Sermon for March
15, 20 Lent 03
Jesus was a carpenter and some of His disciples were
fishermen. In those days there were no cars, and other mechanized machinery,
dishwashers, escalators, life was lived close to the earth, and certainly so
the ministry of teaching and healing and feeding could be very exhausting. Lent is often a time to make life harder
& thereby turn our attention to God and His grace.
We could blame hard work as simply the cure after the
fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, but where would we be without hard work?
We have heard the stories of our ancestors and even our
parents and how life was much different for them then it was for us? So much was more labour intensive, slower to
accomplish and simpler ways of life because of it. Through the development of
machinery and technology to assist us with our work and cut back some on the
intensity of the physical labour, we have become more efficient at our tasks
and now try to manage more and more, never really celebrating the completion of
a task before rushing on to the next one, deadlines to meet. I believe most of
us grew up receiving the lesson from our elders and or witnessed to us about
the meaning and importance of hard work and not being afraid of it.
There is nothing better than to work hard at something
and as the days closes in and your body tired and aching your dirty and hungry,
but knowing your work has not been in vain, it feels good. It feels really good
to get into something and see the fruits of your labour and feel the effort of
your work in your aching bones.
B.B. Taylor makes a point that sadly has become a modern
day opinion. That we now live in “a culture” that regards physical labour as
the lowest kind of work” with people who do menial tasks for a living… at the
bottom of the economic ladder.” Truth be told, some work, because of its
oppressive conditions, mindless repetition, or meaningless waste, can smell of
the curse.” I want to counter that with
saying today, so many people looking for work, that menial task, doesn’ t look
so bad.
If we go back to the beginning of creation in Genesis we
are reminded us that we are a combination of dust and divine breath. The name
Adam means “earthling” & we are a combination of dust & divine breath.
Humility (Humus) is our very being, & our divine commission is first to
till the earth & keep it. 15 The Lord God
took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of
it. Gen 2:15 That commission was established before the fall. Good
meaningful work can be a wonderful gift. When we turn to Ecclesiastes, after
despairing about the futility of work, the preacher praises the contentment of
work as one of life’s pleasures.
Taylor in her chapter on The Discipline of Physical Labor
spoke about the time the hydro went out on their which was on a dead end road,
2 miles in, following a large snow storm which turned into an ice storm. After
Taylor and her husband walked two miles and passed numerous large trees down
over the road, they knew it would be days before their power would be
restored.”Whatever else we did for a living, we just had to become common
labourers.” They divided up the
chores to be done & set to work. Taylor spoke of hauling water for the
animals, chopping ice every few hours, to allow the animals to drink, preparing
the house for very cold nights and preparing the lights for when darkness
descended. Sleeping in sleeping bags close to the fire as they could. By the
end of the first morning the houseplants near the windows were frozen, the
temperature inside the refrigerator was warmer then the house. As the first day
evolved, Taylor began to rehearse the various cycles of physical needs that had
to be attended too. She knew the dogs needed warm water, the horses their
blankets, necessity bound them together.
By the second day, the coldness and the further struggle
caused by the setting sun, caused such dread. Taylor wore a headlamp everywhere
she went. She began to recognize her sweaters by feel instead of sight, &
thought of the things she couldn’t do such a take a bath, watch a movie, work
on the computer, do laundry, and she banged into things a lot in the near
darkness of her moving about. Not only had power been lost, but she was losing
her power, she was done.
On day three she decided that a power outage would make a
great spiritual practice. She wrote “Never
mind giving up meat or booze for Lent. A taste of real self-denial, just turn
off the power for a while and see if phrases such as “the power of God” and
“the light of Christ” sound any different to you. Better yet, ask someone to
flip a switch for you and then cut the wire for good measure, thereby depriving
you of the power to flip it back on again.”
On the afternoon of day four when the power returned,
tears sprang to Taylor’s eyes and she thought that there should be a service in
the prayer book for such occasions as the one she was experiencing.
