Dear Friends in Christ:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” How many times were we asked that question as children and how many times have we ourselves asked that question of other children – expecting an answer about professions like doctor, astronaut, dance, etc.? But what a misleading question that is when you reflect on it. Because our work is not our identity. Our work, whether as a parent, professor, piano tuner, or painter, does not define who we are. It is our baptism that does it. What do we want to be when we grow up? Who we are already – children of God!
Yet we can also say this: our “work” is important. God has built work into the design of creation. But our “work” is not limited to careers, or even jobs that pay. Our “work” may be in the home or in an office. Our “work” may be a profession to which we feel a divine calling or it may be the job that we simply take to support ourselves or a family. Our “work” may be paid or unpaid. Whatever our “work,” it is meant to be an offering to God. When we offer our labor to God, when we perform our tasks not for our boss, or our family, or even ourselves, but for God, then all our efforts – changing diapers, drafting plans, serving on a church committee or community board, even pounding the sidewalk – can be useful.
This Sunday, in keeping with Labor Day, we have asked three church members at each service to reflect on their “work,” however they define that work in this season of their life. We have asked them to consider these questions: how do they seek to serve God through their work and how have they seen God at work through their work? We hope you will take time out of your Labor Day weekend to join us for worship and hear them.
Leading worship with me will be Rev. Kerry Pidcock-Lester. Kerry, a child of this church, was ordained in this sanctuary in 1982 and served as associate pastor at Govans Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. From 1994 to our retirement in 2022, we served as co-pastors of First Presbyterian Church in Pottstown. She has enjoyed singing again in the sanctuary choir since I began serving as your interim lead pastor.
I leave you with how the poet Mary Oliver thinks of her work, with these lines that begin her poem, “Messenger”
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the
hummingbird-
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the
blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled
sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-
perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and
learning to be
astonished….
No longer young and still half-perfect,
P.S. Please join us on Sept. 8 for the kickoff to the new program year at church. There is one service at 10 a.m. followed by a picnic outside (weather permitting) or inside, with good food, fellowship, a dunk tank, and other games. Note the slide below about what food to bring to contribute. This will be fun for all ages! This is a great Sunday to invite neighbors and friends to join us since it is the start of the program year.
