Did you know?
On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in the month of September an annual federal holiday in thanksgiving for and appreciation of the American laborer. This remembrance was established with the intent of celebrating all of the many and important ways that the work of the men and women of the trade and labor organizations contributed to the economic and social prosperity and stability of the United States of America. So…Happy Labor Day!
But did you also know?
In 1909, the American Federation of Labor adopted a resolution establishing the Sunday before Labor Day Monday as Labor Sunday. Its goal was to have a day dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement. And so, in the spirit of Labor Sunday…
I invite you to read for yourselves – whether for the first time or the hundredth – the story of the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. Pay attention to the demands the Egyptians placed upon the Israelites. What was the nature of the work the people were required to do? How many days were they expected to work? What kind of schedule were they to maintain? What happened if they didn’t produce what was expected of them? Were they paid a fair wage? Were they even compensated at all? Was the work voluntary or forced?
What was God’s response to the life the Egyptians forced upon the people of Israel?
What gift did God give the Israelites to help them rest?
What kind of lifestyle did God desire for their people?
What kind of lifestyle do you think God would then desire, not just for YOU, but for all who labor?
As you celebrate Labor Day this year at the beach, or the lake, or with a barbecue with the neighbors, remember that God desires justice for the laborer. God wants them to have time for rest built into the cycle of the work week. God wants the laborer to be paid their fair and just wages. God delivers the people from being enslaved to a lifestyle that burdens the laborer with impossible quotas and demanding schedules and the feeling of needing to simply produce, produce, produce or their life has no value. God wants the laborer to be free from a boss that thinks they “own” their employees and can make more and more heavy demands on them until they work themselves into sickness or death. God wants the laborer to know life, and to know life abundant.
And so, Happy Labor Day!
