Sermon Library
“Labor of Love”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
September 05, 2010
Service Theme: Pentecost XV – 2010
Source: 1st Thessalonians 1: 1 – 10
Pentecost XV – 2010 September 5, 2010
Labor of Love
1st Thessalonians 1: 1 – 10
By Gregg Anderson
Origin of Title
“Labor of Love” is the title this morning. I thought it was pretty clever title given this is Labor Day weekend. It is a familiar term and we all know what it means, but do you know where the phrase originates? According to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, there is only one indication. It is found in the New Testament book of First Thessalonians, the scripture read this morning. This is another good reason for titling the homily for today “The Labor of Love.” When I Googled “The Labor of Love” I found there to be 25,500,000 entries with a number of them titles for sermons in the first few pages alone - So much for having an original idea.
Oxymoron
Labor of love is an interesting phrase. It seems paradoxical, even an oxymoron. What we love the most as human beings is love. What we often dislike the most is labor, at least, generally speaking. Many people do love their labor while there are many others who do not. Henry Thoreau observed that there are many people who live lives of quiet desperation. This is one of the reasons he ventured to live in the woods.
Adam and Eve
The story of Adam and Eve depicts our human predicament. They initially lived in their own Walden Pond, paradise in fact, but because they desired even more and to know it all, they were driven out of the garden. The man had to now labor for his existence and the woman would now labor in childbirth. I do not believe that this was the punishment for their sin, but the author’s attempt to explain the perplexities and paradoxes of life. The Adam and Eve mythology is a story about our human condition and to provide an explanation as the writers understood their world at the time. What remains true is that our first desire is to love and create family and it is most often true that the fulfillment of our deepest desires requires labor – the labor of love.
What Is Our Deepest Desire?
What is our deepest desire? Financial security gains our day to day attention, but health and love are typically our foremost responses when we really think about it. Many people would say that love may be even more significant than health. When people say, “They would never do that for love or money,” they may actually do it for love. “I’d do anything for love,” screams a popular rock and roll singer. Rev. King Duncan states that “The greatest motivator in this world is love.” The famous Psychologist Rolly May wrote many years ago, “Will follows from caring.” King Duncan asks that if a child is gravely ill, would not a parent do anything and everything in this world to save their child? In the gospel of John Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for another.”
We labor a lot for money, but ultimately we will labor more for love. And in the end if love is achieved, we will feel that it is all worth every effort. A woman will endure nine months of pregnancy, will scream in labor and when the baby is delivered shed tears of great joy. It is the supreme moment of human elation – the birth of new life. Vincent Van Gogh once wrote, “If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby, when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.”
Two Cocoons
There is a true story about two cocoons. A father found two cocoons which he suspected were about to hatch. He called for his two young children to observe. They watched as the first one began to open and the butterfly inside squeezed very slowly and painfully through a tiny hole that it chewed in one end of the cocoon. After lying exhausted for about ten minutes following its agonizing emergence, the butterfly finally spread its wings and flew away. Soon the second cocoon began to emerge. It seemed to be struggling more so the father wanting to help carefully sliced open the cocoon with a razor blade, doing the equivalent of a Caesarean section. That butterfly fell out and just laid on the ground and never did spout its wings and quietly died. The father asked a science teacher friend to explain what had happened. The teacher said that the difficult struggle to emerge from the small hole actually pushes liquids from deep inside the butterfly’s body cavity into tiny capillaries in the wings where they harden to complete the healthy and beautiful adult butterfly. He concluded, without the struggle there are no wings. It is also about the labor of love.
Love of Labor
We know the message involved in a labor of love, but I also want to add another dynamic of labor and love. Love most often requires labor and many times, the more labor, the more love or no pain, no gain. But, can we also begin to even realize the potential to love the labor? St. Benedict whose day consisted of worship, meditation, study and work, said that we are to love our work as much as we love God. (This is my paraphrase.) He did say that the task of cleaning the latrines was as important as cleaning the gold chalice following the Eucharist. He also said in his rules that “Idleness is the enemy of the soul.” The phrase “Labor of Love,” can also become the “Love of Labor.”
