Psalm 112 “Hearts firm, secure in the Lord.”
Hebrews 13:1-15 “Service well-pleasing to to God.”
Luke 14:1, 7-14 “The humble will be exalted.”
I.
To most folks, Labor Day is a last opportunity to indulge in summer pleasures. For others, it is another opportunity to exercise patience with traffic-snarled arteries. It was not always so.
In the late 19th Century, Congregationalists and other concerned U.S. citizens became aroused by the unjust treatment of factory workers and others in the burgeoning manufacturing sector. Children were employed in New England textile mills, sweating away as many as fourteen hours a day for pennies. Laborers everywhere seemed increasingly to be exploited in the service of outrageous profits for the ownership class. Preachers began calling for reform. Soon they were joined by many others. The great Social Gospel movement developed as clergy grappled with what could be done to reform the system. Today’s social justice emphasis within the religious community has its roots in the social gospel.
Our best sources tell us that one Matthew Maguire, a machinist, proposed in 1882, the idea of a day to honor the laboring class and thereby to seek reforms. The first Monday in September eventually was set aside, at the encouragement of the growing labor movement, to honor the social and economic achievement of American workers. Maguire’s stated intention was honor those who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
The churches have long forgotten this history. It is high time we dusted-off the idea and take another look. Many Americans find that work still involves tremendous physical effort and frequent unjust conditions. Undocumented workers are treated as expendable minimum wage workers, if that. As countless news reports have shown, even legal laborers, such as those who clean our offices and hotel rooms, and work on construction sites or in factories, receive poor treatment. The recent United Church of Christ General Synod passed a resolution expressing concern about Smithfield Ham’s deplorable working conditions. Domestic workers in our homes and even employees of churches, synagogues and mosques often receive unlivable wages and few benefits. And where is the outrage about career employees in many large corporations loosing their promised pension payouts, thanks to recent legislation in Congress? This day is a chance for us to give visibility to these injustices of the 21 Century work force.
II.
This weekend is also an ideal opportunity to consider the meaning of work itself. Many young adults are asking basic questions about the topic as they seek employment. We live in a society in which work and identity are closely associated. Many of us work long hours at a work place and even more at home after business hours, thanks to new technology intended to give us greater leisure time. In countless conversations, I find that many whom society deems highly successful, including many in high pay positions, intensely dislike their work and can hardly rise in the morning to go to their offices. Depression is rampant in the professional classes. Many federal government employees are disillusioned and feel their policy reform efforts have been futile.
Even clergy are restless. Though, thankfully, I am not one of them, some of my colleagues have worked extraordinary hours and so exhausted themselves in parishes which were little impressed, if not outright hostile, to their efforts that they have concluded that ordained ministry is a futile enterprise. Clergy burnout is an increasingly popular topic for counseling room discussions.
What has happened? It seems to me that U.S. society has completely equated work with worth. The first question we are likely to be asked in social settings is what do you do? In other societies, such as Australia where Anne’s sister and family live, one can visit all day with a new friend without ever being asked that question; one’s personhood is valued independent of one’s work.
We get all tangled up in the difference between vocation and work. Many young people want to work in fields in which they can see a socially redeeming reason for their labors. Many look favorably for careers in non-profits. Yet all seek high personal incomes. A summer comic strip tells this story in a humorous way. Hagar the Horrible, by Dik Browne, shows the great warrior king talking with his son, Hamlet (8-12-07):
Hamlet, when you grow up you’ll be working for a long, long time!
And it’s important to choose a profession that will make you happy!
So don’t base your decision solely on making money…
To be a success in life you have to love what you’re doing! (long pause)-
Of course, it would help if what you love to do pays a lot of money!
In answering the call to ordained ministry, I wrestled mightily with this issue. Coming for modest means, I wanted a comfortable lifestyle while I was “sacrificing for the Lord! That’s the ideal for all of us. Because in this culture, money not only provides comfort. It also brings status and respect. So faith and vocation get confused.
III.
Jesus’ teaching on humility (Luke 14:1, 7-14) has much to say to us. Humility is not weakness. But it is an attitude born of a deep knowledge of who we are. As Jesus himself embodied, our vocation- our calling- is to be a child of God! In faith, we are to serve God’s purposes full-time, whether at work or at home or in the community. Humbly, we are to see human need and meet it wherever we find it. Sensitized to injustice, we are called to willingly engage organizations and governments, even at some cost to ourselves if necessary, on behalf of the powerless. This is our vocation.
Our job is what we do to earn a living and provide for our families. Our job is what enables us to support good works, like those of the Church. Our job is how we express our human dignity and develop our specific talents.
In some happy instances, the work role is highly satisfying and clearly socially redeeming. I am one of those fortunate people for whom vocation and job merge into an internally rewarding lifestyle. As tired or discouraged as I may get, there has never been a day in nearly 40 years of full time work in the Church that I have not been eager to get to work. I realize that others are not so blessed.
But I do become frustrated when I forget my basic calling- to be a child of God. Then I lose perspective and expect too much of my work life. Psalm 112 and its kind help to keep me on track. Hebrews’ service well-pleasing to God emphasis keeps me grounded.
These and other lessons remind me that work is what we do. It is not to be fully descriptive of who we are. When we allow our self-understanding to be what we do for a living, we, like an uncle of mine, may find that work is profoundly frustrating and ultimately disappointing.
My uncle rose to become CEO of a Fortune 500 national company which he helped found. His life was spent day and night on the company, traveling extensively, constantly meeting clients and government representatives who could help the organization. He had four children, all of whom grew up without knowing him very well. My aunt raised the children and keep the home going. He sacrificed fully for the company. Retirement time came and the marvelous dinner was held. The gold watch and the plaque were extended. The nice words were spoken. Back in the excutive office suite, as he was packing up the last of his personal items, my uncle’s protégé came in- the younger man my uncle had recruited and groomed to succeed him. The younger man looked him straight in eyes and said, Now don’t bother visiting or coming around any more. You will just be in the way. Your ideas are outmoded and you are just in the way of progress. Heartbroken, my uncle never again set foot in the office. For the rest of his life, he felt cheated and depressed. His “marriage” to his company, resulting the merger of his identity fully with the organization, had ended on a painful divorce.
We are not what we do! We are a children of God. We do the work of God for justice and peace for all people through whatever roles may be ours’. Our labor is to be dedicated to the building, not of a company or an organization first and foremost, but to the constructing of God’s realm on earth.
Such a faithful, healthy perspective is key to a happy, productive life.
Amen.