Life in the Ordinary

After a long term of employment in what most would be considered a "professional career" I now find myself in what most would consider "non-professional." In the realm of the church this would be defined as the secular and holy. But in the economy of God is anything not divine? It is interesting that trained clergy are considered professionals. Is any one on earth a "professional" at dealing with sin, evil, and injustice? I think we are all merely practitioners trying in every way we can to lay hold of grace. As my daughters would say, "Any who", let's move on with the story.

I now work in an assembly plant with a diverse mass of humanity. The pay is not great and the work is long, such is the world that the "average person" understands. The "average person" is not average by any means in intellect or the gift their life represents. They are "average" only by the standards assigned to them, often by an unjust world that demands goods and wants those goods as inexpensive as possible. Few rage against the corruption of corporations as long as their needs are met. I am not minimizing the efforts of "occupy Wall Street" every wave of change has to begin somewhere.

The plant I work in will produce highly sophisticated equipment that would be out of reach pricewise for all those assembling the product. The irony is that the company engineers and executives do not try to mask their feelings towards the workers. They display attitudes of superiority at every level. Few of them will know the names of those working for them nor the wealth of the story of their lives. The greater irony is that many buying the products would not associate with those who made their product. Inferior on one level; but sufficient enough to get them the product they need.

This repeats itself in a consumer economy at every turn. When we go to the grocery store we all want the same thing - cheap groceries. We shop indiscriminately never giving a thought at who toiled most likely in obscurity to provide us food. But the very hands that planted and picked our produce are a beautiful tapestry of humanity that all want what we want - life!

My current fellow workers are a work of art. There are hundreds of different shapes, colors, and languages; each beautiful in its on way. I relish observing the different hair styles and colors. Our lunch breaks are a sensory experience in the variety of foods and smells, all exotic in their own right. When I think of heaven I imagine it much more like the plant I work in than in the church I attend. There are no "professionals" or "average" persons in the lunch room. All of us are the same - hungry and tired. We all come with what we have and even in the meagerness everyone is willing to share. I see beautiful people all around me everyday that reminds me that God does love all the world. My work place helps define my prayer, "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." Heaven on earth supersedes human categories of professional/laborer and secular/profane. Heaven on earth is: everyone gets to the table and everyone gets to eat. No life is insignificant and every life is a beautiful story. If heaven was about human achievement or meeting standards economically that define a very small minority of global humanity, would that not make heaven not only limited but really very boring? Is heaven not heaven simply because we awake to find ourselves unexpectedly loved simply for who we are not what we have or have accomplished? Is not heaven for those who in their most basic being simply desire to love God whether they can put words or expression to it?