Following the ice storm experience Taylor was more in
tune with the grace of physical labour. Bending and rising to hang laundry on
the line, the kneeling to scrub the pollen off the steps, hauling bales to the
loft, raking the chicken pens, gathering the eggs, this work gives you life,
she goes on to say. I choose labour of course, which sets me apart from those
who have no choice. With them, I live in a culture that regards physical labour
as the lowest kind of work.
Taylor mentions gardening as something that seems
acceptable, washing your car and working out at the gym, but beyond that the
general idea is to make enough money so you can pay others to change your
sheets, clean your toilets, mow your lawn, and raise you food.
It is true, sometimes we hire people to do tasks for us
because we can, or because we simply cannot physically do it anymore, but when
you think about it, there is grace and satisfaction in being able to do many of
the necessary, labour involved jobs for ourselves too. Labour is productive
& works the body and sometimes it is a refreshing change from mind work)
Even our labored work often involves labour saving
devices such as leaf blowers, dish-washers, weed eaters, washing machines &
dryers riding lawn mowers, larger and faster equipment and robots, and smaller
machinery for smaller spaces and other tools for easier reach and so on and so
on.
I think it is safe to say, we all know people who work
hard to avoid working, The
sign in the store window read: NO HELP WANTED. As two men passed by, one said
to the other, "You should apply--you'd be great."
Principles regarding work, Decision-making and the Will of
God, p. 336. and others who never seem to cease working,
Architect Frank
Lloyd Wright once told of an incident that may have seemed insignificant at the
time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life. The winter he was
9, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his reserved, no-nonsense
uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped
him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's
flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field.
"Notice how
your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back
again," his uncle said. "And see how my tracks aim directly to my
goal. There is an important lesson in that."
Years later the
world-famous architect liked to tell how this experience had greatly
contributed to his philosophy in life. "I determined right
then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss most things in life, as my uncle
had." Focus on the Family
letter, September 1992, Page 14. (took the
time to wander and see what was going on, all focused always on the goal)
Somewhere in between we need to find a balance between
work and play we need both, as they feed each other.
Taking a break after working hard to feed our bodies and
souls inspires us to be ready to work again, refreshed.
St. Benedict’s monastic practice can be summarized as ora
et labora, prayer and work, contemplation and action. By “work” Benedict meant physical labor: By
engaging and tending the physical world we get in touch with our humus, our
humanity, as well as creation, which is the real, God-beloved reality around
us. We should not look down on manual labour as beneath human dignity, for in
fact it can be a spiritual practice. Housework, too. “Cleaning refrigerators
and toilets helps you connect the food cycle at both ends, “writes Taylor. “If
all of life is holy, then anything that sustains life has holy dimensions
too.
Indira Gandhi My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of
people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try
to be in the first group; there was less competition there.
Indira Gandhi, Bits
and Pieces, April 1990, p. 11.
Keeping the earth is hard work, you get dirty and tired
doing it. But it also where you remember where you come from and why. “You
touch the stuff your bones are made of “, says Taylor.
Close with the words of Taylor as she concludes her
chapter on the Practicee of Carrying Water. Life offers no shortage of
opportunities to engage physical labour. Sometimes it comes attached to a time
in your life when there is no choice but to work hard to fulfill a need, maybe
care for a loved one, help a friend, other times physical labour presents
itself to us as drudgery, which you may turn into soul work by choosing the
labour instead of resenting it. However the openings come to you, they offer
you the chance to bear the reality of the universe in your flesh like a thorn.
The difficulty, Simone Weil says, is to look upon them with love. Succeed at
that, and you can be sure that what you love is Real, leading you deeper into
the More that is your heart’s desire.
The
words of Jesus speaking of Christian Confidence 1 Cor 15: 58 Therefore,
my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give
yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor
in the Lord is not in vain.1
Cor.15:58
Main source of content from Barbara
Brown-Taylor An Alter in the World, A Geography of Faith
Reformed
Worship Dec 18 Issue, Article entitled Everyday
Jesus Spirituality – Customized Spiritual Disciplines submitted from Peter
Schuurman who is director of Global Scholars Canada.
Bible
refs NRSV & NIV
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