Today is our national holiday,  Labor Day.   Originally intended to honor manual labor it’s now an occasion for recognition of all kinds of work.
 
The Hebrew Bible is ambivalent about work. In chapter 3 of Genesis, physical toil is considered a punishment for Adam and Eve’s sin,  as they are banished from the Garden of Eden.  Later in the Bible  the importance of  manual work is recognized:  
 
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 38:27-32
So it is with every artisan and master artisan
who labours by night as well as by day;
 
So it is with the smith, sitting by the anvil,
intent on his ironwork;
He sets his heart on finishing his handiwork,
and he is careful to complete its decoration.
 
So it is with is the potter sitting at his work
and turning the wheel with his feet;
he is always deeply concerned over his products,
and he produces them in quantity.
 
All these rely on their hands,
and all are skilful in their own work.
Without them no city can be inhabited,
Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people,
 
 
Any kind of work,  well done,  has dignity and worth.  But it also holds the potential for obsessive over-emphasis—workaholism.   Healthy work and rest balance each other.   Genesis says that God rested from the work of Creation on the seventh day.   Jesus went apart from his mission of healing and teaching for restorative times of prayer and rest.   St. Benedict’s rule for his monasteries enjoins prayer and work in alternation during the day—“Ora et labora.”  
 
Sadly,  even Sirach notes that although the artisan’s craft skill supported the life of the city, manual labor’s dignity was not always recognized—artisans were “not sought out for the council of the people.”   This is still true today.  “White Collar” has more prestige than “Blue Collar.”   Salaried labor has more prestige than hourly wage labor.  To counter this a colleague of mine,  Mike Rose,  has written a wonderful book called The Mind at Work.  It illustrates narratively the intelligence and skill involved in Blue Collar labor,  showing this for waitresses and auto body shop workers,  among others.  (His mother was a waitress.) 
 
All work has value,  and also the potential to be a curse.  Benedictine balance between prayer and work seems to be the best course for all of us—ora et labora.  Let us pray today for all workers,  in the words of  the collect appointed for Labor Day in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer:
 
Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Frederick Erickson
 
           

The Epistle for this Sunday is St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
As Paul does in so many of his Letters, he asks his audience to greet and welcome his friends. Paul is very generous in recommending his friends to those to whom he is writing.
Romans is often regarded by scholars as Paul’s greatest Letter. It was certainly one of his boldest. Unlike many of his other Letters, it was addressed to an audience he had not met before. He was hoping to visit, and wanted to impress the Romans with his knowledge and his love of Christ Jesus.
Phoebe of Cenchreae was chosen to deliver this important document from Corinth, where it was written, to Rome – an awesome responsibility. She was well known in Cenchreae, a seaport about nine miles east of Corinth. And she was on her way to Rome for business, probably either legal or official business. To have business in Rome, and be selected for the honor of delivering Paul’s letter, she must have been a well-respected personage. Paul bids the Romans to welcome her, in Romans 16: 2: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.”
Today, our church commemorates Phoebe of Cenchreae. The Collect for this day reads:
Eternal God, who raised up Phoebe as a deacon in your church and minister of your Gospel; Grant us that same grace that, assisted by her prayers and example, we too may take the Gospel to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen.
 
Mary McCue

Here are three prayers about work from the Book of Common Prayer (pages 261, 259, 261) appropriate for any time, including Labor Day.
 
Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.
 
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give to us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.
 
Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return
for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers,
and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

​Charles Hoffacker