I recently watched a documentry on the Amish. They were talking about work and why they choose to work with simple equipment rather then more complex means. The answer was quite simply, ‘work strengthens community‘ and to use more complex machines and automation took away from community that naturally occurred when you physically harvested a field alongside another.
I can think of many growing moments I experienced working alongside christian brothers. Great moments of building friendships and growing in Christ came from the mundane tasks of hauling lumber for a deck or peeling a roof of its shingles in the heat with Zach and Tim.
Early morning coffee with Danny & David before getting to the job was often filled with talk about God stuff. Sometimes correction was given, sometimes received on the job when characters clashed and iron sharpened iron. The end of the day we went home relationally satisfied and physically tired.
There was more ‘church’ happening during the work week then on a Sunday morning. ‘by the sweat of our brow we ate our bread‘ – together.
