Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished’?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.’
—Luke 17:5-10
Labor
We labor in the sowing,
in hope for all that’s grown;
in reaping, then, and mowing
we bring the harvest home.
Which one we serve would say then
when we have worked the fields,
“Sit down with me, I pray you,
and taste your labor’s yields”?
Though we are merely servants,
yet, Lord, you wash our feet,
prepare for us a banquet,
and bid us sit and eat.
For you have sown a seed here—
the root, O Christ, is you—
to grow a different kingdom
and make the old things new.
As deserts turn to vineyards
we labor through the days,
and growing here within us
new hearts for your new ways.
We labor not for markets
or profits, but for love,
so we may taste the harvest
you, Lord, have told us of.
Vincent van Gogh – Wheatfield with a reaper – Google Art Project – BgFGcS3ucZqeRA at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22621957
Kate Bluett 