Work & Wealth by Bethany Cseh
Discussion Guide written by Marc McGowan
Eureka 10-31-09 6:00 PM
Arcata 11-01-09 6:00 PM
Please select 5-6 of the following items for your group and/or come up some of your own discussion ideas.
CONNECT
1. Worst job ever
Think of the worst job you have ever had. Now think about what it was about that job that made it the worst. Try and give a single word description or emotion that sums up your experience working that job. Go around the room until everyone has had a chance to share their worst job ever.
2. My dream job
Think of your dream job. What is it about that job that would make it be a dream come true for you? Share your feelings about it. If you do not have this job now discuss how you could make changes to get the job or do the work of your dreams.
3. Work vs. idleness
Is there a purpose behind work that God knows and we may not? Is it better to work than to be idle? Are there consequences to doing nothing as opposed to work? Share your thoughts. Is it that many of us might just need a vacation?
DISCUSS
4. Poll:
Question: How much do you enjoy your work?
1. Very Un-enjoyable
2. Un-enjoyable
3. Okay
4. Enjoyable
5. Very Enjoyable
Bethany asked us to answer using the above survey on how much we enjoy our work. Share with the group your answer and what it is about your work that explains your choice.
5. Take turns reading these scriptures from Ecclesiastes:
Ecc 2:4-11, 2:18-24, 3:9-10, 12-13, 3:22, 4:4, 5:10-12, 15-18, 6:1-2
Bethany asks us to consider how all these verses point towards enjoying your work. Talk about what it looks like to enjoy something that’s just paying the bills? What does it look like to find enjoyment in a job that you find hard to enjoy? Can you give examples from your life or maybe from others you know.
6. Recall or Play for your group the Youtube.com “Sign Spinner” video that we saw during the service. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EfjKDjdg4k)
“This is a perfect example of a job that’s just a job. Just doing it to make ends meet; work that seems impossible to find enjoyment in. But they are using creative expression through making sign holding into an art. They are finding passionate enjoyment by seeing the world as their stage. They are sacrificially giving back to the world by interacting with the public, smiling, creating an experience.” – Bethany Cseh
Are there things we can all do to make our own jobs more enjoyable? Are there ways we can make it more enjoyable for everyone?
CHALLENGE
7. Believe that our creator made us for work.
We are each designed to use our unique mind, personality, aptitude, skill and talent to do work for our creator and our fellow man. Encourage each other in the fact that each of us was made to work and that we should embrace the very idea of work as a joy and learn new ways of offering our jobs to God so he might use us, and our work, to reach the world. Commit to doing something in your work this week that you offer to God and see what he does with it. Share the story with your group this week or at group next time.
8. Pray for those in your group who struggle in the work they have to do. Listen to those who are in jobs they truly dislike and need support to continue in. Help them talk through their options to manage the stress of a dislikeable job and/or possible outlets or changes they could make to either improve their existing job or perhaps consider one they are better suited for.
9. Think about the key quotes that we considered. There is something about Love and Work that makes man truly happy.
“My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.”
-Abraham Lincoln
“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
-Brother Lawrence
“Chose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
-Confucius
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love (the work) what you are doing, you will be successful.”
-Albert Schweitzer
“Set me a task (my work) in which I can put something of my very self, and it is a task (work) no longer; it is (for love) joy; it is art.”
-Bliss Carman
“I never worked a day in my life. It’s not work when you love what you’re doing.”
-David Shakarian
Whatever (work) you do, do (as though you love it) well. – ECC 9:10a (Amplified)
