Sermon: September 4, 2011

Labor of Love

Scripture Psalm 149 and Romans 13:7-14

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ September 4, 2011

Celebration of Our Lord’s Supper (Labor Day Weekend)

INTRODUCTION SCRIPTURE
Psalm 149
You have got to love a party song. Everyone coming together to sing praises to God; rejoicing in song and dance; women in bangles and swirling dresses, young men playing lyres, children banging tambourines.  If only the song ended on the high note of God’s praise in their throat, but instead we go from joy and song and dance to swords and vengeance and chains.[1]  What happened? Israel has once again been saved from destruction.  The song of petition for salvation has been replaced by the song of victory.  What enemies are you struggling to overcome?  What addictions, fears or illness eat away at your joy?  Matthew Henry points out that in Hebrews “the two-edged sword” is the Word of God.[2]  May you sing this song knowing the word of God can set you free!

¹Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

²Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
³Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
⁴For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
⁵Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
⁶Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
⁷to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
⁸to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,
⁹to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!

Romans 13:7-14

In our culture, we wear a variety of clothing depending on what we are doing.  Our “labor” more than fashion or cult demands that we dress practically to fit the need of what we are doing.  A person driving a truck will probably not want to wear what is best for an attorney going into court.  Paul takes that image of putting on clothing to talk about putting on Christ to labor in the will of God.  He relates it to taking off the clothes of sin and putting on the clothes of love. 

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹²the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; ¹³let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Sermon

Tomorrow is Labor Day.  Just a little history to put it in perspective:

During the major economic depression of the early 1890s, the Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages in its factories. Discontented workers joined the American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs, (his home is a museum on ISU campus[3]) which supported their strike by launching a boycott of all Pullman cars on all railroads. ARU members across the nation refused to switch Pullman cars onto trains. When these switchmen were disciplined, the entire ARU struck the railroads on June 26, 1894. Within four days, 125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads had quit work rather than handle Pullman cars. The strike was broken up by United States Marshals and some 2,000 United States Army troops, commanded by Nelson Miles, sent in by President Grover Cleveland on the premise that the strike interfered with the delivery of U.S. Mail. During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded.[4]

The first Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York. It became a federal holiday in 1894, following the human toll of the Pullman strike… President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. But the opportunity to collectively bargain and strike employers who have abused their power is still on shaky ground even today. Some of the ills that people organize against have little to do with a pay check, although a living wage is vital for everyone but much more is the safety of workers. Whether it is mine workers in Tennessee or police in Chicago, they all need as safe an environment as possible. In 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York took the lives of 146 garment workers, mostly women age 14 to 48 because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. I once worked in a drilling department for a circuit board company. One day I walked back to find one of the Mexican workers in the rinse area ironing a board (I never understood it’s purpose). The cord on the iron was not connecting well. He was standing in water. He had been told to fold the cord over to make the connection as he ironed. I ran back to the manager and he did fix the problem. But it wasn’t long before I was asked to leave.


Ending the oppression of people seems to take a terrible cost before we respond. But in our baptism we have put on Christ and that means we pay attention before injustice boils over into violence or death. We prepare for disasters; we need to prepare for being instruments of justice.

For those clothed with Christ, the future is characterized by seeing the "other" as neighbor and seeking the neighbor's best. So ask yourself, “Where have I seen or been an instrument of injustice and what can I do about it? In prayer God will lead you to amazing acts of righteousness. It begins with a meal in which Jesus invites everyone to partake. Paul writes, “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day.” This is our labor of love: to work so others have descent housing, enough to eat, safe employment, and access to health care. This can apply to a Wal-Mart employee or a soldier. Our military should have the best equipment and protection we can give them. Then, if they do become ill or injured, they will also have the best health care. This may sound political, but it is NOT. This is kingdom behavior. This is kingdom living. This is seeking justice and righteousness for all of God’s children. It is our labor of love. Amen.

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[1] "Can We Just Keep the Nice Bits?" Nadia Bolz-Weber, The Hardest Question, 2010.  see: http://thehardestquestion.org/yearc/allsaintsdaypsalm/

[2] Hebrews 4:12

[3] http://debsfoundation.org/

[4] See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States  also see: http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin472.htm which discusses in detail how the 1878 "The Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act substantially limited the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. It also considers the consequences of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, which included a section titled "Use of the Armed Forces in major public emergencies. "Who will give the order to send U.S. troops against American civilians, and under what circumstances?” asks Baldwin.