Labor Day is not a particularly Christian holiday. The church claims Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter; but the first weekend in September never made the cut.

We are all guilty of grumbling about our daily responsibilities. We view work as a necessary evil and envision paradise as an endless vacation. We forget that work is a good gift created by the Lord for his people.

Read the creation account in Genesis 1-2. God created Adam and Eve to engage in productive, fruitful labor. They served as Eden’s stewards and caretakers.

Work gives meaning and purpose to life. Fulfillment comes from using our God-given abilities and resources in ways that are pleasing to the Lord.

We use the term “vocation” as a synonym for a profession; but a vocation originally meant a commitment to religious life. The word comes from the Latin root “to summons” or “to call.”

All of God’s children have responded to Christ’s common call.  Each in his or her way has heard Jesus say, “Come, and follow me.” We each receive a variety of individual callings along with our common call. Paul wrote:  “There are many different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.”

God created us as unique individuals, and we are equipped for different work. God’s people share a common call with a variety of callings. Give thanks to the Lord this weekend for the blessing of vocation.

Vocation is more than making a living; it is making a life.

My annual physical is next week.

I don’t like my annual physical.

It ranks somewhere between dental procedures and tax returns.

I observe Vince Lombardi time, arriving fifteen minutes early for an appointment. The receptionist always makes me wait. I kill time, speculating on the illnesses of others in the waiting room.

The assistant finally beckons me to an exam room. I sit on the table’s crinkly paper with my feet dangling like a toddler. A disposable gown covers 20% of my body.

The physician eventually arrives with a rote apology for running late. We engage in doctor-patient conversations about blood tests, medical metrics, and physical functions. He uses phrases like for a person your age, sensible precautions, and proscribed tests. He concludes the visit with a final exam that all men dread.

Did I mention that I don’t like my annual physical?

The receptionist completes the paperwork before dismissing me. I don’t even get a lollipop or a 12-month/12K-mile warranty for my troubles.

The best part of the day is knowing that my NEXT physical is 364 days away.

Stay healthy, my friends.  

I enjoy learning animal group names. The collective nouns illustrate the animals’ unique natures and God’s extravagant creativity. Examples include:

• Cats                             Clowder
• Crocodiles                   Float
• Elephants                    Parade
• Giraffes                       Tower
• Lemurs                        Conspiracy
• Leopards                     Leap
• Porcupines                  Prickle
• Squirrels                      Scurry
• Vultures                      Wake
• Zebras                         Dazzle

A group of alligators is called a . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . CONGREGATION! I will neither confirm not deny the accuracy of the name, but the collective noun makes me laugh as a pastor.

I HAVE encountered some ornery alligators over 40+ years of pastoral ministry. A few mean-spirited people tormented me like the crocodile pursuing Captain Hook. Some memories still evoke a low-order of PTSD.

But . . .

The vast majority of church members have loved and supported me over the years. I possess wonderful memories of saints who offered unconditional grace as the body of Christ. I speak their names, see their faces, and hear their voices whenever I think about that great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.  

A group of alligators is a congregation; but a group of Christians is called the church.   

Summer vacation has vanished like morning dew in the August sun. Family trips to the beach, lake, and mountains linger only as distant memories. Atlanta Public Schools began last week, and other area schools will follow soon.

During my childhood, students enjoyed a three-month summer vacation before returning to class around Labor Day. Teachers gathered one week beforehand for a mysterious rite known as pre-planning. We perused the student rosters posted outside the classrooms at Open House. Teachers distributed lists of required school supplies.

My father worked for Sears-Roebuck, and his employee discount guaranteed our customer loyalty. We rode in the family station wagon to the local mall for back-to-school shopping. Sears strategically placed snack bars in the center of the stores. I still associate the start of school with the aromatic mélange of Spanish nuts, popcorn, and fruit slices.

My mother and sister spent inordinate amounts of time looking at new clothes. Three pairs of blue jeans and a few shirts met my basic fashion needs. The Sears’ Toughskins pants featured double-layered knees for active boys. The stiff denim emitted a chemical smell, chaffing in unmentionable places until softened by repeated washings.

I insisted on wearing Keds’ tennis shoes: The Shoes of Champions. Ads promised that the sneakers enabled wearers to run faster and jump higher! I could race the wind and win while leaping broad canyons with ease.

The school section featured aisles of supplies. We selected three-ring binders that snapped shut with the force of rat traps. Many an unwary child bore the scars of such encounters. 

Cool kids used Ticonderoga #2 pencils. We used the pencils until they were one-inch nubs that disappeared into a rotating pencil sharpener.  

Discriminating students purchased Blue Horse notebook paper, saving the Blue Horse labels to exchange for neat rewards. I do not recall ever redeeming a prize with the coveted labels, but they formed the stuff of school-day dreams.

