Today I am off to Aston University for a retirement party for a colleague I have known for over 30 years. I feel I am particularly well-placed to advise her, as I retired from the university almost exactly a year ago. At least, I retired from paid employment. I still continue to do my research; earlier this week I sent off a paper for publication about our latest findings. Once a year I lead a session for undergraduate pharmacists and nurses on the spiritual care of their patients. Then there is the work I do as a volunteer vicar for the church; I have not taken on any new responsibilities but I have more time to do this job to my satisfaction. I am also the conservation officer for the Shropshire Caving and Mining Club. In short, I work just as much as I did when I was a salaried employee of Aston University, it just that it is unpaid and more diverse. I do this because I enjoy it, I find it fulfilling and the alternative seems unthinkable. The Judaeo-Christian tradition has always recognised the value of work; in the creation poems in Genesis, the authors make it clear that humanity should work to tend the earth. In the New Testament, St Paul encouraged all Christians to find employment so that they did not become burdens on others. Thus there are both spiritual and economic reasons for us to work. Unfortunately not all work is fulfilling, either spiritually/mentally or financially and it is right to be concerned about this. But the aspiration must be that of the poet and hymn writer, George Herbert, who famously wrote “Teach me my God and King, in all things thee to see; that what I do in anything, I do it as for thee”.
Rev David Poyner