This is Labor Day weekend, a time when Americans celebrate the gift and grind of labor...by taking a day off. We’re a hard-working people: more than half the population is in the paid work force. Over a quarter of working people put in more than 40 hours a week at their paying job; 8% work more than 60 hours a week. Over 7.5 million have two or more paying jobs. We’re a mobile work force...the average worker sticks with an employer just four years. The average commute to work is 25 minutes, down 30 seconds from last year...are you driving faster? 92% of workers work during the daytime, 77% drive to work alone. Studies tell us that Americans tend to work more hours with less time off than our neighbors around the world. The average American worker gets twenty-three days off for vacation and holiday...only half of what those tanned, laid-back Italians get. Even the industrious Japanese take off thirty-one days. (Dale McFeatters, Scripps News, 2006.)
Our morning scripture from James got me thinking about work. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. What does it mean for us as working people to be “doers of the Word?” We know all about “doing,” working hard at our jobs...how does that relate to being “doers of the Word?” This week, at Labor Day, let’s talk about work.
We are a people who take great pride in our work. We’re proud of our careers...proud of the kind of jobs we’ve had. In fact, let’s just take a minute and talk about some of our jobs. What has been the hardest job you’ve held? (Field work, sandblasting, ice house, teaching, insulating houses, etc.) What is the craziest job you’ve ever had? (Packaging toys for cereal boxes, pulling tassels off female corn).
Notice that when we talk about work, we generally mean work for which we are paid. Phil Kenneson, in an article in the journal Leaven, points out that most of us equate “work” with employment. Why should that be? A year ago this coming week, a dozen of us went to Biloxi, MS, to replace Joe Brennan’s roof which blew off in Hurricane Katrina. We drove all night and worked like trojans for the next several days, standing on a hot roof in the stifling Gulf Coast heat. Was that work? People who weren’t there might well say “Of course not,” we took off work to volunteer for a few days in Mississippi...we did it in our spare time. If you asked Barb where she works, she might say, “I’m retired...” but the truth is she works like crazy keeping up with our family and putting in hard volunteer hours at Assistance Resource Ministry. If you ask Carl Hoffman where he works, he might tell you he’s retired from jockeying 747's around for Delta, but it is unlikely he’d tell you about the countless hours he and Eva devote to ministering to the elderly. If you ask a house wife or house husband where they work, they might look at their shoes and be a little embarrassed about not having a “real job,” without appreciating the incredible amount of time and energy that goes into raising kids. Perhaps we need to take a broader view of what work is.
Not only do paying jobs tend to define our “work lives”, we also look at our jobs to assign worth to our existence. We let our paying jobs define us. A sign of this craziness about work comes out in the way we talk to each other. When I meet someone new, I first ask them their name. After that, what is almost always the next question? “What do you do?...or more directly...Where do you work?” What do I do? “I work at such and such a place...I’m a carpenter...I’m a teacher..I’m a banker.” Who ever answers that by saying, “I’m a dad of four children; I’m the husband of a great woman; I minister to homeless people; I’m a disciple of Jesus???” What do I do? Nothing really, I just take care of kids!
Kenneson points out that these little conversations are not-so-subtle means of locating one another on an artificial social grid. The underlying message is that our personal worth is somehow tied up in what we do for pay...and by how much salary we receive. Think about it. What do you do? “I’m a surgeon, a chemist, a professor, an executive CEO.” Wow, those sound like interesting people to meet. What do you do? “I wait tables...I cut grass...I volunteer at the middle school...” Hmm...that’s nice. (Thanks to Philip Kenneson, Learning to Take Joy in our Work: Some Preliminary Theological Reflections Leaven Vol 12. No. 2 2004: 80-87.)
We’ve been sucked into the dominant notion that “Work” means what we get paid to do, and we’ve also bought into the notion that some types of work are more worthy of prestige than others. Most of us who have been at this for a while have pretty much bought into that, and we’re trying to teach you the same game, college students. And in all honesty, many of you are believing. Why are you in school? So you can get a degree... so that you can get a good job...so you can climb higher on the ladder. It’s only when we’re a way up the ladder that we talk about our old jobs...garbage collector, ice house man, cereal box packer, farm hand with a measure of pride.
Why do we allow work define our worthiness, our value to society? I’ve always thought that the most noble job on campus is found in the kitchen...the men and women who slop dishes and wash trays and clean the kitchen are alright by me. When I was a student at Milligan, we had a crew of kitchen janitors who took pride in their work: men like Dick Major, Tim Brady, Paul Blowers. If you go to Tim’s house, you’ll find a drawing one of his friends made of him holding a broom in the kitchen with the caption: “I sweep, therefore I am.”
