PRACTICING ON THE JOB

I saw a cartoon recently in which an obviously-upset boss was confronting his secretary saying, "What's this I hear about you practicing Christianity on the job?"

We can smile. But have we ever been accused of practicing our faith while on the job? Has our faith ever come into conflict with the demands of the job? Have we ever been forced into making an ethical decision: do I do what my boss wants even though I know it is wrong (maybe even immoral) or do I stand up and refuse, perhaps at the risk of losing my job?

My suspicion is that we have all at times in our lives been confronted by a situation where we must decide between the demands of our faith and the demands of our family: putting bread on the table, paying college tuition, etc.

We do not live in a Christian world. Business ethics and Christian ethics are not one and the same. What we say we believe on Sunday morning is often sorely tested on the job come Monday morning. On Sunday morning we can find a strong support group for our beliefs, our ethical practices. On Monday mornings there are times when it seems as if it is "me against the world."

And if we are not faced with such dilemmas, I dare say we are either most fortunate or we have our eyes, minds and consciences quite closed. The temptation is to keep them closed because if we see no evil, hear no evil, then there is the presumption that there is no evil, that all is well in the world, or at least in our world.

That attitude is precisely the reason why we are in the mess we are in as a society. Our political candidates certainly recognize the mess. Unfortunately, their solutions don't and won't and can't work because they can’t even agree what the solutions are or even if there are any given the political climate we are now living in. In an age of sound bites and tweets, whatever sounds better or best is deemed the solution. And if we can put the right spin on a problem, maybe it will simply whirl away and be no more – or at least become someone else's problem. That's called "passing the buck" – from federal to state to county to local to personal. It always comes full circle.

That's why the cross has always been a symbol of our faith. It is never easy, given the nature of humanity – sinners all of us – to be a Christian, to practice Christianity. Of course, that is exactly what we are doing: practicing, hoping someday to finally get it right all the time. (That day is called "eternity.") We will always be tempted to sell out to expediency. What makes a Christian different is, first of all, that one does admit to one's sell-out in the name of a higher good – family, job, whatever at the moment is front and center; and, second, we at least feel guilty when we fall short of the ideal.

There is also a third difference, and that is that we try to make amends for our shortcomings and try to address the wrongs we have done and the problems that confront us to the best of our ability. It won’t be easy. But then, Jesus never said it would be: the cross, again!