Labor Day

For Labor Day (from The Book of Common Prayer, pg. 261)

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I was the first of the Simpson clan to graduate from college. My grandfather, who worked his whole life for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company used to like to tell me that he was glad I had that opportunity, "so that I would not have to work for a living." He meant it (honestly) as a compliment; and I received it in the spirit with which it was intended. I work hard, but relative to the work my grandfather did, I don't work that hard to make a living.

Some of us are fortunate enough to have our "work-for-pay" link up pretty closely with our "vocations." But even clergy know that it is never a perfect match. A fairly high percentage of my work week is rewarding and meaningful and even uses the gifts God has given me. But within every week there are priestly responsibilities (or at least rectorly ones!) that are less life-giving. Even so, being a priest is not the equivalent of my total vocation: I see being a son, brother, parent, father, friend and neighbor as also part of the "work" that God has given me to do, even if I don't get paid for it.

Still, when all is said and done, it is essential for the vast majority of us to have an income, and it is better for society if that income is "just" and fair. If we get paid to put bread on the table for work we actually enjoy doing, well so much the better.

Labor Day is, for me, (as the prayer above says so well) an opportunity to reflect on community, and why we need each other. I can't do surgery. And I really am not very good at growing tomatoes or carrots either. I wouldn't know how to kill a chicken and de-feather it. I can sew a button if I need to but I couldn't make my own clothes if my life depended on it. So I need other people to do those things that sustain me--even if I don't know their names. Every day, from the moment I wake up and drink that first sip of coffee, and then take a shower (if the plumbing in my house goes I assure you I need to pay a plumber) and get dressed...in each and every moment of my day I am dependent upon others.

And so are you, my faithful readers. Who started saying anything other than this? Who started spreading the lie that we are self-reliant and need no one but ourselves? That we make our own destinies. We need each other because our lives are interconnected. We don't all have to know how to fix the electricity after an ice storm like my grandfather did. But somebody needs to know how to do that, and they need to do it well, and faithfully, because the rest of us depend on them.

Whether we preach, teach, mop floors, care for the sick, dig ditches, run multi-national corporations, or coach Little League we are called to do the work we have been given to do, work that hopefully aligns with our natural gifts and inclinations, for an old-fashioned and seemingly out-of-vogue reason: for the COMMON good. May we remember that today.

And while we are at it may we also remember all who are unemployed and underemployed: may they and their families not lose hope in the midst of troubling times.