First Oturcl1 Pulpit
"SATURDAY'S CHILD •.• "
Text: " ... We must work the works of Him who sent
me, while it is day; night comes, when no one
can work."
--John 9:4
FJRST PRi:SBYTi:RJAN CHVRCH
401 SOUTHEAST FIFTEENTH AVENUE
FORT LAUDERDALE. FLORIDA 33301
September 5, 1993
RICHARD M. CROMIE, Minister
.~
°.Fort
Copyright Richard M. Cromie
Lauderdale, Florida, 1993
"Saturday's Child ••• "
I suppose all of you have heard the
little poem, which was routinely repeated at
our house when we were growing up, having to
do with the days of the week, and the life
circumstances which supposedly come for those
born on that day. It goes like this:
"Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for his
living.
But the child that is born on the Sabbath
day is good, and wise, and fair, and
gay."
When my mother came to the Sabbath Day,
the day on which she was born, she would slow
down, smile, and emphasize with patience and
glee:
"But the child that is born on the
Sabbath Day ••• is good ••• and wise ••• and
fair ••• and gay."
I do not know if you know which was the
day of your birth. It might be worth a try to
find out.
There is a formula, one that I
could still work out if I had enough time: as
I recall, you take the year, the day, add a
mathematical number for the month, figure in
leap year, divide by 7, and out comes the day.
If you like this sort of· thing, the assigned
numbers for the month is B-9-9-6-9-4-6-2-5-03-5, January to December. If that is too much
trouble just assign yourself a day:
if your
life is full of woe, you were probably born on
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Wednesday.
If you feel you are loving and
giving, pick Friday.
It is largely useless information to be
sure, but it touches on that whole field of
astrology, fortune tellers, psychic advisors,
palm readers, tarot cards, even bio-rhythms,
which have fascinated people for centuries,
and still today, regarding the clues our time
or day of birth can give.
It is hard to
believe that it could .•make a difference what
sign you were born under, or what month, or
what day of the week, but people swear by it.
For example, people often tell me "You sure
are an Aries" ••• That means I am confident even bossy, depending on who is speaking,
when.
You can live without knowing these
things, or course, but it is fun, sometimes.
My horoscope for last Thursday, for example,
advised me "To try a new love relationship ••• 11
Hmmm ••• exciting, but that was September 2,
1993, our Thirty-fourth Wedding Anniversary.
Needless to say, I did not take the advice.
'
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'
r
1
,
I do not mean to offend those of you whor
are believers. Anything that works for you is,
fine by me ••• well ••• almost anything.
I'
sometimes feel that some Christian people knowr
their horoscopes better than. they know the:
Bible.
Except for "Dear Abby", the most
widely read article in the newspaper is the,
Daily Horoscope.
I took to reading them·
myself some time ago with the encouragement ofr
some family and friends who are fascinated byl
them. I also like to read my Chinese fortune
cookie.
But back to our theme, such as it was.,
(Now ••• be patient, you cannot get this sort of1
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thing in most churches .•• ) I myself was born
on a Thursday. I am not sure that I like that
too much.
The poem goes:
"Thursday's child
has far to go." Not that it is wrong.
I do
have far to go. I know that. It is just that
I do not want other people knowing it, too.
The older I get, the more I am aware of the
things
I
have never settled.
I
keep
postponing decisions to correct my faults and
foibles.
You learn some things as you grow
older, that is for sure, but it does not get
any easier, because the same person travels
along. Most of the problems and weaknesses I
had thirty years ago, I still do. "Thursday's
child has far to go."
****
Saturday's Child works hard for his
living.
There are a large number of people
for whom it is true.
In the depression
generation there were people who worked day
and night, the same through World War II. For
some of you listening life is hard, I know. I
think of single people in low paying jobs, who
work an extra shift, and often the weekend,
too, just to pay expenses.
I know working
mothers, rearing children alone, who have the
equivalent of five jobs.
The one they get
paid for at the store or office, the others of
homemaker, cook, chauffeur, psychologist, etc.
Life is hard for some people. I think of them
today.
Once in a while I watch laborers,
roofers, gardeners, construction people out in
the hot Florida sun all day long.
That is
hard work. I think of policemen on the night
shift, firemen, emergency room personnel,
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those who answer the calls to 911. Not only
hard work, but dangerous. I know shopkeepers
and small entrepreneurs who keep their
businesses open 12-16 hours a day, six, seven
days a week.
I know a cleaning woman who
works two shifts six days, and she has four
small children at home with their grandmother.
We could go on all day, but you know what
I mean. So fill in around the edges. I pray
God to take care of al~·the Saturday children
in the world - that He will make the end
result worth it for you, and those you love.
****
"Saturday's Child ••• " I sometimes think
the world is divided equally between those who
work too hard and those who hardly work at
all. Not too many people live in the center.