From Have-to’s to Get-to’s
Last week when Dr. John Eckrich was talking about the “Well Being of Church Leadership Today,” he mentioned a simple quip about changing our “have-to’s” to “get-to’s. This may sound too simple and even juvenile, but it can be a deeper reminder about the power of our own mind, attitude, and perspective. It is possible, not in every case, to focus and stimulate our minds to make our labor of love also a love of labor.
The reality is that we make hundreds of emotional decisions every day of our lives. We are conditioned to think that our outside circumstances dictate our emotional response, but the opposite is really true, even biologically true. A flat tire can not make us mad. By its very nature it can only be a flat tire. It is our own mind and our own decision to become mad about the flat tire. It may very well be an appropriate response, but it is still our own response. It only happens within us and within our own minds.
With this same power of intention and perspective, we really can change our attitude about work. Work is not only a privilege, but we can make moment to moment mental decisions to love our labor. If love is too strong a word, we can at least make work better with a decisive attitude. I believe this is possible whether we are cleaning the latrines or the gold chalice as St. Benedict reminds us. It is about deliberately becoming more conscious, more conscious of ourselves and our present moment. Ok, it is about living in the now.
Be Not Anxious
Jesus said, be not anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matthew 6: 25 – 34)
Mind Over Mood
I was listening to Dr. Patricia Hill interview the director of the Aspen Counseling Center on her local TV show. It was a very good discussion. I was interested because I worked at this clinic before I came to the Chapel. At the end of the show the director was going over all the services provided by the counseling center. I was particularly interested in the Wednesday group meeting entitled “Mind over Mood.” This is another great phrase. It is one we can remember, mind over mood like labor of love and love of labor.
Whistle While You Work
If that does not work, try whistling. This advice is from Snow White. “Just whistle while you work. (whistle) And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place. So hum a merry tune (hum) It won’t take long when there’s a song to help you set the pace. And as you sweep the room imagine that the broom is someone that you love. And soon you’ll find you’re dancing to the tune. When hearts are high the time will fly. So whistle while you work.”
So now you are saying to yourself, maybe someone should let Gregg know that Snow White is a fairy tale. I have been told that before, but it is a fairy tale which lasts because it has meaning which lasts. Whistling at work is possible. It is a deliberate and practical decision. It is about the psychological reality of “Mind over Mood,” labors of love and love of labors.
Paul’s Words to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians
If fairy tales are too much, let’s try the Apostle Paul and the strong possibility that he invented the phrase labor of love in the first place. What is interesting is that Paul wrote the famous love chapter in 1st Corinthians 13 which states that “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” He concludes, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Paul mentions faith, hope and love, but he places practical qualities to love. This is in his letter to the Corinthians. In his letter to the Thessalonians, he uses the same three words and again places words of actions on the thoughts. “We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is not just faith, hope and love. It is the work of faith, the steadfastness of hope and the labor of love. It is about the application of faith, hope and love. It is our faith which stimulates our work. It is our steadfastness which keeps our hope. And it is our labor which produces love. I began this morning stating that the term “Labor of Love” could be an oxymoron. But upon a closer look, we can discover that love and labor are practically synonymous.
Tomorrow is Labor Day. It is a day designated to honor labor. Could we even say a day to love labor? You know going to work on Tuesday is better than not going to work. St. Benedict also said, “Work is good for the soul.” This is the spiritual word for the day. Jesus gave many parables about working to the best of our abilities and to be grateful. He also said, it more blessed to give than to receive. It is in our giving and working in which we can find our soul. It is all about our daily labors of love and our love of our labors. It is also one way in which we live out the commandment to love God and our neighbor as ourself. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
http://www.aspenchapel.org