work

Relationships in work and study – Service on Jan. 28

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Relationships in work and study

Dorothy Sayers wrote in an essay “Why work”: “In nothing has the Church so lost Her hold on reality as in Her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. (…) How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?” The nine-tenth of his life is the secular vocation, the daily work or study.

That is why we pay attention to work and study at ICF, and coming Sunday from the perspective of relationships in work and study. I think we all know how valuable relationships in work and study can be, but also how frustrating relationships can be. We will study this theme mainly from Ephesians 6:5-9, a text about slaves and masters. So, the question is: can we learn anything at all from an old text about slavery for relationships in work and study today?

We look forward to see you and learn more about this in our Service, 12:15pm.

Henk Polinder

work that is meaningful!

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How can I be sure that my work is meaningful?

Do you believe that your study/work is meaningful? Whether you think about your job, or search for a job, or invest in your family, it is difficult, when you experience hardships, set backs and frustrations! How to be sure that it all makes sense in the end? Can you believe that fruits are lasting? And how to be sure that –after all- death is not the end of everything?

It is important to search for a meaningful life and a transformed world. But what actually are good reasons for it? And there is an important reason for it: The apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (ch. 15) gives moving arguments how we can be sure that our work is not in vain. The main reason he gives is: the resurrection of Christ from the dead. There are compelling reasons to believe that and if this is true, then there is a real perspective for our life and our work: although we will experience that it is very incomplete, and we had hoped to do much better, it still finds a place in God’s new world, and it will be complete, transformed by his grace!

This is the last sermon in the series ‘Christian@work’. Welcome in the ICF-service, Sunday 30 April, 12.15 hrs in de Génestetchurch, Oude Delft 102.