Work has moral implications: either we are honouring the Earth and respecting its life systems or we are choking it, destroying it… Work and life are almost identical. Perhaps this helps to explain the despair felt by young and old alike when they do not have work or do not “feel needed.” They lack life – their own... Without work we lack access to our very life, access to our very being. Work is an integral part of being alive. Your work is your identity. It tells you who you are… There’s such joy in doing work well. People have needs in three areas: body, mind, and spirit. Yet most companies, if they acknowledge people have needs at all, act as if there are only two requirements for producing good work: money and job security. That we settle for unemployment, especially when there is so much good work to be done, points up the fact that we do not live in a healthy world... Work is an expression of the Spirit at work in the world through us.

Did you resonate with any of these quotations? Do any of them reflect your experience of work? If you were asked to make a statement about work, what would you say? If we are honest, most of us would admit that we have ambivalent feelings about work. The title I chose for today’s sermon reflects the extremes of our experiences of work – work can indeed be a blessing, Work can fill our lives with meaning and purpose, it can energize us and the community around us. But work can also be a curse, destroying dignity, endangering health, making life miserable.

The biblical perspective includes a wide range of work experiences. Right off the bat, in the book of Genesis, we encounter God, who is actively at work, creating the heavens and the earth. How can we describe this work? Certainly it is work full of meaning and purpose, not just for God, but for each creature and each element of creation. As the waters work to provide a home for the sea creatures, and the sky a home for the birds of the air, and the land produces vegetation for the animals, there is a wonderful harmony and goodness in the work. Work, from God’s point of view is an activity that produces and nurtures life and as God says over and over again, “That is good”! What do these creation stories tell us about the work of humanity? God calls us all to work to care for this marvelous work of God. And in the “Garden of Eden” version of creation, God tells the first human creatures to till and keep this lush garden. So does this mean that we are all to work as gardeners or farmers? Of course not, but it does say to us that if we want to be about God’s work, if we want work that is meaningful and blessed, we cannot ignore the well-being of the earth or the earth’s creatures. That sounds pretty basic, but we know all too well that work can be easily divorced from these basic values.

In the news this week, there were stories of work and working situations far from God’s intention. Australian and South African officials recently boarded a Uruguayan ship about 1,900 miles southwest of Cape Town suspected of poaching rare Patagonian toothfish in Australian waters and arrested the crew, ending a 20-day chase through Antarctic seas. This fish, also called the Chilean sea bass reproduces very slowly in cold Antarctic waters and marine conservationalists have warned that it could become commercially extinct by 2007. That is just one story among many where the lack of attention to conservation and preservation has led to the endangerment or extinction of a species. We know too well the tragedy of workers in Newfoundland who can no longer fish for cod because the stocks of fish have all but disappeared. Safety issues also curse working situations for many. The tragic death of a worker under a collapsed pile of frozen food could have been prevented as are many of the work related injuries. But all too often when businesses cut costs to garner more profit or to meet the bottom line it means cutting safety measures for workers. And there are other workers whose situation should be in the headlines on a regular basis. It is indeed an evil and cursed fact that there are 246 million children in the world who are labourers and of that number 73 million are less than 10 years old. Craig Kielburger has helped focus world attention and action on the plight of working children. Craig, who is now a young man, founded at the age of 12, a human rights organization called Free the Children whose work is to free children everywhere for a childhood that God truly intends – time to learn and play, a safe and healthy environment in which to grow in love. This organization works to help children like Muniannal, a young girl whom Craig met in a trip to Madras, India. Here, in Craig’s words, is a description of her work. (read pages 239-240 in Free the Children)

In light of these tragic events and work-situations, none of us can ignore the work that Christ calls us to be about. We are called to be salt in the world, working to season God’s world with justice, mercy, and peace. We are called to the good work of letting our light shine so that the darkness of oppression, greed, violence and pain will no longer have a place in this world. Does this sound like overwhelming and impossible work? Listen to some stories from ordinary people who are engaged in this good work:

Shane Endicott is the director and founder of a recycling centre in Portland, Oregon. Endicott liked carpentry, and with a friend with similar interests, in their spare time over 2 years, they investigated the possibility of creating a building centre that would recycle almost everything. With a small loan they started their business out of a driveway. A month later they were able to afford 4 employees and now they have a huge building filled with everything from used windows, doors, sinks, toilets, bathtubs, nails and assorted lumber. Barely 2 years in the business, they have 36 employees and they paid back their loan long ago. Every worker has full medical and dental coverage, and entry-level workers are paid $4 over minimum wage. 80% of the workers are folk who live in this poorer section of town. The workers are helped with home ownership through loans and special prices on material and help with construction. According to a local paper, this company is “the anchor that’s revitalizing the community”.

In 1983, Judy Wicks opened a coffee and muffin shop on the first floor of her house in Philadelphia. Twenty years later, Judy is the operator-owner of the White Dog Café with a mission statement to: serve their customers, serve each other, serve the community and serve the earth. Not only does the restaurant serve food that is grown organically or raised humanely, it is powered 100% by wind energy. Employees are served by just wages, they have a say in the day-to-day operations of the restaurant and opportunities for further education and training through scholarships. In serving the community, the White Dog Café organizes educational events and discussions ranging from topics on juvenile justice to community gardens, to affordable housing. 10% of the pretax profit of the company is donated to not for profit organizations that are concerned with the environment, peace and justice such as Habitat for Humanity and Amnesty International. Reading the White Dog Café website is a link to wealth of good work.