We bought plastic rulers marked off in inches—the metric system had not yet been invented. A zippered pencil container snapped into a notebook. We filled it with pink erasers the size of Matchbox cars.

The most important items never appeared on any supply list. My best teachers supplied me with a love of learning, thirst for knowledge, and belief in self. These dedicated educators invested their hearts and souls into their students; and the return on their investment proved invaluable.

Christa McAuliffe, the elementary school teacher who perished on the space shuttle Challenger, said, “I touch the future—I teach.” I give thanks for men and women who are teaching a new generation of students in our classrooms. May God supply their every need.

I walk our Buckhead neighborhood to maintain my cardiovascular health. No one wins the war on aging, but I am fighting a rearguard action. The fact that Keith Richards has outlived Richard Simmons challenges my resolve. Yet I rock on.

A walk around the block includes a death-defying dash down Northside Drive. The stretch of US 41 crams three lanes into a two-lane road. The federal highway abuts the sidewalk, and a two-inch painted line separates motorists from pedestrians.

The traffic light at West Wesley and Northside serves as a starting signal for racing cars. Drivers go from 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds, flooring accelerators like drag-strip fans. The roaring motors create Doppler effects for pokey pedestrians.

My feet tiptoe down the sidewalk’s far side like a tight-rope acrobat. I gauge the potential threat of every oncoming car’s acceleration and trajectory. It feels like a real-life game of Frogger with no chance for a second life.  

We live in a face-paced society with places to go and people to see. If you are driving down Northside Drive, please consider slowing down. The life you save might be mine.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, crafted three simple guides for Christian living. In Methodism, they became known as The General Rules.

The Third Rule states: “By Attending upon All the Ordinances of God.” Wesley understood the ordinances of God to be spiritual disciplines that all disciples should keep—practices that keep the relationship between God and humans vital, alive, and growing.

These “means of grace” enable us to grow in the Christian faith. Wesley mentioned six ordinances specifically, including:

• The public worship of God.
• The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded.
• The Supper of the Lord.
• Family and private prayer.
• Searching the Scriptures.
• Fasting or abstinence.

The six ordinances listed by Wesley are NOT exhaustive; however, these spiritual practices are vital to our spiritual health.

In his book entitled Three Simple Rules, Bishop Reuben Job offered a contemporary paraphrase of the Third Rule: “Stay in love with God.” These means of grace enable us to nurture a lifelong relationship with the one who loves us first and loves us best.

Attend upon all the ordinances of God so that your love of the Lord survives and thrives.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, crafted three simple guides for Christian living. In Methodism, they became known as The General Rules.

The second rule simply states: “Do good.”

A two-word directive seems easy enough, but how much is ENOUGH? I mean, this doing good thing could quickly get out of hand! I’m willing to do my part, but I want to know exactly what my part should be.

The good news is that Jesus DID define how much we had to do. The Lord said: “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” My guess is none of us is done yet!

John Wesley defined the scope of the Second General Rule in this way:

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

ALL, y’all—that’s a lot of good! So we need to get our “cans” to work!

Next week we consider the Third Simple Rule: “Attend upon all the ordinances of God.”

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, crafted three simple guides for Christian living. Methodists call them The General Rules.

The first rule simply states: “Do no harm.” This is the Christian ethic in the negative—we are told what NOT to do. The Silver Rule states: “Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you.”

In the Hippocratic Oath, doctors swear to practice this principle: “First, do no harm.” Sometimes doing nothing is a creative act—or at least not a destructive one.

Centuries later a Methodist evangelist named Sam Jones paraphrased Wesley’s First Rule to simple say: “Quit your meanness!”

How would our lives change if we followed this simple rule? What would it look like to “do no harm” and “quit our meanness?”

So here’s your homework. This week make the First Rule your mantra. Repeat it time and again to yourself. Find ways to do no harm to yourself and others around you.

Next week we consider Wesley’s second rule: “Do good.”

A small group approached John Wesley in London, England in 1739. They asked the Anglican minister to help them grow in the Christian faith.

Wesley agreed to meet with the group weekly. These meetings eventually evolved into a church group called The United Society. It was:

A company of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation.

Wesley put the “Method” into “Methodism!” He arranged new believers into classes of twelve people that met weekly. During the meeting, the leader would ask each member: “How is it with your soul?”  They held one another accountable and grew together in faith.

In order to help the believers in their pursuit of holiness, Wesley formulated three simple rules for Christian living. In Methodism, these guidelines later became known as The General Rules. The three simple rules are:

• Do no harm.
• Do good.
• Attend upon all the ordinances of God.

We will explore these simple but profound rules for Christian living over the next few weeks. Next week we consider Wesley’s first rule: Do no harm.