Summer doesn’t really end until Labor Day weekend, when we give thanks for and reflect on our various occupations and honor the labor of all who work. Martin Luther would have supported those with legitimate authority acting in the public realm to protect worker’s rights.
Loving and caring relationships with family and friends can expand to include living lives as informed citizens who are aware of how our food is produced and harvested, of the lives of garment workers who produce our clothing, and the work environments of those who work in restaurants, motels, or other service industries. In doing so, we play a role in ensuring that all who lay their hands to any useful task may receive the just rewards for their work.
With joy, we thank God for the rich variety of vocations to which, as a priesthood of all believers, we are called. We rejoice in the knowledge that all labor is valued in the eyes of God.
This message is excerpted from “Labor Day now and then” by Sue A. Larson in the September 2015 Gather magazine. Today is Labor Day in the United States.
There’s still time to register to attend the Just Love Gathering in Phoenix, Arizona, September 21-24, 2023. Will we see you there?
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