Where is God at Work?
by William Morris
Monarch, 2015, £8.99, ISBN 978-0857216281

William Morris writes in a lively, entertaining yet astute and wise way and is very convincing that God is and should be present in the workplace even in the most difficult situations.  He is a tax lawyer and an ordained Anglican priest – part of the ministry team at St. Martin in the Fields and manages to combine these two seemingly very different roles successfully.

In the first part of the book he quotes the story of Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven and waking to say “surely the Lord is in this place and I didn’t know it”.  This is very relevant to the workplace as how we interact with colleagues, users, customers and bosses is a very important way of witnessing.

Work’s dilemmas and where God is in them is the focus of the second part and includes what to do if you’re asked to do something against your Christian beliefs, to complete against your colleagues.  Also if you’re asked to work harder and harder, if your boss asks you to lie, or if you do something bad in the workplace.  There aren’t always easy answers to any of these dilemmas but acting with integrity and according to your Christian beliefs can achieve a good outcome.

In the final part – Where is God at work in the Bible?  is based on the parable of the Talents, taking in turn the servant who is given five talents and doubles them, then the servant given two talents who doubles them and lastly the servant given one talent who hands it back intact, with a final chapter on the master of these servants.

In the epilogue William Morris concludes that we all can and should witness at work by our words and actions but this should always be done with care and never in conflict with workplace rules and care is especially needed with influencing financial decisions.  There are questions for study groups at the end.

Anne MacRitchie, BSc, is the Scottish Secretary of Christians in Library and Information