ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 4, 2026
Labor Day, which we will celebrate this coming Monday, became a federal holiday in the late 1800s (many states recognized it much earlier), during a time of unrest. Unions were gaining strength, and there were a growing number of smaller celebrations, but after the deaths of 13 workers during the Pullman Strike in 1894, President Cleveland tried to find ways of calming the violence, which included signing legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday. It was during this time that serious conversations began around the rights of workers, including child labor laws. Some progress was made, but even today, it is estimated that between 30-35% of full-time employed people have a “side hustle” to make ends meet. Some folks point to the stock market, celebrating its climb in recent years, but it is truly an 80/20 rule. Actually, the 10% wealthiest Americans own around 90% of individually held stocks and mutual fund shares. The top 1% owns 55%. So the stock market has never really been a good measure for how average workers are doing in this country. The Productivity–Pay Gap and other measuring tools provide a better understanding of where the average worker is today, and since 1980, non-management workers have lost significant ground. None of this is intended to make someone who has done better than most feel guilty, but simply having a holiday is not enough. Are we asking the hard economic questions, and are we celebrating companies that have gone against the trends of the last five decades, to make sure that everyone in the company rises when the company does well? And as followers of Jesus, his message was not exclusively focused on the spiritual, unless you echo Rob Bell who coined the phrase, “Everything is spiritual.” Jesus followed the prophets of old, and spoke to the economic concerns of average workers, probably many of them who were farmers who had been forced into something similar to sharecropping on land that the farmers had once owned. This economic violence against the poorest of families also empowered and enriched the equestrian class in the Roman Empire, who helped keep the ruling elite in power. Jesus did not approve of this, and his teachings and parables often sought to shine a light on the injustice.
Holy God, One who casts a vision of a just and equitable world, we look to Jesus that we might follow him in both loving and standing alongside those whose labor is not valued as it should. Amen.
