New songs for modern missional worship, rich in Christian teaching and contextualized in modern culture. Contemporary hymns, psalms, songs of lament and praise written by members of the Louisville, KY-based Sojourn Community.
Original Labor Day Poem, Plus Labor Day, Worship, and Workplace Theology
This Monday, the United States and Canada celebrate Labor Day, held the first Monday of every September to honor working people (similar to most other countries’ “May Day”). Although it is common for Christians to think of “work” as a result of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, this is not so: Adam and Eve were given the task of exercising dominion over all the earth from the beginning.
Christians also think of “working for the Lord” in terms of missionary activities, and various mercy ministries, but worship is itself work. Of course, when we see that worship involves all of life, presenting all of ourselves to God (Romans 12:1) then we understand that these other activities are acts of worship and, as John Piper and Matt Redman have said, “worship is the fuel for mission’s flame.”
But even our corporate worship services involve work. All churches follow a certain order, a liturgy (of course, some “liturgical” churches have a highly defined liturgy, while “free” churches follow a loose pattern of activity like “first we pray, then we sing, then we listen to the sermon,” etc.) The term “liturgy” literally means “the work of the people.” As John Frame writes:
“Worshipers should not take a passive attitude toward worship, such as we usually take toward entertainment … worship is a priestly service. It is latreia, ‘labor, service.’ Therefore, we should go to church to do something: to bring praise to God and to minister to one another.”
Worship In Spirit And Truth, c. 1996 John Frame
So to be in Christ means both to enter “into His rest” (Hebrews 4) and to work — to know that we will always work, and that as the Westminster Catechism states, this involves glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. We will not always feed the hungry, because one day no one will hunger. We will not always comfort the grieving, because one day no one will grieve. We will not always protect the weak, because one day their will be no oppressor. But we will worship, and be glad to do it.
Here is a poem I wrote that is suitable for Labor Day. I was inspired by Sojourn pastor Daniel Montgomery’s teaching on workplace theology and a phrase in Carl P. Daw, Jr.’s “What Boundless Love, O Carpenter Of Nazareth.” For those of you interested in poetic meter, I wrote this in 76.76.78.76 meter.
God of shop and marketplace,
Of farm and studio,
Factory and shipping lane,
Of school and busy home:
Bless the produce of our hands.
Redeem our work for Kingdom-use.
By Your grace, our efforts stand,
All offered up to You.
There in Eden, You proclaimed
That we should work the earth —
Stewards over all we named,
Delighting in their worth.
Through our fall we brought decay,
Lost access to Jehovah’s rest.
Through the cross, we rest in faith
And all our labor’s blessed.
In Your image we are made:
Creative like You are,
Forming goods for use and trade
Just like You formed the stars.
Send us out in power and skill
To worship through each task assigned.
By Your Spirit we fulfill
The holy, grand design.
Have a great Labor Day Weekend. I’ll continue to publish here at sojournmusic.com — look for the second installment in our “Worship Practices Explained” series, as well as free solo music from the male vocalist behind Sojourn’s Before the Throne. Then on Labor Day, check out our “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs” article, the weekly look at our music set list from the Sunday worship services, with mp3 links, photos, lyrics and more.