Abstract
Over the last three decades, North American Christians have explored the intersection between faith and work, lamenting the divorce between the two and seeking to reconcile them through essays, books, sermons, curriculum, conferences, and centers. The thought seems to be that if we think differently about daily work in light of vocation, or creation’s goodness, or eschatological hope, or whatever doctrine, then we will find faith and work more reconciled and integrated in our lives. It is, to be sure, an important effort since Christians spend so much of their lives working. But what sets apart Kaemingk and Willson’s Work and Worship is its contention that “theologies of work need to be practiced, embedded and embodied in communities of worship” (4). In other words, Christian faith and daily work are reconciled in our lives not by thinking but by corporate worship. They argue that worship has formative power for God’s scattered workers and that through worship our work is to be offered back to God, whose work for us in Christ makes all of it possible.
Kaemingk and Willson’s argument is developed in three parts. The first part establishes foundations for joining worship and work, the most important of which is the simple truth that “the people in the pews work” (39). Borrowing an image from Nicholas Wolterstorff, they speak of ecclesial life like a heartbeat with a diastolic and systolic rhythm. That is, in worship workers are gathered and transformed, and then sent out to participate in God’s mission (17–25). When workers are sent out toward the world, they become priests whose parishes are their workplaces (35–59). (The significance of the authors’ emphasis on the priestly calling of workers is not to be missed, since it corrects an overemphasis on royal calling in similar literature). Because workers engage in God’s mission as Christ’s priests during the week, they need to bring their work to worship on Sundays. When workers are gathered to God in worship, they offer their daily work to God through praise, repentance, lament, petition, and offering—all while recognizing God’s work in Christ on their behalf (20–22). At its best, our patterns of worship and our recognition of God’s work for us inform and transform our work in the world. But Kaemingk and Willson warn that corporate worship can fail workers, particularly when worship is, among other things, professionalized, individualized, spiritualized, and privatized (27–34). When celebrated without care, worship damages the unity of work and worship.
The second part of their argument is roughly half the length of the book. In it, Kaemingk and Willson find resources for reconnecting work and worship in the liturgical practices of ancient Israelites (as reflected in the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Prophets) and early Christians (as reflected in the New Testament and early church fathers). While their reading is informed by a wide range of biblical scholarship, they read Scripture as theologians interested in how these biblical texts help contemporary worshipping communities address the disjunction between work and worship. The evidence they bring forward that worship was inseparable from daily work is formidable, and their exposition of “the holy integrity between labor and liturgy” in these sources is often illuminating and, at times, astonishing (65). For example, the authors contend that it is through distinctive worship—rest from work on Sabbath, offerings of bread, wine, and oil, agricultural feasts celebrating the fruit of workers’ labors—that the Pentateuch forms within Israel an economy different than that of Egypt (69–88). Similarly, the worship of the early church involved liturgies that moved workers and their labor toward God, as seen in the Lord’s supper, stational liturgies, and offerings (137–90). The authors read the Psalms as a “songbook for workers” (90), by which recognition and thanks for God’s work “provide an interpretive frame for the work of our hands” (91). All these resources bring forward the indissoluble unity between worship and work in generative ways, but the most extraordinary claims for those who assume labor and liturgy are disjointed come from the Prophets (particularly Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah) and the early church. Simply put, corrupt work corrupts worship. The Canons of Hippolytus and Didascalia apostolorum suggest that the early church would not catechize, not baptize, not celebrate communion with, and not accept the offerings of workers who did not renounce work characterized by dishonesty and idolatry (148–54). Noting the apathy in contemporary western churches about just work, Kaemingk and Willson wonder, “What does our lack of concern about these things reveal about us?” (154).
The third part of the argument sets forward “tangible principles and practices for developing worship that is vocationally conversant” (209). The authors do not prescribe what pastors and worship leaders must do in worship, but reframe common liturgical practices in light of their connection to workers (e.g., the Lord’s Supper, the offering) and provide practicable ideas for making room in worship for work (e.g., commuter liturgies, mission maps for workers, public prayers informed by lived experiences in work, and so on). The practical orientation of this section is reflected throughout the book in a series of pull-out boxes with prayers, poems, songs, and vignettes from diverse global and historical contexts. That said, I was surprised that the authors, both reformed Protestants, did not address how their integrative vision of work and worship might influence the sermon—either the pastors’ approach to their homiletic task or workers’ acts of listening and responding to God’s Word in worship (but cf. 254). Even so, the strength of this section encapsulates several strengths of the book as a whole, especially their attention to the wide range of lived experiences that workers bring to worship and their insight into the particular ways liturgy forms workers and the workplace informs worship.
Those who will benefit most from this book are those whose vocation involves leading Christian worship—pastors, worship leaders, and seminarians, especially. The book is both well-researched and accessibly presented, so Christian workers will also find much benefit in reading this book, and it is as good of an entry point into reflection on Christian faith and work as any. Readers of this journal may find much to ponder in an approach to formation that reckons with the impact of daily work on life with God as well as the power of corporate worship for the cultivation of lived theology. Kaemingk and Willson have given us a gift in Work and Worship, and for that we may be grateful.