BY REV. DR. VAHAN H. TOOTIKIAN
Labor Day is a holiday in the United States that falls on the first Monday of September, and is dedicated to the working class.
Human beings have always had to work. Even Adam and Eve had responsibilities in the Garden of Eden. For most humanity, work has been essential for survival. Most of us have to work. But work is important in our lives even beyond the financial necessity.
Work is essential to our self-esteem. That is why many of us sympathetic to the problems of the poor are at least hopeful about experiments with so-called “work-fare” programs as an alternative to welfare. Work is important to our sense of personal dignity.
Work is not only essential to our physical survival, it is also essential to our mental and emotional wellbeing. God created us in His own image. God is a creating, sustaining, working God. Jesus said, in John 5:17, “My Father is working still and I am working.”
Work is only ultimately meaningful when we understand that our lives are part of a greater plan that God is yet to reveal. How we view our work is ultimately a religious question. If we view life as meaningful, purposeful and having direction, then we will probably view our work as having rhyme and reason as well.
If, however, life is simply a matter of passing time, getting by, merely existing, then it is doubtful that we will get excited by the roles we play in life. It can be a terrific thing to be a farmer, or a teacher, or a physicist or a retailer if we understand our purpose in life in God’s overall scheme of things. The farmer provides food, the teacher helps transform minds, the physicist unlocks the secrets of the universe, and the retailer brings things into the community to improve the quality of life. Each of us has a place in God’s plan for the world.
In a sense, work allows us to be partners with God in the provision of the world’s needs. A visitor in a coal mine stopped to talk to one of the miners. He told the miner how sorry he was for him, spending his time monotonously picking coal down there in those dark tunnels. The miner picked up a piece of coal and said, “I don’t think you quite understand. This is not just a lump of coal. This is light and heat and power. Perhaps it will light a city street, or it may warm a home, or run a train. I am not just a miner for the company. I am helping people.”
It can improve our attitude toward our work if we can see a purpose higher than a paycheck. In all of our work as well as in everything else we do, we should strive for excellence, for if our work is not only for ourselves but also for God, we should strive to give our best.
Finally, there is no superiority for sacred work in comparison to secular work. In plain language, a clergyman’s job is no more pleasing to God than is a layman’s. They simply have different tasks. We are all laborers in God’s vineyard. Each of us seeks that Divine “well-done,” not because we have to earn God’s favor, but because He has honored us so highly by giving us a part in His Kingdom. Each of us who has been so blessed desires in our own way to give something back.
Rev. Dr. Vahan H. Tootikian is the Minister Emeritus of the Armenian Congregational Church of Greater Detroit and the Executive Director of the Armenian Evangelical World Council.
