The UCC has put together some nice resources for Labor Sunday, but they do not include a children’s sermon. This one below is nothing too special, but at hopefully it begins to make a religious connection to this secular holiday on a level kids can understand.
Tomorrow is a holiday. What holiday are we celebrating tomorrow? (Labor Day.) What does the word “labor” mean? (Work!)
Labor Day is a day when we celebrate all the hard work people do. We give thanks for the people who build our houses and roads, and for the farmers who grow our food. We give thanks for the fire fighters and police officers and doctors and nurses who keep us safe and healthy. We give thanks for the teachers and coaches and pastors who teach us new things. We also remember people who want to work, but aren’t able to find jobs right now, and we pray that they can find a job soon.
Now, here’s a funny thing about Labor Day: it’s a day when we celebrate work – but do we do work on Labor Day? No! We hang out in the backyard and have a cook-out and maybe watch a baseball game. It’s a day about work – but we don’t do any work at all.
The Bible is full of stories of people who worked very hard. Jacob worked for Laban for fourteen years so he could marry Laban’s beautiful daughter Rachel. Joseph worked for pharaoh, interpreting dreams and gathering up grain for the years of famine. Later, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt and worked hard every day for no money. Some people even think they helped to build the pyramids!
When God freed the Israelites from slavery, God gave new laws to Moses, the leader of the people. God said you should not kill, you should not steal, and you should not worship any other gods. God also made a law about working. What do you think that law said?
Well, guess what? The law said that you have to take a break from working sometimes! God said that you should do all your work in six days, but on the seventh day of the week, you should rest. God said we should remember that the Israelites were slaves and had to work all the time. So, to celebrate our freedom, we should take a day to rest and to thank God.
Tomorrow, Labor Day, is a good day to take a rest from working. I hope that tomorrow you can take time to thank God for all the working people who make our lives easier, and to thank God for giving us a day to rest.
Let’s say a prayer together. Dear God – thank you – for people who work hard – and thank you – for giving us a day to rest! – Amen.
Because surely we can do better than this.