8: Sacramental Work

How would you explain the meaning of a kiss to an alien who had never seen one?

You could describe it anatomically, of course, or define it abstractly as a symbol of romantic affection. But a kiss isn't experienced as a mere abstraction. It doesn't just represent love; it physically communicates and accomplishes it. It is an embodied, affectionate human act that brings a hidden internal reality into the tangible world. A kiss is sacramental.

In this episode of our A Mysterious Business series, Chris Easley leans into his own Anglican roots to explore what it means to possess a sacramental worldview in the modern marketplace. While the word 'sacrament' usually brings to mind formal church traditions like baptism and communion, this blending of the physical and spiritual is actually how God habitually operates across the entire universe.

Drawing on the extraordinary account in Acts 19:11-2 when God used everyday handkerchiefs and aprons touched by Paul to heal the sick, Chris discusses the theological implications of the incarnation itself. He connects this story to the wisdom of church father Gregory of Nazianzus, who wrote that, "For that which he has not assumed, he has not healed, but that which is united to his Godhead is also saved." Because Jesus permanently took on a physical human body to save us, the physical material of our world is no longer separate from the divine.

This truth radically transforms how we view the ordinary tasks of our 9-to-5. When a warehouse worker sweeps a messy floor or a custodian cleans an office, they are not just acting out a metaphor of God restoring order to a broken world. Inasmuch as they are working out of love for God and neighbor, that broom becomes an effective sign. God is actually bringing order out of chaos on that specific floor, through that specific person, in real time.

Your job today is not a spiritual afterthought or a secondary calling. It is a lowercase-s sacramental space. It is a jar of clay carrying an invisible, eternal weight of glory, transforming your daily grind from a mere paycheck into an active conduit for the grace and presence of Jesus Christ.

Sources:

John 3:1-8,16-17 (NIV)

Luke 8:43-46 (NIV)

Acts 19:11-12 (NIV)

Colossians 3:23 (NIV)

2 Peter 1:4 (NIV)