Pastoral Pondering

Written by Rev. Martha Langford, Senior Pastor at Second/First Church of Rockford, IL

Labor of Love

Crisp mornings, changing leaves, potted mums, bird migration, school buses, football… all signals of the shift in season. In the
United States one of the hallmarks of fall is Labor Day, celebrated the first Monday in September. It has it’s roots in Illinois.
The national recognition of workers began at the end of the nineteenth century, and it began in struggle. In May 1894, employees of Pullman Palace Car company called a strike in the Chicagoland area over wage cuts. On June 26, the American Railroad
Union joined the struggle boycotting all Pullman railroad cars.

We might recognize the pattern of response: the federal government sent troops to Chicago to break
the strike. Riots broke out, a dozen or more people died, Union leaders did jail time.

Hoping to mend the rift in the aftermath, Congress made Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of
Columbia and President Grover Cleveland signed it into law on June 28, 1894. A century later, on
June 28, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill that moved Labor Day (and several other
holiday) to Monday, creating a three-day weekend for the celebration.

We forget that in the heyday of the nineteenth-century industrial revolution, workers often labored 12-
hour days, seven days a week and that children as young as 5 or 6 labored in mills, factories, and
mines for a fraction of the adult wage.

Both Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ are strongly supportive of organized labor unions that work to bring about
justice in the workplace. Both denominations provide a social witness and seek the dignity and well-being of all peoples. One
such witness is the work both the PC(USA) and the UCC have done with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida.
Labor Day provides a moment for reflection on the labor of the church… that is the spiritual, communal, and physical work that
we do together to build up the body of Christ, to love our neighbors, to grow in our faithfulness before God.

Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica is among the earliest writings in the New Testament. Writing for himself, Silas, and
Timothy, Paul begins writes, “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before
our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This Labor Day, as we head into the rush of the program season, let me express similar gratitude to
you all, for the work of your hands and the fullness of your hearts.

Peace,

Martha