things; creating things or restoring and repairing them. And we
like the creative stuff way more than we like the redemptive stuff. Creating is a joyful and positive thing;
redemption requires actively working to repair the work of the fall, to address
sins, failures, and brokenness.
Redemption is always an uphill battle, something that empties more than
it fills.
The activity that might create
a baby—lots of fun, something we enjoy and want to do regularly (and praise
God, He has given us this good, creative act!).
But the redemptive act of birthing, raising, loving and disciplining a
child—that’s hard work, something we may eye suspiciously or outright
avoid. Planting seeds to grow a garden,
transplanting seedlings or young plants—what fun! But weeding, watering, pruning, and controlling
pests—not so much, that is work; and the plants whither and die. Hobbies like painting, playing music or
playing a sport are fun and easy when we embark upon them as a simple
distractions; the discipline of perfecting a craft, relentlessly honing a new
skill, receiving and applying tough feedback on our mistakes—this is where they
become work, where we must redeem our mistakes and bring them toward the perfect accomplishment of the task at hand. Some jobs are much more
creative—being an artist or a musician or designer or carpenter—but even those
jobs involve redemptive work: the
pulling of misplaced nails, the scraping of canvas or the scrapping of a design
followed by reattempts to realize the creative vision, to address the
weaknesses or mistakes. Other jobs are
much more redemptive—being a parent, supervising and managing employees, being
a healthcare provider to the injured and sick—but there remains an element of
creation as well, that of fostering the growth and development of another
person or tackling a challenging disease or persistent management issue with creativity and innovation.
I hear generic advice given on how to have a well-balanced,
meaningful life and I believe that one thing missing in that discussion is this
idea of creative vs redemptive work. “Find
a hobby! Do volunteer work!” These suggestions are given as ways to add
meaning to life, as if our primary vocations are not a source of meaning—but that’s
a different discussion. I do think that
hobbies and volunteering are excellent initiatives and would never discourage
someone from finding time to pursue something of value. Looking at these two large and common
categories—hobbies and volunteering—I believe that they too represent the
dichotomy of creation and redemption. Where
I think we make a mistake is choosing blindly one or the other, or both, and
wondering why they are not satisfying or why they may become a source of
stress. I suggest an introspective
approach, first evaluating the nature of one’s primary responsibilities and
then adding to them to find balance.
Do you find that you are engaged primarily in creative work? Then the redemptive work of “volunteering”
may be rewarding and invigorating to you.
But if you are already engaged in highly redemptive work—an exhausting
job managing recalcitrant people; or the never-ending redemptive demands of
parenting—then adding “volunteering” to your to-do list may simply add stress and
anxiety. Do you find that you are primarily
engaged in redemptive work? Then choosing
a creative “hobby” may be a source of renewal and joy. But if you are already engaged in highly
creative work, adding a creative hobby may not add challenge and satisfaction.
I believe this also pertains to the work itself, that we
should evaluate the nature of our work and the most demanding and time
consuming tasks and then intentionally seek work-related activities that create
balance. Is my work primarily
redemptive--managing, leading, correcting, guiding, fixing, repairing,
cleaning? Then are there tasks that are
creative which could be prioritized, not because they come with the same
urgency as other required tasks but because they create balance and give
renewed energy and enthusiasm. Is my
work primarily creative—growing, crafting, designing, composing? Then are there tasks with a redemptive caste
which can be integrated into my day, which add depth and impact and increase
personal satisfaction.
The redemptive work is definitely “harder”—more emotional
and physical energy is required to fight and prevail against the dramatic
effects of the fall. It’s hard work to
parent sinful children; it’s hard work to clean up after a hurricane or
earthquake; it’s hard work to treat cancer or set a bone; it’s hard work to
keep a house clean or be the neighborhood trash-collector. And as such, in our sinfulness, we may seek
to avoid these difficult, redemptive tasks.
We gravitate toward the more creative tasks—or, frankly, to activities
that are neither creative nor redemptive.
And if something is neither creative nor redemptive, what good is
it? Shopping for food and clothing and
other necessities for my family is somewhat redemptive—all of those outgrown
clothes and empty shelves do not benefit my family—and also somewhat creative—selecting colors or trying
new recipes or exploring new ingredients.
