+I love Labor Day weekend. Not because it’s a weekend of cookouts and relaxing. Not because it’s the last hurrah before the routine of the September through June world takes root. No I love Labor Day because we sing one of my favorite hymns: “Come Labor On,” #541 in our hymnal. I love that the words of this hymn reflect God’s sanctifying of our daily work, our labor.
Our work, what we do to earn a living, to put food on the table, occupies a huge portion of our life, yet many of us don’t connect what we do 9-5, M-F with what we do here on Sunday morning from 8 until 9 [10:30-11:30].
This hymn states that God has given us the ability and the expectation that we will work, that we will labor. This hymn tells us that there is work to do and that, when we work hard with dignity and integrity, God is pleased.
Pleased with our efforts, please with our work. All our work. Not just work we do specifically “for the church.” God sanctifies all human labor. This hymn acknowledges that work is part of the human condition and that God notices.
Of course, we all want to be acknowledged for the work we do, to be told that what we’ve labored at all day, all week, all career, is worthwhile and appreciated. But it usually isn’t God we turn toward for that praise.
You see, when we’re focused on being acknowledged by our bosses, by the folks who sign our checks, by our friends and family; we forget that the acknowledgement that really matters, the honor that really counts, is that which we get from God.
And, remembering God in all we do is the message in today’s Gospel.
When Jesus tells us to hate mother, father, sister, brother he means, don’t lose our primary focus— remember God in all we do, not just in times of trouble, not just in times of joy-- but always and everywhere.
He knows how easy it is to get caught up in the here and now, to pay attention to the loudest voices around us, the voices of judgment and expectation put forth by our co workers, our bosses, our friends and our family.
Jesus is reminding us that what we do---that everything we do—is because of and for God.
As stated in the Book of Jeremiah, God, the great potter, has molded us from non-distinct balls of clay into the wonderful vessels we are today, complete with the unique attributes which make you, you and me, me. Each of us fulfills a different purpose within creation. This brings to mind another old hymn—I Sing a Song of the Saints of God. A hymn which details how all of us are saints in the eyes of God, no matter what we do. We can be teachers or doctors, shepherds or queens, soldiers or priests, or even slain by a fierce wild beast…..but the point is we all have specific gifts bestowed upon us by our creator and our job is to go out into the world utilizing these gifts, as best we can, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in.
Every job, even the wonderful job of being your rector, of being a priest, has drudgery attached to it, There are things I need to do on a daily basis which don’t feel, at first blush, to be furthering God’s kingdom. I bet your jobs feel the same way. But, and here is the point, when we are working at our daily tasks, no matter how mundane, we are living into the life God created for us.
We are God’s creation and all we do is of God.
When we get so caught up in just “getting through the day,” when our daily tasks become a burden, when we work simply to get to the end of the day, when we forget to see God at work even in the most tedious of tasks, we are turning our back on God.
Jesus is saying, “don’t let anything stand in the way of your love of God. ….it doesn’t matter if you can’t see the glory in what you do every day. . .because God sees it, and God has sanctified it.”
The regular-ness of our daily lives, our jobs as clerks, managers, accountants, teachers, construction workers, bankers, homemakers and volunteers… is where we live out the fullness of our faith.
The regular-ness of our daily lives—our Monday through Saturday lives, is more sacred than our Sunday morning lives. For it is in our daily lives that others are able to see God’s grace –a grace we gather each week here to celebrate and honor---at work in our lives.
What we have to do, what our task is as put forth by Jesus, is to do our very best to seek and serve Christ in all people—even when our bosses, our co-workers, our classmates, all our companions along the way ----drive us nuts, make us mad, hurt our feelings and exasperate us.
That’s when we’re carrying the cross of Christ. Carrying our cross and following Jesus is not proselytizing it’s not preaching…it’s living our regular, ordinary day in and day out lives.
If we live our lives doing the best we can, seeking and serving Christ in all people---even in those people who drive us nuts---then we’re carrying the cross of Christ, we’re ---evangelizing. Because, by being who God molded us to be, we show others that God loves us all and sanctifies all that we do.
So go out from here today, resuming the routine of a September to June world, knowing that God is with you in all you do, loving you for who you are and what you do, so that no matter what heartache befalls us, no matter what frustrations we feel at home, at work or at school, we are the beloved masterpiece of our potter God, a God who formed us to be exactly who we are.
So go, Labor on. Your work is beautiful in God’s sight. +
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