Labor Day
Stories
THE WONDER OF WORDS: BOOK 2
ONE-HUNDRED MORE WORDS AND PHRASES SHAPING HOW CHRISTIANS THINK AND LIVE
In 1882, a member of the Executive Council of The American Federation of Labor proposed one day in the year be set aside as a general holiday for working people. That man was P. J. McGuire and the day he proposed, the first Monday in September, is called "Labor Day." The Central Labor Union adopted the idea and held a parade and festival on the first Monday in September, 1882. In 1884, the convention of the American Federation of Labor unanimously adopted a resolution that proposed "the first Monday in September each year be set apart as a laborers' national holiday." In a short time, municipal councils and state legislatures were making it a legal holiday. In 1894, Congress passed bills which made Labor Day a legal holiday for the entire country.
Labor Day was established to honor all the working people of the nation: those who grow its food, who make its tools and machinery, who build its roads and bridges, who erect its buildings, who sell its goods, and provide services for its people. Though we may sometimes feel the need to "vacate" the place where we work by taking a vacation, I'm sure most of us would agree with Thomas Carlyle who said: "Blessed is the man who has found his work." Another wise man said: "Every man's work is his life preserver." In one of his letters, St. Paul lifted our daily work up into the realm where we see ourselves as fellow workers with the Divine! Paul wrote: "For we are laborers together with God." (1 Corinthians 3:9) This means God has chosen us to be co-creators with him in finishing and perfecting his creation. We join him in the continuing work of healing the human family and building all men into life together in loving community. That's why Jesus said: "My Father has never yet ceased his work, and I am working too." (John 5:17)
Labor Day was established to honor all the working people of the nation: those who grow its food, who make its tools and machinery, who build its roads and bridges, who erect its buildings, who sell its goods, and provide services for its people. Though we may sometimes feel the need to "vacate" the place where we work by taking a vacation, I'm sure most of us would agree with Thomas Carlyle who said: "Blessed is the man who has found his work." Another wise man said: "Every man's work is his life preserver." In one of his letters, St. Paul lifted our daily work up into the realm where we see ourselves as fellow workers with the Divine! Paul wrote: "For we are laborers together with God." (1 Corinthians 3:9) This means God has chosen us to be co-creators with him in finishing and perfecting his creation. We join him in the continuing work of healing the human family and building all men into life together in loving community. That's why Jesus said: "My Father has never yet ceased his work, and I am working too." (John 5:17)
