Basil of Caesarea lived in the fourth century after Jesus. For a while, Basil sought to develop his relationship with God by going into the desert. There he lived in a roofless hut and ate bread so hard that it wrenched the teeth out of his mouth. He came out of the desert with a deep piety and discipline. Later, however, he wrote, A God has made us, like the members of our body, to need one another= s help.@ As he matured in his faith, Basil worked to establish Christian communities of care that would reach out to the sick, the orphaned, the weary. He could probably be called the founder of the Christian hospital movement. Basil discovered a religion that was A pure and undefiled before God@ and also in touch with the world.

That is the teaching we read from the Bible this morning and that teaching is included in the final phrase in our vision statement: that we are a church that serves others.

We understand, as Basil discovered, that eventually the Christian faith leads the believer into a life that embraces the neighbor. For the blessing of God comes not in gazing out ourselves in a spiritual mirror and being pleased with the change that God has made in us.

If that is all that we do as followers of Jesus and children of God, then we will surely forget our appearance as quickly as we forget what we see when we cast a passing glance at a mirror. What we see in that spiritual mirror must inspire us to live more compassionate, loving, caring lives.

The real blessings of God are found in the activity of doing God= s will and work; for when we are engaged in that activity, then we are fulfilling the purpose for which God created us C to be loving, caring, compassionate creatures, which revel in and enjoy life by taking care of the creation and one another.

We understand that and so part of our vision at Christ Congregational Church is that we are a Church that Serves others. To serve others well we need to follow other guidance from this lesson: A Let every one be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger...@

To serve others well, we must start by listening to them.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, is an organization of farm workers in Immokalee, Florida. Most of them pick the tomatoes grown in the region. These are the folks who organized the Taco Bell boycott to encourage that corporation to help them bring the growers to the table to bargain an increase in wages.

The Coalition is part of the Poor People= s Economic Human Rights Campaign, a network of more than 100 poor people= s organizations across the country committed to ending poverty by achieving economic human rights for all.

That campaign is building a social movement that has poor people at the forefront but includes people from all walks of life who are committed to advancing economic human rights and the leadership of the poor. They insist that any movement to end poverty must have the poor in the lead, just as the great social movements of abolition, women= s suffrage, and civil rights had slaves, women, and African-Americans in the lead.

If we are going to have poor people lead the fight to end poverty, then we who are not poor, must begin serving them by listening to them.

We have that privilege this morning.

(Introduce speaker.)

Having listened and heard, let us remember the third piece of guidance from our scripture lesson and resist the temptation of anger because anger A does not produce God= s righteousness.@

As a Church that serves others, we are called to draw from the rivers of love flowing from our compassionate God and then become A doers of the word, and not hearers only.@

Yes, we must hear and then we must do.

Gandhi challenged us to A Become the change you desire in the world.@

Labor Day is the time we commemorate work and workers.

In the church we recognize that God, who loves and cares about all aspects of our lives, is also concerned about our work lives. Our work situations can be fulfilling and empower, or demeaning and humiliating. Our jobs determine the size of our incomes, and whether we have health insurance and a pension. Our jobs are the main determinants of whether we live in a big house or any house at all, whether we send our children too college, or to bed with an empty stomach.

If we are A doers of the word, and not merely hearers,@ then we will respond to Jesus= call to love our neighbors.

Our love for our neighbors extends to their working lives also, for God= s influence and concern does not end at the door to the workplace.

As a church that serves others, let us join with poor workers, by listening to them, and then joining them in their struggle for better wages, better working conditions, that lead to better lives for themselves and their families.