In the beginning there was work
Our study group just started reading through the Old Testament. You know what struck me when we read through Genesis? God created us to work. No sooner did God form Adam (Genesis 2:6) than he “put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” You’ve heard that before. But sometimes we miss the order. Often we believe that work was handed down by God as punishment for disobedience (Genesis 3). But no — God created us to work, then sin entered the world. We had the perfect world but then it all changed. Enter computer crashes, viruses, technical difficulties and all those other thorns. Culture has accelerated this warped thinking that work is our punishment. Commercials and movies ingrain the idea that the 5‑6 days of work are just to get us to the weekend. In our attempt to put a Christian spin on it we further miss the point. We somehow think the workweek is our step to get to the real worship on Sunday morning. Where did things get so out of order? When did we believe that somehow volunteering on a Wednesday night with the youth is important enough to overlook the 40‑50 hours of opportunity in the office? I love getting involved in opportunities to serve in the church, but I think we could all use reminding that in the beginning God created us to work. When the world was still perfect, before sin entered the world, our primary act of worship was working in his garden. Even God modeled that for us by spending six days working and finally resting on the 7th. So tomorrow, I head off to work. To care for his creation. His kingdom. Hopefully I can remind myself that how I go about it might be the greatest act of worship I do all week. — Justin Forman
“I want a Mennonite to handle my money” “Are you a Mennonite?” the elderly woman asked Matt,* a financial planner and longtime MEDA member. “I want a Mennonite to handle my money.” Matt met Deborah a number of years ago when she came to him to help manage her investments. Ten years later, when she was doing her Will, she asked for his advice so she could leave a portion of her estate to charity to offset her tax liability. “When I told her of the work of MEDA, and the fact that it was run by Mennonites, she chose it as the recipient of her bequest,” Matt says. Deborah was not a Mennonite, but she had fond feelings for them. During a rough spot in her early life, authorities had taken her young son and placed him in foster care while she got her life back together. The foster family, who were Mennonites, treated her son well, and Deborah was deeply gratified by the wholesome environment he enjoyed. She liked the family’s values and what they had done for her child. Over time her life picked up, and she remarried and got her son back. But she never forgot the caring Mennonites. Nearing the end of her life, she wanted part of her estate to help others in the same spirit that her family had been helped. She wanted Matt to find a good home for her money, just as the Mennonites had given a good home to her son. * Names have been changed to protect confidentiality
The Marketplace January February 2010
