One of the courses I enjoyed
teaching periodically was entitled “business and professional
ethics.” I supplied guidance for discussions on ethical issues, and the
students – all working adults – fed information from their vocations.
Of course, as a professional, I had a few good stories about ethics in both
higher education and ministry! I was surprised repeatedly with the variety of
moral dilemmas confronting people in their vocations.
A frequent theme running
through many of the students’ reports – and my own – was the
embattled workplace. Embattlement is very different from a healthy, creative
tension that arises from dissimilar views. Creative tension involves a healthy
confrontation of issues; creative tensions are open to explorations of new
information, to assessments of what’s satisfactory now, open to agreements
to differ, and to negotiated options for the future.
I learned that embattled
workplaces often involve a baboon mentality. As I have it, baboons and many
other creatures choose their tactics driven by fervent desires for control and
territory. In addition, among humans at least, there are personalities who
psychologically need to be engaged in constant combat - probably among the
“mischief makers” mentioned by St. Paul. Those of us who live in
condominium or homeowners’ associations are well acquainted with combative
traits and baboon-like behavior!
For the rest of us, beleaguered
vocational settings that wear us out flow from a number of possible causes.
Here are several such factors, which I will recount unhurriedly, almost as
a meditation, for your consideration:
the perception that we are being
undermined;
the sense that unnecessary obstacles are preventing us from
achieving our goals;
the fact that we are subjected to endless, unproductive
meetings and pointless bureaucratic procedures;
the experience of ongoing,
unresolved battles in the setting;
an awareness that there is fraud and
dishonesty for which there is no “clean” remedy;
the feeling of
being unappreciated, trivialized, demeaned, or unsupported;
a strong hunch
that one’s own job is vulnerable, that the job could eliminated without
warning;
the experience of monotony;
a growing lack of confidence in the
organization’s capacity to provide quality services or products;
management by crisis – because of indecision and/or neglect;
prolonged,
intense, emotional involvement with other people’s problems;
an
exaggerated need to be needed; and,
being constantly on the go.
When enough of these factors
are functioning (sometimes beneath a deceptive, exterior calm), many
individuals simply distance themselves from the tasks at hand. They disengage
and perform minimally; commitment and loyalty are negligible. Although they
have keen interest in the organization’s stated ideals, they may become
cynical, just awaiting occasions of compensation. Retaliation, theft, and
absenteeism also may set in. Some individuals actually “burn out”
with feelings of uselessness, isolation, exhaustion, and irritability.
Have you realized that all
of this can apply to our families and churches as well? Feeling embattled
can originate in any number of settings. A few months ago, when we were
discussing a dysfunctional church, a well-informed friend mentioned chapter 17,
verse one, of the Book of Proverbs, which reads: “Better is a dry morsel
with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.” A
commentary notes that although ancient Israel affirms the family as the center
of its communal culture, there are realities even more basic than family,
namely wisdom, godliness and divine grace. Applying this insight, we are
confronted by biblical principles, such that when family or church involvements
are unremittingly embattled, and are resolved to remain that way, we might
consider withdrawing from either. In this regard, local congregations must come
to grips with knowledgeable people who are not addicted to church in some
codependent fashion. Healthy-minded folks will not allow themselves to be
engaged in chronically disagreeable circumstances, no matter how much they
would otherwise value the fellowship. Perhaps, at least in part, our Lord had
this in mind when he said, “…no house divided against itself will
stand” (Matt. 12:25) and “… where two or three are gathered in
my name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20)
As individuals, how do you and
I cope without disengaging from embattled jobs, family, church, or
anything else – if that is a viable choice? We need to have engrained
within us a firm sense of who we are. We must have such a strong, internal
sense of personal identity that no conflict, no insult, and no combative person
can overwhelm us. We need to accept as true with heart and mind that each of us
is a unique and named child of God. As such, our primary vocation as human
beings is to love and be loved. Armed with this resolve, everything else is
placed in perspective. Although we want to offer solid quality in whatever we
do, you and I are not our occupations. Do you imagine that for one minute I
think of myself, as my internal identity, as a priest, or in terms of any other
responsibility I may have? I respect and value the ordained ministry - and the
ministries of writers, tradespeople, teachers, garbage collectors, lawyers,
artists, business people, and all other work contributing to the common good.
Nonetheless, when I look into a mirror and when I look at you, I do not see our
work or family roles. Our prayers in this place remind me to see each
individual as a unique, baptized child of God called to love our neighbor as
ourselves! You and I are nurtured best in this identity and calling by
gathering and sharing the symbolic food of life and love. Without this
sustenance, we are likely to drift into deficient identities that allow
embattlements to weaken or defeat us.
Given this sense of who we are,
there are some related techniques for the reduction of our vulnerability to
embattlement. The first is to set appropriate limits for oneself in every
situation. When an excessive request is made, say to yourself, and when
appropriate, to others: “I’m not comfortable with that”
or “That’s not what I’m here for” or
“I’m already overextended and can’t help you with this”
(and then direct the person to another possible resource) or
“I’m sorry, but I have other commitments” or (said
calmly) “No!” Other reminders, best kept to oneself, include
“Who appointed me God and the world’s caretaker?” or
“Not everyone has to like me” or “I can’t win them
all” or “I’ll do what I reasonably can in these
circumstances” or “I don’t have to do anything perfectly;
only God can do that!” A few years ago a contributor to the business
section of the New York Times suggested that employees need to put up a
buffer between themselves and their employment, so that they don’t confuse
their personal identities with their employment; she suggested that in
one’s own heart and mind, we all should NOT say “I work for
………” (the company’s name), but instead “I work
for myself at ……..” Without affecting an
appropriate commitment to the organization, one is reminded to limit
one’s personal investments in the workplace. Furthermore, we need to
distinguish empathetic concern for others from our own problems; too many
well-intentioned people have an exaggerated sense of responsibility for others.
We need to be reminded of Thomas Merton’s caution: “To allow
one’s self to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to
surrender to too many demands, to commit one’s self to too many projects,
to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. Frenzy
destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our
work, because it kills the inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” I
believe that the frenzy Merton alludes to is another word for
“embattlement,” and that his statement can apply not only to our
occupations, but to our families and churches as well.
I realize that this excursion
might seem odd for a sermon. Yet it is but one example of how the Gospel
challenges and permeates every segment of our lives, of how you and I are fed
so completely by so little – a contemporary version of a few fish
acquiring nurturing power for five thousand people. Believed resolutely, our
baptismal commitment feeds and provides us all with internal meaning, peace and
quiet in every significant dimension of our lives as individuals and as a
community. A situation might indeed be embattled, but in our hearts and minds
you and I need not be. “For these and all his mercies,
God’s holy name be blessed and praised; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.”