creativity
The Mason’s Masterpiece: Why God Cares About Craftsmanship
By Chris Horst
For two summers during college, I worked ten-hour days under the hot and humid Pennsylvania sun as a mason tender—or more commonly, as a mud boy. I mixed concrete, hauled cement blocks and attempted to assist our masons. Some days I lugged, stacked, and mixed like a champ. Other days I became the target of creative expletives.
The Fruit of Our Labor Is Fellowship
By Joseph Sunde
“The fruit of our labor is fellowship. It’s community. It’s relationship.”
The Power of Pentecost in Vocation and Globalization
By Joseph Sunde
Given the dynamics of the information age and ever-accelerating globalization, humanity faces a wave of new opportunities and challenges when it comes to creating, collaborating, and consuming alongside those in vastly differing contexts.
Work Weaves the Fabric of Civilization
The fabric of civilization, like all fabrics, is made up of countless tiny threads—each thread the work of someone. Superficially, any given thread might be readily spared or replaced—that could be my job or yours.
Thinking this, we go to work on the margin, so to speak, of culture: Who needs me?
Creative Service and the Mirage of Disability
By Joseph Sunde
Annette Gabbedy is a business owner and an expert designer and goldsmith. She was also born without fingers, a trait many would consider to be a “disability,” particularly in her line of work.
Yet, as she explains in the following video, having created and traded her wares for over 20 years, Gabbedy sees no reason for that to inhibit her creativity and contribution to society. Quite to the contrary:
Work Is Not a Punishment for the Fall
By Scott Rae
Work has intrinsic value because it was ordained by God prior to the entrance of sin into the world. If you look at the Genesis account of creation closely, you’ll see that God commanded Adam and Eve to work the garden before sin entered the picture (Gen. 2:15). God did not condemn human beings to work as a consequence Adam and Eve’s sin. Work is not a punishment on human beings for their sin.
Grandpa Abe and the Workers
By Chris Horst
I sat on the countertop as my mom shared the tragic news: My grandpa—Abe Horst—had died.
A heart attack seized his last breath at the early age of 63. While reading the newspaper during a summer day in 1997, he passed. He was healthy and active and we were not ready to say goodbye. While our relationship revolved around my early adolescent affinities like pizza and beach vacations, I cherished him immensely.
Rediscovering Beauty: Flannery O’Conner on the Economy of Wonder
An emphasis on the need for practical use is beneficial when applied to goods in the market, so as to meet the ever changing demands of the consumer. But the value of some goods cannot be reduced to a selling price. One such good is beauty.