Shift your emphasis ••• the first group I
want to talk to are those of you listening who
are wedded to your work, whose job is all that
seems to matter: Success in the office, the
next promotion, or obviously, an increase in
salary. It amazes me. Some people who have
all the money they need and more, prefer their
work to their own families, even to their own
pleasures.
There are those whose whole
meaning in life is the job they happen to
have.
One psychologist noted the problem
thirty years ago. A workaholic is one who has
a disease of finding his soul not through his
life, but through his job.
Work can be
addictive too.
Look further ahead:
I am often there
when life rounds its final corner.
I often
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listen in to those who are saying goodbye,
who, trusting their pastor, reflect out loud
on all that happened, and all that did not. I
have never met anyone in those final days or
hours who wished he had spent more time at the
office. Other regrets are plentiful, like, "I
wish I had spent more time with my children;"
like, "I wish I had learned to appreciate my
wife;" like, "I wish I had saved more;" like,
"I wish I had spent more time on my faith."
"I should have gone fishing more, or taken
more vacations. "
Whatever ••• "Where is the
life I have lost in the living?" It is on the
symbolic time card at the office.
"Saturday's Child works hard for his
living." Work becomes religion. Let him who
has ears hear what the pastor says.
Relax,
take some time to smell the flowers.
Take
some time with your family if you are lucky
enough to have one.
Serve and love your
Church and the children of the world, and, for
God's sake, your own self .
Do not bury
yourself in your work.
It is not worth it.
That way, too, you can gain the whole world,
but you can lose your own soul.
"IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER"
"If I had my life to live over, I'd dare
to make more mistakes. I would relax, I would
limber up.
I would be sillier than I have
been this trip.
I would take fewer things
seriously.
I would tak-e more chances.
I
would climb more mountains and swim more
rivers. I would eat more ice cream. I would
have fewer imaginary troubles.
I'm one of
those people who live sensibly and sanely hour
after hour, day after day.
Oh, I've had my
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moments, and if I had to do it over again, I'd
have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have
just moments, instead of living so many years
ahead of each day. If I had to do it again, I
would travel lighter than I have. If I had my
life to live over, I would start barefoot
earlier in the spring and stay that way later
in the fall. I would go to more dances. I
would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick
more daisies. If I could start my years over
again, I would have more fun."
(Nadine
starr)
****
Some are workaholics.
At the opposite
end are those who do not work at all.
The
Bible is very hard on people who will not
work.
It is not too popular with the "dogooders" of our modern times, but II
Thessalonians 3: 10 says clearly: "If anyone
will not work, neither let him eat."
If a
person is not willing to work, then let him
starve. That's brutal.
It runs counter to
our
concern
for
feeding
the
hungry.
Thessalonians does not mean it as literally as
it sounds, but we often miss the point
completely.
Some people are hungry and
homeless out of the misfortunes of the
earth ••• but others are lazy. Some do not save
their time, health, or money.
We need to
distinguish between the two. The hungry are
not automatically heroes.
I like the proposed reforms in the
welfare system that are coming from a
Democratic President, Bill Clinton.
He and
his kind are often accused of being soft on
the poor and hungry.
But more clearly than
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Republican Presidents of late, Clinton has
been proposing that welfare, food stamps, and
public assistance be related to the willingness of the recipient to go out and get a job.
That is so elementary, isn't it? I mean,
an honest day's labor of any kind is blessed
of God.
Being so lazy you will not accept
employment, or being so fussy you will not
accept menial tasks is a curse. Taking a free
ride is serious business in the Scripture.
There were contrasting views back in
Bible times regarding manual labor.
In the
Greek society, work was left to slaves and
mechanics.
The perfect man with Aristotle
could never stoop to soil his hands,
You
hired or told somebody to do your work. Maybe
that is why the ancient Greeks were such great
philosophers
sitting around talking and
reading all the time.
I do not know.
I do
know some husbands who seem to feel that way.
They prefer to relax and think and talk, while
their wives wait on them hand and foot.
Oh
dear ...
In the Bible, it is just the opposite.
There is a divine command regarding labor from
which no one is exempt.
Idle folk are
bitterly denounced.
"Six days shall thou
labor and do all thy work," is a prelude to
the command to rest on the Sabbath Day. But,
it is equally a command. The prescribed rest
is to follow honest labo;r·.
****
Now and then I ponder the presence of the
God Incarnate in Jesus Christ.
Think about
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it.
If you were God and decided to come to
earth in the form of a person, who would you
choose to be?
Most of us would probably
choose to come down as a King, some way in
which we could have power to change the world.
But Philippians says He took on the form of a
servant. (Are you listening?) He chose to be
born into a working class family. For most of
His lifetime He worked as a carpenter in a
small family shop in Nazareth.
Jesus
dignified our commitm~nt to the common tasks
and labor. Never look down on a person who is
working.
