Worship > Sermon Archive

The Reverend James Derkits
September 2, 2007

Hebrews 13.1-8
Luke 14. 1, 7-14

A Labor Day Sermon

Labor Day Sunday, our tradition is to place a symbol of our vocation on the Altar, offering our life-work to God. It is an annual reminder to bring all of who we are to God; to tie what happens here week after week around this table, to what happens day by day by day in our offices, or cubicles, or our travel time on the road, our classroom where we teach and learn or where we put our hands to tools as we build or create. It is a chance to remember that this is a public place, where we gather to be with God as one family.

The Sunday before labor day is recognized in the United States as a day to focus on the spiritual and educational dimensions of the actual labor day. And of course tomorrow is when we are to recognize the workers and laborers who have made our country great by their sweat. Or as our compline service puts it, to remember that "our common life depends upon each other's toil." Our nations unions worked to make a national day to recognize workers across the country, a day to hold parades of workers, so that all of us, no matter what our vocation, might remember to say thank you.

It is a chance for us to see the many varieties of work in our world, and how we all do depend upon one another. Once I was driving through NC and I saw a bumper sticker that read "If you bought it, trucker's hauled it." It was one of those "aha" moments, which changed the way I think about 18 wheelers on the highway, and taught me to appreciate the people who drive the endless miles to deliver the products we pick up at our convenience in our neighborhoods. Now I try to be more careful and respectful of those big trucks on the highway, and learned the code of flashing my headlights to say "It's clear to switch lanes."

Labor Day is a day to appreciate those people who work in oil who provided the energy it took to drive my car to church today, and to appreciate the monks and women who made my vestments, and Bill Kelly and his company for repairing our air conditioner so we're not sweating our way through this sermon! It is a day to appreciate the way we all serve each other through the economy, and the way hopefully the economy serves all of us making it possible to live our lives, and feed our families.

Of course the difficult witness of labor day is also a reminder to all of us that there are times when working conditions are difficult or dangerous for workers, as we remembered recently when the mine in Utah collapsed. It is time to think of our business practices, and watch out for temptations like economics becoming more important than workers, and the danger of thinking that people are only a means to an end and to be vigilant against injustices in the workplace.

I recently caught up with a friend who was in my youth group before I went to seminary. She spent this summer as an intern for Interfaith Worker Justice. They work with laborers who have been treated unjustly who have no means to any other course of action. She told me about a man who had been faithfully working for years for an apartment building not getting paid much, but getting a free apartment. He worked for the apartment, that is, until he hurt his back moving furniture. Then, when he asked for assistance with medical bills, he was fired instead. The man was an undocumented immigrant and suddenly had no job, and his injury now limits what work he can do. My friend Sarah speaks Spanish, and was able to hear his story and learn about his situation, and get the ball rolling, to try to do something for this man. She isn't sure what will happen with his case, there is still a lot up in the air.

Sarah is a privileged white woman starting her senior year at Rice. She could easily avoid such difficult situations as sitting down with an undocumented worker to hear about the woes of a monolingual Spanish speaker living in America, but the way she put it was she couldn't not do that sort of work. She cannot turn her back from the path she is walking, a door has been opened, and now she sees those in need, and her spirit cannot rest unless she is one of the people reaching out to help. She has seen a sneak peek of the Kingdom Party that God is throwing, and she doesn't want to miss a minute of it.

On this Sunday before labor day, in our Gospel, Jesus is once again eating. He is sitting down with a mix of people, breaking bread with clergy and the sick, and inappropriately healing on the Sabbath. He takes the opportunity to talk about the Kingdom of God in a parable. He is talking about where to sit down at a dinner party, but it is a parable, not to be confused with a chapter in Emily Post's book of etiquette. He tells us in his parable that we are not to assume that we have the place of honor when we are guests, but are to fearlessly take a lower place, and trust the host, God, to order us among the other guests. The misperception he is breaking is that having the closest place to the head of the table means that we are the most blessed. It is, in Jesus parable, humility which is honored. Humility to turn away from that seat of status and move down the table to associate with people we might otherwise avoid for fear of being likened to the company we keep. Of course we are likened to the company we keep, and this is the point. Jesus encourages us to associate with the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. In the end of his parable, those are the ones who will be invited to the banquet party at which God is the host. The Kingdom party God is throwing includes precisely those who aren't invited to the fanciest social parties.

Often our fear of the other prevents us from associating in any way with people too different from ourselves. We may be afraid of 'evil rumors' we may have heard about people. But Jesus not only invites us to step across those fears to associate, and break bread with those who we consider unlike ourselves, but he shows us how it's done. He lives the example for us to follow, sitting down at one table with the widest range of people.

We often mark Labor day with bar-b-que's and breaking bread with close friends and family, and that is a good thing. We rest on a day we would be working, to appreciate the work that we all do. This Labor Day, as you celebrate, consider saying a prayer for those you are with, and for everyone's toil which contributes to our common life together. Consider how you might show your appreciation for those who struggle to make ends meet who provide goods and services for us all. And this Labor Day, I encourage you to hear the advise that our reading from Hebrews gives us: to say with confidence "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" and to show hospitality to strangers, those who are different from you who you would not normally be with. As you celebrate Labor Day, consider joining the Kingdom Party that God hosts, and see who you may be called to break bread with next.

AMEN

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