TIME

a sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Tim W. Jensen
at the First Religious Society in Carlisle, Massachusetts
Sunday January 14th, 2007


I have to share with you all a story I heard last week at the Council on Aging Men’s breakfast.

This young, urban professional was out jogging through the park one day, when he came up on a guy sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper, with a big German Shepherd sitting at his feet. Having had a few too many bad experiences with dogs while jogging in the past, the jogger stopped called out “Does your dog bite?”

The man looked over the top of his newspaper and shook his head, so the jogger ran on by, and as he passed the bench the dog lunged out and bit him right where you might imagine it would hurt the most.

Naturally, the jogger was furious. “I thought you said your dog didn’t bite!” he shouted.

And the newspaper reader replied “That’s not MY dog....”

I know there are always a lot of Public Radio listeners in any UU congregation, so I’m just a little curious, -- how many of you heard the interview a few weeks back on WBUR with the author of a recent article in the Harvard Business Review about the proliferation of so-called “Extreme Jobs” in the American economy? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, an “Extreme Job” is defined as any job which combines a 60-hour or more work-week with at least five of the following ten markers: an unpredictable work flow; fast-paced work under tight deadlines; an inordinate scope of responsibility essentially amounting to more than one job; work-related events outside of regular working hours; 24/7 client availability; Profit and Loss responsibilities; responsibility for recruiting and mentoring; large amounts of travel; a large number of “direct reports;” and physical presence at the workplace at least ten hours a day.

When I first heard this interview, I was immediately struck by two things. The first was how closely the job description of an extreme worker resembles that of a Parish Minister, and yet how little my own work experience (or the experiences of most other ministers I know, for that matter) has in common with what I was hearing described on the radio (and I’ll have a little more to say about that little later).

But the second thing that struck me was the realization how over the years the town of Carlisle has in many ways become a community of extreme workers (at least one which contains a disproportionate number of them in comparison to most other communities our size), and how this influences not only the personality of the town itself, but also the ways in which we need to learn to “do church” differently than we have traditionally done it in the past.

And then just to make things even a little more interesting, what is true in the larger sense of the “global information economy” in general, and in microcosm right here in Carlisle, is likewise true of Unitarian Universalism as a religious movement. Statistically, at least, Unitarian Universalists are among the best educated, most affluent religious demographic groups on the planet. Our median household income is in excess of $79,000, and fully one-half of us have earned at least one graduate degree. Talent and Treasure we possess in abundance. But Time itself -- the one commodity which we all receive each day in equal amount whether rich or poor -- is both in great demand and short supply.

I’ll have a lot more to say about these themes in the next few weeks, as we count down to our all-church visioning event on February 10th. But for the moment I just want to say a little more about the nature of extreme jobs themselves. In their Harvard Business Review article, researchers Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce describe extreme work as “The American Dream on Steroids.” Extreme jobs are proliferating throughout all sectors of the economy, but are especially common among high-caliber professionals and other “knowledge workers” employed in companies with global operations. The pace and pressures of extreme work are typically self-inflicted rather than imposed, and are worn like “badges of honor” by individuals who both love their jobs and feel exalted by them.

The oversized compensation packages which typically accompany such jobs are at best the third-most important motivating factor for men (and ranked dead last among women), behind such other considerations as intellectually-stimulating and challenging work, the opportunity to work with high-quality colleagues, status, power, recognition, respect, and the adrenaline rush which comes from working in a fast-paced, highly competitive environment.

Yet extreme workers also pay a price for these rewards. As the workplace becomes the new “social center” of their lives, home and family grow increasingly starved of time and attention, and often become significantly less appealing. To quote the report, “for many professionals, ‘home’ and ‘work’ have reversed roles. Home is the source of stress and guilt, while work has become the ‘haven in a heartless world’ -- the place where successful professionals get strokes, admiration, and respect.”

The headline in the Harvard “Crimson” the day the study was published in the Business Review read: “Extreme Jobs Threaten Sex Lives,” implying at least one compelling reason to pursue a liberal arts education rather than a career in investment banking. And in an almost stereotypically gendered fashion, women tend to be much more sensitive to these emotional sacrifices than men, which in turn has inspired several cultural critics to suggest that the growth of the extreme ethos may well represent simply a new tactic for reintroducing a glass ceiling into the American workplace.

According to the study, household maintenance, relationships with children, and relationships with one’s spouse all suffer significantly as a result of the extreme workplace. Yet in an ever-more competitive “winner take all” economy in which global operations and wireless interconnectivity are simply part of the landscape, “burning the midnight oil” is no longer just a means of getting ahead; it is often the only way one can keep up. And no matter how well we may learn to multi-task or leverage our efforts by working smarter rather than harder, there are still only so many hours in a day.

When I was younger and relatively new to the ministry, one of my older colleagues told me that the secret to success in this profession was “mastering the art of bi-location.” “Once you figure out how to be in two places at the same time,” he said, “this job is a snap.” And as I mentioned earlier, there are lots of ways in which the job of a parish minister resembles that of an extreme worker. Inordinate responsibilities amounting to more than one job are part of the core job description of ministry itself: as preachers, teachers, pastors and community leaders clergy combine the intellectual work of writing and scholarship with a significant amounts of public speaking, as well as broad responsibilities for both inspirational leadership and institutional management, the work of a helping professional, and even in relatively large churches often function as their own clerical support staff as well.