By the.way, back in New Testament times
Rabbis and Priests also had to learn a trade.
There was no reqular salary for professional
religious people.
They had to support
themselves and their families,
and add
religious services as a privilege.
St. Paul
was a tent maker, dignified, honest labor. He
later agreed to receive help so that he could
devote full time to the Gospel, but he had his
trade .
. . . I probably should not have told you
that.
Budget negotiations for next year's
salaries are coming up soon.
Since I do not
have a good trade to fall back on, we would be
done for if the Church reverted to the New
Testament policy.
If I could not be a
Minister, I think I would open up a candy
store or a bakery. I do not know. The whole
point is that honest labor is honored and
dignified in the Bible.
"Saturday's Child works hard for his
living."
However menial it happens to be,
never underestimate the worth of another
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regarding his or her work.
They may not be
doing the job the way you could, or think they
should.
We often are so critical of the job
others are trying to do. I find myself guilty
of that now and then, and I feel embarrassed
every time I realize it. I want to share the
idea with you just in case you are ever guilty
of the same.
Unskilled laborers, for the most part,
are people who are out of work or out other
jobs.
It looks so easy to cut the grass and
trim the hedges and plant the flowers.
But,
Cromie's First .Law says that everything is
more complicated.than it looks. It takes time
to learn a job. Each child is a child of God.
Never look down on anyone, and you will not
have to look up to anyone either. My father
used to hire himself out to do odd jobs. He
always had two regular jobs. He worked in the
mill, and he worked part-time as a church
janitor.
But, in addition, he painted and
cleaned.
When I approach our Church custodians or
anyone else doing menial kinds of labor, I
often think about my dad. Those of us who are
skilled, or think we are by what we can do,
can be guilty of looking down on others, and
what they are trying to do.
When I see a young woman at the bank or
restaurant or whatever, attempting a new job,
especially
if
I
get .. annoyed
with
her
inefficiency, I try to think that she could be
my daughter.
I can be critical.
I am a
perfectionist, people tell me. But, I try to
remember the dignity of all kinds of labor.
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****
Then, of course, on this Labor Day
weekend we should not forget the unemployed those who want to work and cannot find a job.
I pray for them and their families.
It is
devastating to a person not to be able to find
employment, or not to be able to find a job
that is worthy of his skills, and which will
help bring meaning to his life. It all comes
crashing down.
..
The Ninth chapter of John is one of my
favorite chapters .o.f the Gospel.
It is a
fascinating story of a widely known miracle.
It says. "As He (Jesus) passed ·by He saw a inan
who had been blind from his birth. 11
The
disciples reflected the general tone of the
day, asking him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man
or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Jesus said neither "· •• but that the works of
God might be manifest in him."
You
see,
that
is
essential
in
understanding the passage.
Whatever life
situation we are in, however unfair life can
become, the powerful love of God can transform
it. It is for us to find and channel God's
love rather than complain about where we are.
In verse four Jesus said, "We must work the
work of Him who sent me, while it is day; for
night comes, when no one can work."
A certain period of time is given to each
one of us. Sometimes it is long, oh, so long.
Sometimes though it lingers on when life is no
longer useful or enjoyable. Sometimes it is
short. Mostly it is in between. We are here
to enjoy the beauty of the earth, that is for
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sure, but also to do the work of God, and we
had better be about doing it "while it is day,
for night comes and no one can work."
Jesus healed the man on the spot.
The
passersby objected:
"He is a lazy no good
beggar.
There never was any gumption in his
whole family." But, the man answered in one
of the most beautiful and decisive verses in
the Bible.
He said, "What are you talking
about?
I am looking at you.
Once I was
blind, now I can see. The light of the world
is Jesus." I do not know what happened to him
next, but you can be sure the usefulness of
his life doing the works of the Lord was a
large part of it.
The man's life was transformed.
Christ
can transform your life, too, and mine. Today
I think of that transformation, especially in
the lives of those who are unemployed.
I pray also for those who are unhappy in
their work, who need a transformation of soul
and psyche, to accommodate the feelings they
have now, to tolerate the boss or fellow
employees or working conditions. It could be
they need another job. It could also be they
need a transformation of their attitude.
I pray for those young people, many
corning out of college just now, who need
employment, who at the opening moments of
their productive lives,. ·need a zest and new
enthusiasm.
Many companies are cutting back
all around the nation.
Perhaps it is
necessary.
Sometimes not.
But there should
be jobs enough for all who want them.
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Finally, I pray for all of God's children
everywhere who as this new autumn season
approaches will have the energy and skill and
take the time and devotion to do the work of
Him who sent us here: to be beacons to the
lost, to declare good news to the discouraged,
and to bring moral and spiritual victory to
the world, to know and share the love of Jesus
Christ. For now and·evermore. Amen.
****
(We are grateful to Susan swanson for the
preparation of this sermon for publication.)
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