St Mark Blog

From the Desk of Pastor Plaster

“The Laborer Is Worthy of His Wage.” (Luke 10:7)

Labor Day 2011

Labor Day Weekend is always a spiritual time for me. The weekend offers us a time to reflect, and yes perhaps, even begin to mourn the days of summer coming to a close. We cannot help but wonder what the autumn months will have in store for us, after the long, hot summer. For children, even though they have been in school for a few weeks, it is a time to remember the happy days of summer vacation and the busy school year ahead of them.
Labor Day is also a spiritual time, as we offer gratitude for the gift of work, pray earnestly for those who suffer from unemployment, and recognize that all of our earthly labors, when dedicated to God, are holy. In fact, when we open the Bible to the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, we read that God, Himself, was the first one who worked! God worked in creating the Heavens and the Earth. Our Creator worked, and He found that all He made was very good!
We, too, can find that as creatures, made in the image and likeness of our Creator, our work can be holy, too. We can say that all we have done is good; indeed, it is very good. God, our Creator, works through us. When we are one in mind and heart with Him, our work is a prayer of glory and praise to God. No matter how humble or exalted, we may consider our work to be, in the total scheme of things, our work is important to God, for He calls us into our vocations and occupations in life.
What God gives to us, is truly God’s gift to us. What we do with our talents, our individual qualities, and our work, is truly our gift in return to God. Perhaps we forget these basic facts, these basic truths about God in the business of our everyday lives, and that is why it is good to reflect this weekend, Labor Day
Weekend, on all that God in His goodness has given to us, and all that God in His goodness has done for us. Particularly, we should reflect this weekend on what God has done for us by working through us to enable us to accomplish all of our earthly tasks. God’s work must truly be our own work.
At the same time, we pray this weekend for many, who are unemployed that they may soon find satisfactory and secure employment. The past few years have been particularly difficult years economically, and so we pray that the Holy Spirit may enlighten all who possess a guiding influence over commerce and industry to work diligently for the common good of all people. May we seek together the ways of justice in the workplace enabling us to live in peace and harmony. Indeed, there is nothing better, for which we could pray, on this Labor Day Weekend.