September 1, 2024 – Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Kahu Gary Percesepe
James 1:17-27
James’ short letter to scattered first century Christians contains practical wisdom on the relationship between faith and work, the difference between hearing and doing the Word, the perils of speaking when angry and the difference between true and worthless religion: true religion is not about us, it’s about serving others.
The first verse of today’s lection reminds us that all creation is a gift. The Psalmist proclaims, “It is God who has made us, and not we ourselves.”
God likes to make things. Thank God, because if we were responsible for creation we’d mess it up. Imagine trying to make a turtle by committee. How awful to carry your house around everywhere! Let’s get a team of engineers to redesign turtles for maximum efficiency of motion! This misunderstands the entire point of a turtle, which is first, to delight, and second to teach us patience. Remake a turtle and you miss the glory of watching these hulking creatures slowly crawl to the ocean and wait patiently for a wave on a Saturday morning at Ho’okipa. Just imagine the mess we’d make of Haleakalā. “Hey, what great views up here, let’s level this big ugly crater and put in some condos!” No, let’s let God be God.
The fact that we are not God causes anxiety and stress for many, particularly when trying to understand what we’re supposed to do with our lives. What are human beings good for?
The answer in our culture is work! How many exasperated parents have said to their unemployed kids lolling around the house those eight words of parental despair, “When are you going to get a job?”
There is dignity in work. But work can also be pure drudgery, something to be endured rather than loved, particularly for those with aging bodies still toiling at manual labor. When I was a kid, I watched a brick mason from our church struggling to rise from his pew for prayer. He was in his early fifties, but his knees had given out, every joint ached, yet he would be back on the job on Monday, counting the days until retirement. I knew a farrier named Dave, in his mid-thirties. Watching him shoe my horses, I noticed Dave couldn’t stand up straight. His hands were swollen and misshapen. He was constantly bent over, grappling with restless 1200 pound horses, getting knocked over, his hands stepped on. Dave hadn’t been to college. I was a Ph.D, a professor and pastor. In Market Societies our worth is measured by our education and our labor is sold to the highest bidder.
Our identity is forged by work. Work divides us by social class. Since so much of our identity is bound up with our work, unemployment can precipitate a crisis of meaning– who am I if I am not working? Am I worthless now? This is particularly true for those unable to adapt to the new information economy, their jobs outsourced to other nations where labor can be bought cheaper.
Retirement also may provoke an existential crisis. Anyone remember Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie About Schmidt? One day you leave the office, the next day you wake up and wonder what do I do now? Not only is one’s identity scrambled, but capitalism trains us to feel unproductive when our time is no longer monetized. Some who thought of retirement as permanent vacation discover an internal voice accusing them of being unproductive and unfulfilled.
Does the church have anything to say about the meaning of our work, about growing old in the church, about retirement? C’mon, Kahu, it’s Labor Day, is there a word from the Lord? In a word, yes.
We all have a calling, a vocation, but these words refer to discipleship rather than employment. Our true work is to be disciples of Jesus Christ. In scripture we read about how we are called to “eternal life” in fellowship with Christ, called out of darkness into light and into right relationship with God, but not to a career. Paul was a tentmaker, but nowhere is Paul “called” to be a tentmaker. Tentmaking put bread on the table, but making disciples was what Paul did as vocation. Humans have careers; vocation is what God does.
We may retire from a career, but we never retire from the presence of God. Your job may have brought you recognition, status, and money, or you may have worked a series of menial jobs as judged from the perspective of so-called high achievers; you may have loved or hated your job, but the good news is that your true vocation is hidden with Christ within you.
Let this comfort your hearts. Your worth to God is incalculable, and it has nothing to do with money, status, or fame. God loves you because God is love, and you are God’s child, and God wants nothing more than to spend time with you and enjoy your presence. God delights in you, even more than the turtles of Ho’okipa. As for work, your good works don’t earn your salvation, they are the fruit of your faith, which is itself the gift of God. So, rejoice, Keawala’i. Your true labor on Labor Day and every day is to enjoy God forever, and to make disciples to spread this message of hope.
Amene.