For years, I have read this quote from that book during our teachings on a theology of work:
When work is looked upon as a means to gain, it becomes hateful; it becomes an enemy rather than a friend. We want more out of it than we put in it. Because this is often not the case, we feel society is always in our debt, leaving us with a grudge against it for our work. We try to get through our work to get to our leisure. Sayers says that the "greatest insult the commercial age has offered to the worker has been to rob him of all interest in the end product of the work and force him to dedicate his life to making badly things which were not worth making" (page 137).
Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God. (page 134)
Recently, I decided that because this is such a good quote, I should go to the source and read more. Her whole chapter on work is exceptional.
Sayers believes that the church has had a difficult time taking the lead in economics because it is trying to fit a "Christian standard of economics to a wholly false and pagan understanding of work." Without the proper understanding of work (as stated in the quote above), there cannot be a proper understanding of economics from a Christian perspective.
Sayers states that a "thorough-going revolution in our whole attitude toward work" needs to take place, stating that it should not be viewed as "unnecessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money," but the way in which "man should find its proper exercise and delight so as to fulfill itself to the glory of God." Sadly, the thinking about work as something we do to make money is so ingrained in us that we can barely imagine what it would be to think of the work done. These questions would need to be asked:
- Of businesses, not "will it pay" but "is it good for people?"
- Of businesses, not "what do you make" but "what is your work worth?"
- Of goods, not "can we convince people to buy them" but "are they useful things, well made?"
- Of employment, not "how much per week" but "will it exercise my faculties to the utmost?"
She contrasts how we feel about work with how we feel about hobbies. With hobbies, we freely give our time for the pure satisfaction of the work. There usually will be no economic return from our hobbies. We do it because we find it to be very good. We don't bargain with it. We look forward to doing it and are willing to put in lots of time, including weekends and evenings. Hobbies energize us.
This needs to change. How can we begin to change our view of work to match our view of our hobbies?
Sayers posits that it is the business of the church to help people recognize that work is sacred, that it is as sacred a vocation as a specifically religious work.
She says, "The Church must concern herself not only with such questions as the just price and proper working conditions. She must concern herself with seeing that the work itself is such as a human being can perform without degradation, that no one is required by economic or any other considerations to devote himself to work that is contemptible, soul-destroying, or harmful. It is not right for her to acquiesce to the notion that a man's life is divided into the time he spends on his work and the time he spends serving God. He must be able to serve God IN his work, and the work itself must be accepted and respected as the medium of divine creation.
"In nothing has the Church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and the greater part of the world's intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at the least, uninterested in religion.
"But is it astonishing? How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?...Let the church remember this - that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade, not outside it...The Church wastes time and energy and moreover commits sacrilege in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do Christian work - by which she means ecclesiastical work." (page 138-140, emphasis mine)
But she then gets even bolder:
"It is your business, you churchmen, to get what good you can from observing his work - not to take him away from it so that he may do ecclesiastical work for you. But if you have any power, see that he is set free to do his own work as well as it may be done. He is not there to serve you. He is there to serve God by serving His work...If work is to find its right place in the world, it is the duty of the church to see to it that the work serves God and the worker serves the work." (page 142, emphasis mine)
These are powerful words. The faith/work integration movement has side-stepped the church in many ways, but Dorothy Sayers is bringing it directly to the church.
How I wish the church had heard and acted upon these when they were written. What would be different in our world today if the 2.4 billion Christians had consistently heard a different message about work, along with specific discipleship for their workplace?
Thankfully, we are starting to see a small change, as some denominations are beginning to have workplace discipleship ministries, and pastors are getting out of their offices and visiting people in their workplaces, encouraging them and teaching about the goodness of work. We continue to pray for this message, through the words of apologists like Dorothy Sayers will find a home!
