As a pastor, John Van Sloten has made it his mission to help lay people see the sacredness and service of their own work, whatever that may be. In Every Job a Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses, and Astronauts Tell Us about God, he helps readers "kindle a new kind of vocational imagination, to help you experience God at work more, and to help you read the parable that is your job."



Van Sloten doesn't just point out the obvious ways in which certain jobs help others, but points to the manifestation of Christ that we can show. In the medical field, doctors, nurses, and other practitioners can be the healing hands of Jesus. First responders give a very present help in time of need.



But beyond some of the obvious examples, as the title suggests, every job is a means to demonstrating and practicing love and service for God and for others. Van Sloten writes, "You are not primarily what you accomplish at work, nor is your value based on the sum of your aptitudes and skills. Who you are is defined by how you selflessly and humbly relate--how you give, how you receive, and how you image the giving and receiving God."



I really enjoyed Van Sloten's take on vocation. Even when you're punching a clock at a dead-end job, let Van Sloten change your perspective and see how God can use you there. It's a word that most people in today's economic milieu need to hear.





Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

There are books that lead us to reconsider our thoughts about an issue. And this is one of those. After reading this book it has been inevitable for me to see the work in another way and not only mine, but also that of my friends or neighbors.

Like the author I have looked for in them some thought or an idea about the form of being or acting of God.

Pastor Van Sloten has written a challenging book that consists of 12 chapters. He begins by establishing an idea in the reader: All works matter to God. Then he show us how our work is a parable of the work of God.

Part three (one of my favorites) shows us how God reveals himself through our work and finally the author shows us how we can reflect the image of God in an effective and consistent way in our work. This last part contains five challenging chapters.

In each chapter we will know different characters with different works but all of them show us that each work is a parable.

One detail I enjoyed very much about this book was that at the end of each chapter I found a section titled "Lectio Divina", a series of questions for reflection (ideal for small groups). I also like the direct, pleasant and fluid style of the author.

Some of my favorite quotes from this book:

We need to be doing both at the same time - loving God and loving our neighbour-to be fully alive

God is whispering truth and meaning in the most ordinary and small places. In fact, those are often the places where God specially shows up.

If you can't love an ordinary job, how can you ever find God there?


Thanks to Tyndale House Publisher for the electronic copy to review

EVERY JOB A PARABLE captured my attention from the title....I was curious. However, I was captured by this story from the first chapter....until the final page. I have shared this book w/ all of my reading friends....thank you for the opportunity to read....and share...it w/ others. FIVE STARS

This is an in-depth subject matter. The book quotes scripture and shows how people put that scripture to use in their daily lives.. It's deep, a thought-provoking book you'll need to read with resting points between chapters, giving yourself time to reflect on the material and scripture references you've just read! There is a lot to take in.

John Calvin stressed that the everyday activity of Christians has religious significance. The first and third verse of George Herbert’s poem ‘The Elixir’ expresses this insight:

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see;
And what I do in anything
To do it as for thee.

A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.

We spend ten times more hours at work than we do at church. And yet most of the sermons in church are about church and church activities. However, not at John Van Sloten’s church. This book arose out of a sermon series he did looking at different vocations and what they can tell us about God. Van Sloten is a church pastor, before that he has worked as a real estate developer. In this book, he draws upon his own experience in the workplace as well as conducting extensive research into other people’s jobs, by visiting them in their workplace.

Van Sloten provides a succinct summary of this book: it is about ‘understanding how Jesus is speaking directly to you (via your personal experience of work) and how he is speaking through you (to the broader world)’. What he wants to do is to ‘kindle a new kind of vocational imagination’. To this end, he develops a lectio vocatio - a seeing of God in and through our work. And the end of each chapter is a short series of exercise that will help to shape this.

He sees jobs as parables and draws biblical insights from a wide range of careers. What is God saying to you and others through your job? This is an important question and one that this book sets about to answer. He also explores how we can be icons of grace in our work. Here he applies some insights of Rublev's work 'Holy Trinity' and applies them to the workplace.

Obviously not all jobs or careers are covered, for example no mention of undertakers or the unemployed, but there is an extremely wide range covered - almost fifty of them ranging from accountant to Walmart worker.

For many a job is a way of earning money and not much more; ministry is something done in church at the weekend. And for others church is where there is ‘a tacit obligation to turn up, sit up, pay up and shut up’. This book will help with a paradigm shift, it shows that God is concerned with our daily job and, not only that, is able to speak in an through it.

As someone commented to Van Sloten: ‘I think I see what you are doing. I’ve spent my entire life connecting the Jesus of the New Testament to the Jesus of the Old Testament. You are connecting the Jesus of the New Testament to the resurrected Jesus today.’ This is exactly what this book does. It endorses jobs as ministry. Van Sloten shows that God speaks through our careers.

It is an important book. It provides a model for pastors in relating church to work, and for labourers in whatever field to show that God is working in and through our labours.



Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.
The book will be released in June.