Two Gods?
September 3, 2006
Matthew 6: 24
Labor Day was established to honor workers and commemorate their contributions and struggles—past and present—to bring justice and dignity to the workplace and to society. The Sunday of Labor Day weekend, today, Labor Sunday, is an opportunity for congregations to lift up workers and issues of justice in the workplace.
Conditions and events at work absorb our energy, occupy our minds, and impact our psyches when we are both at work and home. Some workers confront particularly unjust situations—unsafe conditions, extremely low pay, racism, sexism, and other abuses. All workers, whatever their position in the hierarchy of jobs, may suffer from indignities, large and small, that cripple their spirit and hinder their journey to greater wholeness. The Church, the body of Christ, is called to seek out and accompany people wherever they are. So our faith and morals must also be in our offices, factories, stores, farms, schools, and all the places where people work.
In this the richest country in the world, more than two million full-time, year round workers live below the poverty line, struggling to pay for necessities such as food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and childcare. A person working full-time for minimum wage in this country makes $10,712. This is $5,000 beneath the national poverty line. That's right, a person could hold a full-time job at the national minimum wage and still be forced to choose between where and how to make rent, utilities, food. While the national poverty rate stabilized between 2004 and 2005, the poverty rate in Tucson grew by 0.5 percent to 20 percent, the highest rate among cities in Arizona . The Arizona poverty rate was 14.2 percent in 2005, while the national poverty rate remained unchanged between 2004 and 2005 at 12.6 percent. About 100,000 Tucsonans were among the impoverished In Arizona, the highest rates of poverty were among Hispanics, women, and children under 18, according to the new census report. In Arizona , the highest rates of poverty were among Hispanics, women, and children under 18. Among those impoverished in Tucson were:
• 35,336 children
• 5,004 people 65 and older
• 54,509 women and 46,525 men.
• 25 percent of our population of Hispanics, or 51,765 people
• 14 percent of our population of white folks, or 34,770 people
Our Scripture passage for today couldn't be more timely. It comes in a section of Matthew's gospel describing how those dedicated to participating in the Jesus Movement and being people of faith need to be righteous. Today the message is clear. You can not serve two gods. You can not serve money and God. We piously affirm we are here to serve God and not money. But in our daily life it is money that sets our priorities and determines our choices. We WOULD LIKE to show a more bountiful eye to the poor, but we cannot, because we need so much for ourselves. We plan to be more charitable in the future, but at the moment there are too many things we have to buy. We work overtime or at a second job rather than spend time with our kids because there is so much that we want to get for them.
Next June the United Church of Christ will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Hartford . As you may have heard, we have recently moved from our original convention center and hotel venue to another site in Hartford due to the refusal of management to negotiate a legally required "labor peace agreement" with workers. While that move was complicated and costly, it was the right thing to do. What better way to celebrate our church's 50 years of justice commitments than to stand with low-wage workers in our host city. What better way for our churches around the country to share in those celebrations than to live out that commitment in your own community.
I was reminded of the work that we have to do here at home this week. Jim Briney, the new UCC pastor in Oro Valley , Karen MacDonald one of the pastors at Church of the Painted Hills UCC and I went down to the Good Shepherd in Sauhuarita to meet up with the UCC pastor from there Randy Mayer. Randy and his faith community are active participants with the Good Samaritans and Humane Borders projects. Randy had agreed to take us with him that day on a typical run and talk to us about migrants and the desert. It's the hot season, so only about 400 people are attempting to cross our desert these days. By October that number will escalate to 2,000 people a day out there in our desert trying to find opportunities to work because they have no other choices. This Labor Day we must look away from money and see the workers who are standing in our meat packing plants cutting our meat. We must look at the workers in the laundries of this nation and see who is doing the wash. We must look at the workers in our hotels and see who is making the beds and cleaning the bathrooms. We must look at the workers in our restaurant kitchens and see who is washing the dishes. These are sisters and brothers of ours, who have been chosen by their family to make the journey to America , an entire clan depending on the land of opportunity. These are the people like Alfonso Silva Villagran.
Alfonso was looking for a better life for his family in Mexico . He was so committed to changing their rural life, that he walked for 80 days from Mexico 's interior. He walked until he was just outside of Ari Vaca where under a barbed wire fence, in weeds armpit high only 200 feet from the road, he died, laying on the bottom of a wash last week. And, as Randy took us to meet up with other clergy and Good Samartians on Wednesday, and we joined the people who found Alfonso's body and walked off the road, into the wash and stood where his life left this place and went to the next, we sang, prayed, cried and thanked God for his life. The Good Samaritans found out his name and even were able to call his son in Mexico to tell him how we placed a cross there, had a funeral service and apologize that his father had to die this way. But, it rings shallow these phone calls, this grief, when life after life is thrown away in this same way. We must look at the body of Alfonso lying in our back yard and shout to God that we can not serve God and money.
This is going to be a big election day this November. We will have the opportunity to vote about our lowest wage earners. Arizona is one of two states trying to raise the minimum wage. We have the opportunity to cast a vote saying whether we think a living wage is important to our community as a whole. This November in starting that process leading to a living wage a proposition will raise the minimum wage to $6.75 an hour. Please, take the time to read the insert in your bulletin. Take time to pray about our lowest wage earners, their families and this land of opportunity. And, then ask yourself what it is that God is asking you to do in serving God instead of money. This Labor Day I can not think of a more intentional practice to be doing. Let us pray.