Meaningful Labour

This is the Labour Day weekend, an opportunity to uphold the value of meaningful work , as well as the important and often costly efforts to ensure that workers are treated fairly by employers. There will be Labour Day parades in many cities across the continent.

Through the years I was often working on the holiday weekend, and sometimes preaching on the subject of the value and dignity of employment as one aspect of a balanced life. I'm sure that I referred to the apostle Paul and his trade as a tentmaker, which he engaged in during his missionary journeys. Paul was a Jewish rabbi before his conversion to Christianity, but as a rabbi he was expected to have a "real" job as well. No lazy clergy back then!

While this is admirable, you may have noticed that tent-making is not on the curriculum for colleges and universities these days. It is an obsolete craft, except for the Chinese factory workers churning out nylon shelters for North American camping trips. As with many trades and some professions, they served a purpose for a time, only to disappear as cultures changed and technology advanced. How often do we actually interact with a bank teller anymore? I've toured a GM truck plant in Oshawa where much of the work was performed by robots, although that plant has closed and both the jobs and the robots are now in Mexico. I can hear President Trump frothing at the mouth from here!

This past week I heard a discussion about a proposal by billionaire Bill Gates that as robots render millions of jobs and workers obsolete those industries that use them should be taxed to recover the income governments will lose from the humans who will no longer pay taxes.



 This raises the larger societal issue of the crisis of purpose for those who will no longer be employed. Even what we might consider unsavoury work as least provides income to sustain daily living and a degree of leisure, or workers aspire for more. When that isn't possible it becomes a huge societal challenge. It's been noted that the current opioid crisis is focused in areas of the United States such as Ohio where well paid industrial jobs have disappeared, leaving younger men without middle-class employment opportunities.  

So the work we do, or did, in my case, creates a framework and rhythm of meaning, as well as a paycheque. Gates may be on to something, but there are deeper issues - spiritual issues -- which communities of faith will need to address. Not to mention that as congregations shrink they may have part-time"tent-maker" pastors who work at other jobs as well.

God be with us in this time of transition.

Thoughts?