CrossPoint Community News 09/02/2022

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

       This weekend is Labor Day weekend. That means, for most people, that school has started and there is a Holiday on Monday. The reality is that Labor Day began over 120 years ago with the intention of showing the strength and spirit of labor organizations (first in New York City, and after a few years, federally). The nation usually just takes a day off for a holiday these days, but the holiday is celebrating the American worker and what they have contributed to the growth and development of the country.
       Labor Day is not a Christian holiday particularly, but God, in his Word, the Bible, does affirm that work and labor is good. God gave Adam roles and responsibilities prior to sin. Work is God’s idea and is a good thing. For example, work provides us with a sense of purpose. When we do work that helps others, or advances knowledge, or solves a problem – we are working to make our world a better place. And while this purpose is helpful, Christians have a more foundational purpose in our work. “Whatever we do, we do it with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (paraphrase of Colossians 3:23). Our work is invested with special purpose, because we are working for the Lord, in whatever field of work to which God has called us.
       Work is also good because it is an outgrowth of calling. Our calling is not reduced to be merely work. That idea is what undergirds the naming of technical school to be vocational schools. Vocation has the same root as the word calling. But work and calling are not synonyms. Our work is good, yes; but it is good because of the One who calls us to it. We do our work in, through, and for him.
       Work also has value not merely because God gave it as a gift, or that it is an outgrowth of calling, but because it provides us with agency. Having a job reveals the truth that each of us has something to contribute. Each of us who works has a role to play. Each of us who works can contribute to our family’s financial needs. Each of us who works provide added value to whatever system or organization or company in which we work. This last point leads us back to some of what the original purpose of Labor Day is.
       So this weekend, consider the work that you have done, and rejoice! Rejoice that God has given you the opportunity to work. Rejoice that God has given you the ability to work. Rejoice that God has given you the responsibility to do the good work to which he has called you. Rejoice that God himself is always at work (cf. John 5:17). And rejoice in the rest that we can enjoy due to the Holiday we call Labor Day.

Please continue to pray for the nation of Ukraine. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age.