In our society, where automation and technology threaten to put more and more of us at the end of the line, it might prove helpful to turn to Jesus’ parable in our striving to determine anew the meaning of labor and reward.
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WE NEED TO STOP LETTING THE SMALL THINGS SLIDE. Stop putting yourself and your needs first. Stop blaming the world outside for your irritation. Stop making excuses for not treating this world as though your every action matters. Stop pretending that the occasional Chick-fil-A doesn’t make a difference.
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Labour Day weekend marks a milestone in my life. You see 24 years ago, after a driving about 4,000 kilometres, all the way from Vancouver, I arrived in Waterloo, Ontario, just in time for the long Labour Day weekend. I didn’t know anyone in Waterloo. I didn’t have a place to live. But on the Tuesday after Labour Day, I was scheduled to report to Waterloo Lutheran Seminary to begin orientation for what would be a four year masters of Divinity program. In the course of that long ago Labour Day weekend, I found a place to live, unpacked all the belongings that I’d been able to stuff in to my old 84 Oldsmobile, and discovered that in Ontario, milk comes out of in plastic bags. You have no idea how mystified I was wondering just how those plastic bags functioned as an appropriate container for milk. I actually remember standing in the grocery store wondering what people here in Ontario did once they’d opened the plastic bag. Visions of milk spilling everywhere caused me to well up with such a feeling of homesickness. Since then, Labour Day Weekends have been strange combination of nostalgia for what once was and excitement for what is yet to be.
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