As Christians, our primary identity isn’t found in our jobs. No matter what your day job may be, that position does not define who you are, no matter how important society says you are...no matter how low people think your work is. Your paying job does not determine your primary identity. Your primary identity is as a disciple of the Jesus. Our vocation is to love and serve Jesus. The world can’t say to you, You’re worth more than she is, because you have the more prestigious position, and better pay. We don’t have to believe that malarkey. Jesus has already looked down in love and given us an identity of infinite worth by calling us disciples and friends. Paul advised Colossian workers: “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.”
Your day job may be waiting tables, or taking care of sick people, or teaching fourth graders, or driving a truck...but that’s not your primary job. Your primary job is serving Christ and serving people, in everything you do.
Our primary identities ought not to derive from our day jobs. Having said that, Christians do need to think long and hard about the kind of work they engage in. Perhaps work is not something that defines my worth, but work is our primary means of paying the bills. When work becomes a means to acquire money, then we’re tempted to believe that the more money a job pays, the more desirable that job is. Well yeah! Take the job and ask questions later. Are jobs value neutral? Should we, as Christians, simply go after the job that pays the most? Are some jobs better than others, from God’s perspective? Are there jobs that God wants done? Are there jobs that Christians should stay away from? Are there places of employment that are ethically problematic?
Well sure. Some jobs carry obvious ethical difficulties. If your child tells you they just got a job dancing at the Mouse’s Ear or tending bar at the Silver Spur, some immediate objections might come to mind. But let’s go a little deeper. Are there companies, places of employment, businesses whose practices and products are not good for the community, for the worker, for the world? Are there jobs that are founded upon the notion of taking advantage of people, or creating products that have a negative impact on society? Are there jobs that you just can’t just can’t “...do as unto the Lord?” Are there jobs that God doesn’t want done? Jobs that hurt people more than they help? Your job doesn’t assign you primary identity, but your primary identity can narrow down the range of jobs you might do with a clear conscience, regardless of what they pay. Sometimes we’re just desperate to get a job to pay the bills; I understand that. But long term, believers ought to have a whole different set of criteria by which to judge what an appropriate job might be. Instead of asking, “How prestigious and how much money can I make at this job?,” perhaps we should be asking questions like:
*Does this job provide a service or product that the world or our community really needs?
*Does this job contribute to the work God wants done in the world? Or does it work counter to God’s purposes in the world?
*Can I work “as unto the Lord” in my place of employment?
*Are there ethical dilemmas associated with this job? Does this work bring about harm, alienation, bondage to others?
*Does this job force me to be one person at work than I am the rest of the time?
*Does this job place such demands upon my time, energy, and attention that other important parts of my life suffer?
Jobs are not value neutral. Some industries we ought to stay away from are obvious: industries that trade in evil and lusts, but we need to think about less obvious problems. What about industries that prey on human greed, human pride, human naivete? What about industries that produce products that hurt or maybe even kill people or the environment...in a few hours, a few weeks, or a few years? What about industries that bring people into financial bondage? Do we really want to give large chunks of our lives to support those kind of endeavors? Those places of employment probably won’t stand or fall depending on your participation...but finding a better fit for your life and convictions might just transform you. Let’s partner with God to redeem every phase of our lives.
And finally, Let’s live our lives in ways that we don’t fall into the trap of having to work like dogs at jobs we hate to keep buying junk we don’t need. Let’s plug into places of employment that provide needful goods and perform services our community needs. Let’s make adjustments in our lifestyles so that work isn’t allowed to suck us dry. Thomas Aquinas said: “There can be no joy in life without joy in work.” It may never be easy to get up with the alarm and head off to work...but let’s not sell our souls to the company store...or to the corporate office. If you’re doing a job that is not good for your soul...maybe the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you something. .
Whether you’re digging a ditch, driving a nail, running a program, teaching a student, wiping a table, driving a truck, arguing a case...be a Doer of the Word...busy at the work that God wants done in the world. Let’s do our work heartily, as unto the Lord. I’ve asked Nick to come and close our time together with a song for the working woman, a song for the working man...
Doin' His Job...Malcolm Holcomb
up on a roof down in a ditch
workin' in a plant it dont matter what shift
jesus is there and i just cant quit
doin' my job
layin' rock drivin' a nail
drivin' a truck deliverin' mail
jesus is there and he never fails
when i'm doin' my job
chorus
thank you lord for my job
praise your name in the mornin' light
gonna keep on prayin' mornin' noon and night
thank you lord sweet lord for my job
a doctor and a nurse a deacon and a preacher
a waitress in a cafe and a school teacher
jesus is there now i'm a new creature
tryin' to do my job
the grace of the Good Lord givin' us life
a mother and a baby husband and a wife
jesus on calvery willin' to die
he was doin' his job doin' his job
hebrews 13:20-22
Benediction
Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
