Luke 4: 16-30 (Monday, September 3, 2007 – Labor Day United States)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. These words are what we may the mission statement of Jesus. They are his mission plan. This was an important ministry to Jesus and it made him stand in opposition to many, including the political and religious leaders of the time. He lived out these words and gave away his life that we may experience liberation. Jesus invites us Christians to continue this ministry. This challenges us to against injustice in our society. It is not enough that Christians pray against injustice but Christians must work actively to end the reign of injustice, oppression, poverty, captivity, and corruption in our society.

As we celebrate Labor Day, we must as a Christian community apologize to all those who have worked for us that we did not pay them just wages; give them their due benefits or treated them fairly. We cannot fight injustice in the society if we do not first live radically the life of justice in our Christian community. This will mean paying our staff just wages; providing retirement benefits to them if they qualify and give them basic things such as health insurance. Those of you who have employees, you must treat them in that way too.

Prayer:
Lord, help us to be people of justice. We apologize to all those living or dead whom we have treated unfairly in the past. We apologize most especially to our employees living or dead whom we took advantage of and did not pay them just wages or provided benefits that would have significantly improved their lives. We are sorry lord. Help us to do better.