But mindless, entertainment-driven shopping (and the immense, capacious
and comprehensive network of venues which seek both to inspire and meet my “needs”)
seems to have only the illusion of creation and redemption. I have no desire to learn the creative work
of sewing, so I will buy a new bedspread to “redeem” the ugly, outdated (but
still functional) current bedspread. How
very different this is from the creative work of sewing a quilt or blanket, the
work which may involve the redemption of old and otherwise unusable fabric, or
to resolve and repair a threadbare blanket with the purpose of giving warmth
and comfort. I have no desire to learn
how or take the time to fix a broken machine, to sharpen an old knife, to
repaint an old bike...so I just buy a new one and chuck the old into a landfill,
a pattern which is neither creative nor redemptive but is instead wasteful and
ultimately unsatisfying. The emphasis on
consumerism, on buy-buy-buy, on constant newness and rapid rejection of what
was recently new and has become outdated not through true obsolescence or
irreparable brokenness, but only by preference and style—this way of life is
unsatisfying because it is neither creative nor redemptive. But it is easy, and we become trapped by ease
as a surrogate for rest, a substitute for the satisfying ache of a difficult
job done well.
I am suspicious of those whose work is neither creative nor
redemptive, but rather creates the false sense that outdated things are broken
and in need of redemption, or that purchasing something is the same as creating
it. The rise of internet personalities
who exist only to market style and encourage consumerism –and the associated
dissatisfaction—seem to epitomize this phenomenon. Also much of the entertainment industry,
especially what might be called the individual-entertainment industry—that which
does not foster and develop human relationships, or at least human compassion—could
also be lumped into this category.
The desire for perpetual childhood, for perpetual avoidance
of commitment and responsibility, seems also to stem from a rejection of redemptive
work in favor of more creative—but often simply more consumptive—activities. There is also an associated inward-focus that
is neither creative nor redemptive. As a
Christian, I may well find myself poured out like a drink offering, exhausted
and spent by both creative and redemptive work.
Time for renewal and regeneration is essential; recognition and respect
for this is essential, we must find balance and take time for rest and
recovery.
But this is not a call for
complete selfishness. “Me time” and
selfish indulgences cannot create the balance of creation-redemption, but we
are tempted to use it as such. (Part of
this emphasis on self-care seems to me to stem from a disrespect for the body,
the notion that our bodies are only machines to be used—and this results in a
machine that is abused, that breaks down and demands repair. But that also is another discussion.) I believe that to combat this neither-creative-nor-redemptive
time-suck, we must look for balance in our daily lives between creative and
redemptive work: exhausted parents
raising sick and recalcitrant children, find time for personal and shared
crafting or creating or building; managers beaten down by obstinate, lazy or
foolish employees, find time to mentor and develop those receptive to the offer
of personal growth. Farmers and
gardeners and shepherds and ranchers, balance the weeding and the fixing and
the finding with the birthing and the planting and the eating.
Life is hard, there is no question of that. The world is broken and fallen into sin; on
this side of eternity, it will remain so and works of redemption will be
demanded of us every day. The laundry
needs to be done, the trash taken out, the spilled milk cleaned up, the
argument repented of, the machine repaired, the disciplinary action taken and
the paperwork filed. But life is also
full of opportunities to share in the blessed, creative work of God: seeds to be planted, bread and cookies to be
baked, houses to be built and rooms to be painted, clothing and machines to be
designed and made. Ultimately as
children of our Heavenly Father, both created and redeemed by His Word, we know
that our time in this fallen creation is limited and our eternity will more
than make up for—more than redeem—the difficulty of our brief lives. And our Creator and Redeemer, our Good
Shepherd and Master Gardener, will be with us in this world and usher us into
the next.
1) What in your life -- both personal and work related -- is redemptive and what is creative? Are there tasks that are both?
2)
What do you currently spend the majority of your time and energy on,
creative or redemptive activities? How might you add something (a
hobby, volunteer time...) to your life to add balance, to help renew and
energize you as well as give you satisfaction and joy in work.
3)
Consider the Creative and Redemptive works of God. In the new heaven
and new earth, all of Creation will be perfectly and completely
Redeemed, brought to a right and joyous relationship with God through
the sacrificial death of Christ. How does this perspective take the
pressure off of your human efforts in this world? How does this
perspective also add a sense of value and eternal worth to your efforts?
Comments
Post a Comment