Till my work is done
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Till my work is done: 24 October 2010: pm: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Psalm 119: 1 - 8
- Ecclesiastes 11 & 12
- 2 Timothy 2: 1 - 7
“I will do my best, but I must make this condition, Mr. Hunter, that on the job the hours shall only be eight for the day ... There are twenty-four hours per day given us; eight of these should be for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves. I am ready to start to-morrow morning at eight o'clock, but it must be on these terms or none at all.”
The words of Samuel Parnell are recorded in the history of New Zealand as a record of a conversation between a prospective employer and a skilled carpenter. Both had just stepped off the Duke of Roxburgh at Petone in February 1840. George Hunter, a shipping agent, wanted a store built. Samuel Parnell was one of the few skilled artisans around at the time. Parnell spent much of his life in and around Wellington. In his old age, just weeks before his death, he was the guest of honour, riding in a four horse carriage through the streets of Wellington at the first Labour Day demonstration on 28th October 1890. Ten years later Labour Day became a public holiday, commemorating the fight for an eight hour day.
We have come a long way from the early Labour Day parades, when unions marched behind banners and colourful floats kept people entertained before they dispersed for family picnics and a day in the park. Labour Day these days is more likely to be marked by frantic and frenetic activity as shops vie for the consumers’ dollar, and the weekend newspaper contains page after page of advertisements and precious little news. The very people the eight hour day was supposed to protect, are likely to be working long hours at minimum and casual rates.
While the Industrial Revolution is credited with the rise of the union movement and the fight for fairer working conditions – wages, hours, safety and so on, the issue of work-life balance is one that has been around from the very beginning. The references to work in the Bible are many and varied. The first three chapters of Genesis give three quite different perspectives on work. Genesis 2:15 understands work as something noble which God has given to man to do. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and care for it.” By the end of Genesis 3 work has become a chore, a burden, as a result of the fall, the disobedience of Adam and Eve to God’s instructions. “By the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground for out of it you were taken: you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3: 19) And Parnell was tapping into the ancient Sabbath concept, found at the end of the first story of creation, in claiming eight hours a day for recreation and to do “what little things they want to do for themselves.”
Still in Genesis we find certain people being encouraged to use particular skills for the greater good of the community. So Jabal becomes a herdsman while his brother Jubal was a musician, and Tubal-cain a worker of bronze and iron. (See Gen 4: 19 – 21). Still later skilled craftsmen are called on to build the tabernacle and then the temple. People are expected to work the land, care for their flocks, in order to earn a living. It is recognized that some have a specific role in society which means they need to be supported by others – such were the Levites busy with their temple service and supported by the tithes of the people. Written into the early codes of conduct was the principal of caring for those unable to work, or having no one to work to support them. The concept of care for the widows and orphans and the alien (those without land) is embedded in Leviticus. Much of the story found in the book of Ruth revolves around the practice of gleaning – the harvesters were to deliberately leave some of the corn at the edges of the field for the poor to collect.
Of course, not every one wanted to work hard. Among my favourite sayings are these verses from the book of Proverbs, surely addressed to a teenager by a frustrated parent
Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest. How long will you lie there, O lazybones? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior. (Prov 6: 6 – 11)
The same book has a wonderful tribute to a hard-working woman – though sadly, it has become non PC to quote Proverbs 31.
There is plenty too about work and labour in the New Testament. One of the most difficult parables for us today is the story Jesus told about the employer who hired people throughout the day, and then paid each of them exactly the same amount. In focusing on the apparent unfairness, which is precisely what those who had worked all day did, we miss the point that the parable is about God’s gracious act of care for each person, even those unable to get work.
The idea of servanthood comes through strongly in the Gospels and the writings of St Paul. Each year we re-enact the foot-washing incident recorded in John’s Gospel as part of our Maundy Thursday ritual. This concept is a hard one for us to accept today, when the unions have taught us to demand our ‘rights’. And what does it mean to come in at the end of the day and say, I have only done my duty? (see Luke 17: 7 – 10)
It’s been a busy week for protesters. Last Wednesday saw a large and noisy gathering on parliament’s lawns, and an equally large procession through the streets of Wellington by people in the film industry in the evening. In the UK jobs will go by the thousand as government pulls in its proverbial belt, while in France ugly scenes of confrontation have flashed across the news channels.
Many of today’s workers, and I am not simply thinking of those who do manual work, work far too hard. We seem to have a heightened sense of duty. Workaholics put pressure on others to stay at their desks. People are conscious of looking good, or needing to impress so as not to be made redundant in the apparently never-ending cycle of restructuring of companies. Even in hard economic times some get what can only be described as obscene salaries and bonuses, while others (nearly always those at the bottom of the pile) are told to pull in their belts a little tighter.
Samuel Parnell struck a deal to work an eight hour day in order to have a sense of balance between work and the rest of his life. I wonder if that is one of the key things we should be working on today. What does a balanced life look like? How do we strike that balance between the responsible work of Jesus’ “unworthy servant” and the “lazybones” (the sluggard) of Proverbs? Possibly without even knowing it Parnell tapped into the ancient monastic practice of seeking balance in daily life.
You may like to spend some of tomorrow’s public holiday looking at your own life. How much balance do you have? Is there time for sleep, work and leisure? Where do family and friends come in? Is there time for God, to say your prayers, read your Bible, do something for someone else? Last weekend a number of Cathedral people were away on retreat. Have you ever made use of such an opportunity – a time to take stock and get back into balance?
Winifred Holtby, author and champion of a classless society, is said to have penned the following words before dying at a relatively young age: God give me work, till my life shall end, and life, till my work is done.
