Spiritual connections: Two hymns for Labor Day

Early in my ministry, I realized that the most significant days on the annual church calendar coincided with legal holidays. These were days off for many with regular jobs. Meanwhile, festive holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter were the busiest for pastors.

Please understand that I’m not complaining! I loved working really hard to give my very best effort for the Lord, the church, and its people on each of these beloved days of celebration. I cherish the seasonal nature of the liturgical church year with its immense opportunities for teaching and learning the faith and life of the church … enriching and enhancing the devotional experience in every celebrating worshipper.

Additionally, it’s important to note that some of the greatest music ever written is associated with these festive holidays. Traditional tunes and translated texts are recognizable worldwide in every town, country, and continent where God is worshipped.

But early on, I also realized that two annual legal holidays were exceptions to this rule: Independence Day and Labor Day. While we have the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” for Independence Day, few can readily identify songs or hymns appropriate for Labor Day. I hope the two songs I’ll be singing, humming, or whistling this September will be familiar to you:

“Praise and Thanksgiving” (text by Alfred Bayly, b. 1901)

Verse 2

Bless Lord, the labor we bring to serve you,

That with our neighbor we may be fed.

Sowing or tilling, we may work with you,

Harvesting, milling for daily bread.

The farm boy in me remembers my father’s reminders to his six sons that our daily mission was providing bread to “feed the world.” Singing this verse of “Praise and Thanksgiving” calls to mind seedtime and harvest time, which were always sacred times for working hard and praying hard, trusting that “God will give the growth.” It was a privilege and a blessing to labor in God’s field in service to all God’s people!

“Lord of all Hopefulness” (text by Jan Struther, b. 1901)

Verse 2

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,

Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,

Be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,

Your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

Picture the boy Jesus growing up beside his strong and skilled earthly father laboring as a carpenter in Nazareth. Measuring by rule and square together, much is learned about life and aspiring to qualities that matter.

Last Sunday, we watched a feature story on “60 Minutes” on CBS about the restoration and rebuilding of the steeple on the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris following the tragic fire four years ago. Deep in the French countryside, teams of architects, engineers, and artisans harvest giant oaken timbers. Carpenters measure, cut, and chisel centuries-old oak to rebuild the 300-foot spire using methods of the past and tools of today, all for the glory of God.

Only the “Lord of All Hopefulness” could inspire such a spire!

Editor’s note: EPLN contributor Pastor Rod Anderson serves on the EPLN Board of Directors. Anderson is the former senior pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie. If you want to contribute a faith-based column to EPLN, email editor@eplocalnews.org.