Issue 309
There is a healthy trend in team dynamics towards openness, transparency and disclosure. The freedom of information approach has all kinds of merits when it comes to exposing corruption, malpractice or injustice. Open individuals tend to be better leaders, more attractive to work with, and more engaging in collaborative ventures. This work style certainly appeals to the extroverted characters who enjoy drawing on the strength of connectedness. If it is possible to generalise, this open collaborative style also tends to appeal more to women at work, for whom the emphasis on community is sometimes more appealing than is competition. The establishment of hierarchy in working cultures can encourage a closed approach to team work and inhibit the free flow of creative ideas.
Whatever your character, gender or taste, the issues of openness, transparency and collaboration are ever present in organisations, and will remain so as long as we humans attempt to pool resources in order to achieve more together than we could separately. There is, however, a workplace and spiritual discipline which apparently flies in the face of this agenda and could be judged stand-offish or isolationist. Jesus of Nazareth, in one of the most influential pieces of wisdom ever recorded, namely the ‘Sermon on the mount’, advocates the development of a very secretive style as part of our learning processe. The secrecy revolves around the three activities of praying, fasting and donating. He speaks from an assumption that anyone who wants to achieve anything in life and work will engage in these activities. Today, all kinds of research and experiment back-up the value of prayer and meditation as healthy disciplines, imparting physical well being and mental resilience. The concept of self-denial for a higher cause has become embedded in certain personal development programs, under labels such as self-discipline or delayed gratification. Fundraising and charitable donation is now part of numerous corporate as well as individual manifestoes, as well as national or domestic foreign policies.
So, the three dimensional activity of praying, fasting and donating resonates with the devout as well as the earnest; the believer as well as the activist.
The discipline we are examining is not the practice itself but the spirit in which the practice is performed. Jesus does not advocate openness, transparency or freedom of information, but rather isolationism, hiddenness, mystery and individualism; in one word – secrecy. If you are prepared to think about it, the reasons start to emerge. Praying in secret involves a total honesty and reality; you can’t act or pretend if the deal is between you and God. Who can you fool? Going your room on your own, as you are, is to lay open the actual person of yourself and that’s it. What happens in the hidden place is actually very transparent and honest within the walls of your room, whilst staying invisible to anyone else. In this way all risk of show boating is eliminated, all possibility of pretending is rendered redundant, and all lies are meaningless.
This same principle applies to the practice of fasting or donating. The moment it becomes a public affair, it runs the risk of no longer being self-directed nurturing or genuine altruism. The temptation to fast competitively or turn into an admired ascetic combines with the temptation to donate for the promotion of ones own generosity rather than the well-being of the receiver.
Now this type of secrecy will appeal to the introvert, the shy or the male cave dwelling type, but Jesus is advocating that we all develop this discipline because the rewards are reaped in the public places of work, life and teamwork. He is challenging us to do the hidden work of brutal honesty, detailed disclosure, sacrificial giving and authentic service with him in secret and with no one watching. The power generated by such serving is then transmitted into the visible domains of life via the conduits of divine blessing. The paradox is then exposed, as the discipline of secrecy allows you to collaborate, co-operate, communicate and achieve, having already found the secret sources of all that you need.
Please keep this to yourself.
Matthew 6:1-18
1“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’ 16“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
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Geoff Shattock
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