The four most stressful markers of an extreme work environment: unpredictable work flow, tight deadlines, work-related events outside of regular working hours, and 24/7 client availability, all simply come with the territory, while in this era of “shared ministry” the responsibility for recruiting and mentoring other people is an ever-expanding and increasingly more important part of a minister’s role. On the other hand, P/L responsibilities, the amount of travel, and the actual number of “direct reports” all vary greatly from minister to minister, depending mostly upon personal preference and the nature of the relationship between the minister and the countless number of volunteers who do so much of the hands-on work of the church. And the whole idea of a ten-hour workday simply seems a little silly to someone who literally lives at their workplace, and whose office phone also rings in the bedroom.

But as I also mentioned earlier, there are other ways in which a minister’s job is nothing like the “extreme” jobs described in the Harvard Business Review study, ways which reflect the profoundly different objectives and purposes of the respective workplaces, and which are far more significant then simply the significantly fewer zeros which tend to appear on your typical minister’s paycheck. And many of these differences also involve significantly different ways of understanding the significance of Time. In the business world, Time is Money. But in the world of the church, the world of religion and spirituality, Time is a sacred gift from our Creator, bounded by the miracle of our births and the inevitability of our deaths, and grounded in the posibility of a direct apprehension of eternity itself.

Let me try to elaborate on this a little. As I mentioned earlier, the extreme workplace thrives on the adrenaline rush of fast-paced, high-stakes competition. Some extreme workers even describe their sense of exhilaration in this demanding, high-pressure, high-performance environment as addictive, as thrilling and exciting as skydiving or mountain-climbing or any of the other popular “extreme sports” from which the extreme workplace takes its name. The extreme ethos is about pushing yourself to the limit, and proving your worth by going up against larger-than-life challenges and triumphing over them.

The Work of Faith shares many of these same qualities of discipline, sacrifice, commitment and strength of character. But ultimately it is more Contemplative than it is Competitive. It’s about being centered rather than living out on the edge, about accomplishment rather than achievement, and following your higher aspirations instead of your personal ambition. Persistence and tenacity are tempered by patience and self-control, along with a spirit of cooperation rather than a desire to impose one’s will on “the competition.” And the principle challenges and obstacles we seek to overcome are most frequently discovered somewhere within us rather than “out there” in the world.

And above all else, I think, the Life and Work of Faith entails developing and continually cultivating the skill of real Discernment rather than mere Decisiveness. I’m told that one of the first lessons they teach you in Business School is not to mistake activity for progress. And yet often in the fast-paced, competitive environment of the business world it’s better to make a quick decision than no decision at all.

During the Second World War, General Patton used to tell his field commanders that if they couldn’t tell in an instant which flank of an enemy position was the most favorable one to attack, they should simply pick one and attack it right away, since the difference between them was probably inconsequential, and the danger of remaining under enemy fire while making up your mind was always worse than making a mistake and attacking in the wrong place. And there are many other examples of situations in life where this same principle probably works perfectly well. If the right choice isn’t obvious, then you might as well just pick, since the difference between your choices probably isn’t all that great.

But there are other situations in life where the ability to be discerning, to distinguish between the subtle and nuanced differences of true or false, right or wrong, good or evil, is critically important, and it becomes essential NOT to make a decision until the right choice IS obvious, and perfectly clear within your own mind. And of course, these situations tend to be the ones where making the right decision truly IS important, since they involve the big choices about who we are and what we stand for, and the meaning and purpose of our lives.

To Decide means literally “to cut off” -- to reject any number of potential alternatives in order to pick the one you will pursue. But to Discern is to perceive clearly, so that you can accurately accurately distinguish one thing from another. Let me illustrate the difference between the two with an example that is painfully familiar to us all. We all know that the President is “the Decider.” But his powers of discernment often appear to leave a lot to be desired, and the whole world suffers as a result of that “intelligence failure.”

Here’s another example, from even closer at hand. I decided to become a UU minister in 1977, after discerning that this was the vocational path which best fit my interests, my skills, my values and aspirations at the time. But that decision did not make me a minister overnight. Rather, it simply set me on a path which over time would require many other subsequent decisions and discernment's, and led me places I would have never imagined going when I was a twenty-one year old college senior trying to figure out who I really was, and to decide what I really wanted to be when I grew up.

And now, half-a-lifetime later, looking back at where I’ve been and what I’ve done in my life so far, I can recognize that there were indeed times when decisive action was the right choice, and produced exactly the result I would have wished for. But more often than not the more difficult challenge was learning how to “wait patiently upon the Lord,” until my personal wishes aligned more closely with what I could clearly see were my larger hopes and dreams for myself, for those I loved, and for the wider world around me.

Once we have discerned that the values of home, family, authentic community and service to others are ultimately more important to us than the exhilarating rush of fast-paced, high-stakes competition (or even just the temporary thrill of leaping out of airplanes), the Church is an institution which can help us learn how to transform that decision into a real and tangible personal accomplishment. But before any of that can happen, we first each need to make that “leap of faith,” and commit ourselves to investing the time required to allow that choice to grow within us, and to become fulfilled “in the fullness of time.” We need to learn to sit quietly and “wait upon the Lord” until we clearly discern that “Still, Small Voice” which calls us to a higher purpose in our lives...