Dear friends in Christ,

“Life and religion are one, or neither is anything”.  So wrote George McDonald, a great preacher and author of the Victorian era.  We are “under God” in all situations, endeavors, actions, thoughts, words, and deeds of life.  God has never provided a category of life other than “follow me”.

As Labor Day approaches, we are reminded that work is a part of God’s purpose and plan for us.  We can find a rich fullness of life by dedicating all that we do to the glory of God!  There is a marvelous hymn, number 592, which makes the point well:

Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see,

  and what I do in anything, to do it as for thee.

All may of thee partake; nothing can be so mean,

            which with this tincture, “for thy sake,” will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine:

            who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, makes the action fine.

Our honorable work is part of the ministry to which God calls us.  Our jobs provide for our own livelihoods and for the needs of others.  That is part of God’s plan.

Our current economy reminds us of our need for work.  It is more than just a livelihood.  Our work becomes part of our identity and a source of rightful pride.  We pray for those out of work in part because of the economic hardship and in part because of their struggle to maintain a sense of dignity.

Human beings are designed to need each other and to serve each other.  Our economic systems, at their best, are part of that design.  Through Scripture God proclaims that you and I deserve a decent, livable wage for our work.  God also proclaims that we must be fair, just and equitable in our dealings with the world.  Thus our work is both a gift from God and an offering to the glory of God.

One of my favorite meditation books is Frederick Buechner’s, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC.  In it Buechner defines “Vocation”: It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God.

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-Interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this.  The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done.  If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b).  On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do.  The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

On Sunday, September 7^th, we will celebrate our vocations.  We will give thanks to God for the work He has given us to do and we will ask God’s blessing and empowerment for our working lives.  I invite you to dress as you would for work; medical or construction, executive or stay-at-home parent, retail or service industries. 

I also invite you to bring some symbol of your work for blessing: briefcase, bottles, keys, books, tools.  These items may be brought to the front of the church as you come to receive communion.  At the end of the service we will invoke God’s blessing on the symbols we bring and on the work we do.

We will not and do not forget those who are not working for a paycheck.  Those of us who are retired or students have a vocation to serve the world.  Those of us who are currently without a job have the exhausting work of seeking employment.

We will bless symbols of all of these vocations.  We will pray for and encourage each other.  

We will celebrate our work and perhaps get to know a little bit more about each other.  God’s blessing be upon you in your vocation, now and always.

                                                           Your brother in Christ,

                                                                        Wilson +