In the last month or so I have been rather taken by this idea of us working in partnership with God. While it’s not a new idea, it’s one of those thoughts that has become “new” again to me. Given that we start a new sermon series on God in the workplace on Sunday (and that Jordan has been asking me when I’ll be writing another blog post…) it seemed like a good time to put some thoughts down.

I remember when I started work at at a certain newspaper approximately 6 years ago. Not long into my first morning there there was a (verbal) altercation between the deputy advertising manager and the editor over the layout of the paper. Think of every movie or TV series you’ve seen that has had a scene taking place inside a newspaper office – it was pretty much exactly like that. It was loud, there was liberal use of words starting with “f” and it was done, pretty much, in good fun.

Why do I mention that story? I do it because that was the time in my life where I became okay with being a Christian in a secular environment. Prior to that, my Christianity was something I kept pretty quiet. In high school, I had friends who were nominally “Christian”. They went to church with their parents on a Sunday, but during the week there was little impact of their Christianity in their day to day life. I learned to manage my faith in the same way. Something that I was okay to talk about on Sundays or in youth group or with my church friends but not really with the people I worked with and saw on a daily basis.

I didn’t want to be the fun sponge, or to be ridiculed for what I believed in.

Back to that certain newspaper….

There are two things I learned while working there. The first was that people are actually more accepting about faith than I thought they were. I don’t know if it’s this postmodern world we’re living in, but in general, people are okay with faith. After all, whatever works for you, right?

The other thing I learned was that people have had more encounters with faith than you think they have. Being okay about talking about the fact I went to church, or had to take time off to help out with youth group events (note: not, rampant, strident “evangelism”) opened up conversations about faith and God that I didn’t expect, often with people whom I didn’t expect to have those conversations with.

What does that have to do with partnership with God? Simply just that I think God wants to be a part of our workplaces/schools/homes and that I think he wants to partner with us in bringing his presence to those places. Not as the loud and proud voice of condemnation or judgement. But as the one who listens before they speak, who acts out their beliefs, but above all, as one who demonstrates the love of Christ for the messy, broken people of the world we inhabit.

I read a great quote recently, it was so great that I even wrote it down. It is “Christianity is essentially a life to be lived.” I would add to that that it’s a life to be lived, in partnership with Christ. (Although perhaps that’s obvious from the fact that Christianity is involved).

Christianity is not, cannot, be a church service we attend, a Bible we read (but do not obey) or a theology we adhere to. It cannot be inactive.

One final point I’d like to make before I close off this ramble…the odds are we are probably going to get this wrong more often than we get it right. We will all say the wrong thing, behave in the wrong way and mess up. If I’m being honest, I’ve done that more times than I can count. But the great thing about the Christian life is that grace and mercy are inherent in it. There is always a way back. There is always the opportunity to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again. And as you do that, I pray you hear the voice of God whispering to you “I’ve got this. How about we figure it out together?”