In a village in Africa, a teacher taught her students the meaning of Christmas. Of giving gifts in honor of the new born king. The children were not Christian, but they understood anyway. One little boy was so taken with the idea, that he gave his teacher a gift the next stay. A beautiful stone, she noticed that this kind of stone could only be found in a village by the sea – that was some distance from where they lived. She thanked the little boy and asked where he go the stone – he told her that village. She said that is a little far, you didn’t need to go through that much trouble to give me a gift, you could have gotten me something simpler. No replied the little boy – the trip was a part of the gift to show you that I care.
Often when we get a gift, we are not aware of what the person needed to do to achieve the gift. We don’t know the labor and love that went into acquiring it for us.
Think about the gifts that God has given us – the earth, our food, our well being, our lives, our families and the countless other blessing we have in life – what did it take for God to create those gifts?
What about the gifts that Christ has given us – salvation, understanding, new life, - how much did he have to sacrifice to come to earth and to die on a cross?
Labor Day is our chance to think about our gifts, and the hands that gave them to us. We get to rest, but we also think of theneeds of others. Many who work in order to survive and to help their families – and yet who work tirelessly to give us the gifts of comfort and life, many of which we don’t even think of.
The scriptures for today all have one theme in mind – that is to remember the poor. To remember what we have received from them and to not just say thank you, but to make sure that they are supported and taken care of.
Proverbs is based in the premise that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. Not a fear that we will be punished for doing wrong – but an awe, a sense of respect, a sense of mystery that what God does is unknown to us, and yet we see the results of God’s work and we are grateful.
The writer of proverbs believes that we have two choices in life – we can choose wisdom or we can choose death. The difference is in how we live – a good name is better than riches says wisdom. The difference in the way you live is in your willingness to do hard work. It is in your labors of love to the world and to God. When you give a gift – are you focused in the material item or the journey it took to aquire it.
I went to the Brookfield zoo for the first time last week. It was a great experience to see not just the animals – but the relationship that we have with them as people. How we learn to live together. The primate building – starts out like a maze, and you had to choose which way to get in. Making the point that primates are the only animals in the world who are able to make a choice about anything. All other animals don’t really think about what they are doing they just automatically do it. They rely on their instincts to live and survive. Some choices we take for granted – and some we ponder over for months. But are lives are always full of choices. Our faith reminds us that we even have a choice about how we deal with life. When cant control the events of our life – but no matter what we can always choose joy – and the joyful path. We can choose to heal and move on from hurts, or we can stay stuck and constantly remember what someone said or did. Life for humans is full of choices.
James, the new testament book of wisdom also is based on the premise of choice. We can choose what is wise or we can choose what is foolish. The consequensces are different for each choice. James also wants us to know that one is alive and one is dead.
Chapter 2 is also a reminder to treat the poor with respect. How we treat the poor determines the consequences of our faith. How do you treat the poor- like you would anyone else. James says that you don’t make a distinction between the rich and the poor, those we like and those we don’t like. As Christians we should not show partiality to those who are better able to take care of themselves. We don’t have favorites in our lives.
I think we all agree with that in principle – and if asked we would say that we treat everyone the same. But we are not aware of our biases and values that force us to unfairly judge people. And we don’t notice when we are sharing favoritism to others. What is wise and what is foolish about our behavior – we have to constantly pay attention to what we do and why. Who is our nieighbor and who do we extend hospitality to – anyone who is around us. I think it is a very poignant example within itself when James says that when you see someone in need and you wish them well and send them on their way without helping – them your faith is dead. Faith without works is dead.
Its is sort of like two plants – one alive and one dead. The dead one looks beautiful and takes no work but a little dusting. The living one must be waters and sunned and taken care of. Which type of faith do you have – living are artificial?
What labor of love goes into what you do for others. More importantly what labor of love has gone into what others have done for you? Look at the gifts in your live – who gave them? How did you get them? What is your response to those who gave them to you?
This labor day – we all may have many struggles but we also have many gifts- to be grateful for and to remember the journeys of those who gave them. Amen.
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