On Wednesday, April 15th, a number of people in the faith community will join other community leaders to advocate for fair and just pay in a number of industries. Last month, Pastor Paul Carlson of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Denver gave this wonderful meditation on this subject. We share his words with you:
Words to Interfaith Workers Justice Breakfast
March 24, 2015, 7:30am
Paul Carlson
Pastor, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church
Denver, CO
Welcome, all of you, to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church this morning. Thanks to Shanta for inviting me to share some brief words of reflection with you.
You are in a space surrounded by other non-profit ministries that Our Savior’s either sponsors or with whom we are in partnership. Just outside this large window is a drop-in center for those in the mental health community who are under care and taking medication. This is CHARG, a 25 year old presence in Capitol Hill that offers a consumer based and empowering model for mental health treatment. Upstairs, above the office level, Mission Wear offers a place for women in recovery from various life crisis situations, including prison. Finally, on the office level, Our Savior’s has its own ministry, St. Luke’s Ministry, which trains Certified Nursing Assistants in a month long program for state certification and job placement. They achieve a nearly 100% success rate on both counts. This has been an economic boost for these students looking for a financial and career boost and a blessing for parents of disabled children who can become certified by the state as CNA’s and be paid by the government to take care of their children at home. And, finally, if you stand in the alley by 9th Ave, you can see 106 solar panels, now six years old.
So I am speaking in a place that has walked the talk of community service and compassion for the vulnerable among us. Because of this, I am feeling good about sharing a brief word about faith and labor rights. From a Judeo-Christian perspective, where I come from, it is easy, as it would be from the Muslim perspective and from other religious perspectives as well. Read the Hebrew prophets and you will see a clear moral imperative: take care of the poor, the hungry, the widows and orphans and the workers of the world and be sure they receive social and economic justice. This is, for the prophets, the word of the Lord in neon lights. It trumps all other religious obligations, and that includes fine public prayers, amazing and inspiring worship services, beautiful buildings and all else. The prophets, speaking as they do in God’s name, say, “This is the sacrifice I desire” and you may understand this to mean, “This is what religion is supposed to be doing.” Furthermore, this is what any community should be doing if it has a basis in faith.
So, here is an example of how the prophets talk, acting as channels of the divine will. Given that this is Lent and many tackle or try to tackle the discipline of fasting during this time, these words speak:
Isa. 58:6 “No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn.
The corollary to these words is a promise of blessing:
Isa. 58:11 And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too; and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
This is addressed not to an individual, but to a community. The “you” is plural. So much of what we hear in the media about individual and personal religion misses a key biblical point: the divine will is interested in communities of justice and, in the end, communities of love-that is, caring for others. It’s so simple that it’s amazing so many miss it. The language of scripture is plain. It speaks about community in terms of the need for justice and it speaks against greed and withholding wages from workers and God’s desire to support the vulnerable among us. It does not leave room for rationalizations in order to justify greed or low wages, like we find in neo-liberal “let the market decide” economics or arguments in favor of everyone independently making it on their own. Justice for the worker is a major moral imperative in all Judeo-Christian scripture, as it is in other faith traditions. When a society or community or nation does these things and acts with fairness and justice, a blessed community is the result.
So thank you all for your advocacy on behalf of workers. We are all workers in the same vineyard and the work of FRESC and Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) represent a crucial piece in the mosaic of justice workers nationally. You are brave folks, supporting higher wages and worker justice in this slightly, or perfectly, insane political environment. Since it’s always good to know you have God on your side, here once more are the words of Isaiah:
The kind of fast that I want is that you stop oppressing your workers and treat them fairly and give them what they earn.
Blessings on your work. Thank you.
