In 1774, Ann Lee (known as Mother Ann among the Shakers), along with 7 others, journeyed from England to the emerging United States of America and founded a new religious group.  They called themselves the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, but because of the ecstatic manner in which they danced during their services of worship, they were despairingly referred to by others as Shakers. The Shaker movement was never a large one, but they did make their mark. Many people know two things about Shakers: (1) they were celibate and did not marry and (2) they made beautiful furniture. There was, however, so much more about this curious religious group that made them unique.

One aspect of the Shakers that continues to inspire me is their organic blending of worship and work. For Shakers, the two were part and parcel of the same thing, a life dedicated to the living God. They rotated labor and ministry, so one person would work for a while in the kitchen (and both women and men did kitchen work), then move to the fields for planting and harvesting (again, women and men), then lead worship (and yes, women and men). Unlike so many of us who operate in a compartmentalized sort of way, attempting to “balance” the demands of family and work and church and personal pursuits, the Shakers’ day to day life was much more integrated. Indeed, they understood that work was just another form of worship, another way of expressing their love of God and neighbor. One of Mother Ann’s sayings has become emblematic of their way of faithful living: Hands to Work, Hearts to God.

This coming Monday, we celebrate Labor Day. For many, the weekend has simply become one last summer chance to have a barbeque or to purchase something on sale. Labor Day was first set aside, however, as an occasion to celebrate those who work and to raise up issues of justice for those who labor. The celebration originated during the height of the Industrial Revolution when common laborers often worked 12 hours a day for 7 days a week in order to eek out a subsistence living. The day was meant to give laborers a break from that cruel regime and to highlight the injustices that kept them all but enslaved in unsafe work environments. In some ways, Labor Day was the US government’s secular attempt to communicate the same thing as the Shakers, that is, work is to be honorable and workers are to be valued. And because work is honorable and workers are valued, the workplace should be a place that respects and protects both the work and the worker.

The Shakers are long gone, but their legacy lives on. It lives on in the beautiful furniture and crafts that they created centuries ago, but it also persists in the holy notion that our work and our worship are truly one and the same. Hands to work, Hearts to God. I pray that, in this modern world, we may relearn the holy craft of integrating our worship with our work. May what we do on a regular old Tuesday in our workaday week be in the same spirit and with the same level of devotion as that which we do on Sunday in church. May we be ever faithful in our worship and in our labors so that those who witness our lives may see the face of Jesus. And finally, may we continue to work tirelessly for justice for those who spend so much of their lives laboring. May the worker be treated with the dignity and honor due any child of the living God. 

Hands to work, Hearts to God. Thanks, Mother Ann. Those truly are words to live by.  

~ Father Art