God's Week Has 7 Days

Preface

by Wally Kroeker

When I was a child, I learned that God worked six days and then took one day off. By the time I got into the workforce, something had changed. God owned the Lord’s Day, and the rest were ours—five for our jobs and one for yard work.

A few years into my career, I began to wonder if I was being called to “Christian service.” To me, that meant working for a religious organization. It never occurred to me that being a “secular” journalist could qualify as Christian service.

When I joined the staff of a Christian magazine in central Kansas, I was somehow thought to be in the “Lord’s work,” while my neighbors—farmers, store clerks, real estate agents—were not. I would serve the Lord from eight to five; they would have to wait till after five. I was called, they were hired.

It took many years for me to grasp that all our work is service to God, and as such, is equal in value. As the Reformer William Tyndale said, “There is no work better than another to please God; to pour water, to wash dishes, to be a cobbler, or an apostle.”

I had grown up in a church committed to “the priesthood of all believers.” So I should have known that wherever I worked, God was there, wanting me to “press the kingdom” into my daily tasks and relationships.

A good part of this journey of awareness took place when I became editor of The Marketplace, a magazine for Christians in business. It is published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates, an organization committed to the integration of Christian faith, business, and economic development. Neil Janzen, then president of MEDA, encouraged me to reflect and write about the grace notes we find between our work and our faith.

The thoughts that follow represent part of my journey to see the workplace as an arena of spiritual activity. Many of these pieces appeared in different form in The Marketplace. Some were written when I was editor of The Christian Leader, the magazine of the U.S. Mennonite Brethren Conference.

I do not claim to present a seamless garment or a comprehensive theology of daily ministry. These are Monday morning musings (one for each week), snippets of life seen through the lens of Christian faith. They highlight some areas where faith, ethics, obedience, compassion, and communi­ty intersect with the world of daily work and com­ merce.

The Christian life goes far beyond Sunday. All the days of the week belong to God.

—Wally Kroeker

Editor, The Marketplace

Winnipeg , Canada

Read the current God's Week column...

God's Week  |  Preface  |  Forward  |  About the Author