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Dates, Times, & History
Important Dates
Labor Day is celebrated on the 1st Monday in September.
Most years it falls on the first Monday of Creation Week, but some years it falls on the Monday before. During the years when Labor Day precedes Creation Week, Labor Day can function as a preparation for Creation Week.
Most years it falls on the first Monday of Creation Week, but some years it falls on the Monday before. During the years when Labor Day precedes Creation Week, Labor Day can function as a preparation for Creation Week.
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History
According to the US Department of Labor, "The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed in 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During 1887, four more states – Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York – created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories."
Labor Day was added to The Year Long Celebration of God in 2020 because as Christians, we are free to celebrate all good things. Work and the accomplishments of workers are appropriate topics to applaud. However, as Christians our highest act of worship must ever be directed toward God. Therefore, there is nothing we value more than our Lord and our relationship with Him. For that reason, Christians must see everything in this world through the lens of Scripture, including work. A biblical celebration of work should include appreciating the Creator of work, the purpose of work, the expectations for work, the strength to work, and the glorious future of work. Only then can we correctly tune our minds to keep God preeminent in all things. Colossians 1:18, “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
Colors: Brown and Yellow are the official colors of Labor Day because brown represents working the earth here and now while yellow represents the glory of heavenly work.
Labor Day was added to The Year Long Celebration of God in 2020 because as Christians, we are free to celebrate all good things. Work and the accomplishments of workers are appropriate topics to applaud. However, as Christians our highest act of worship must ever be directed toward God. Therefore, there is nothing we value more than our Lord and our relationship with Him. For that reason, Christians must see everything in this world through the lens of Scripture, including work. A biblical celebration of work should include appreciating the Creator of work, the purpose of work, the expectations for work, the strength to work, and the glorious future of work. Only then can we correctly tune our minds to keep God preeminent in all things. Colossians 1:18, “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
Colors: Brown and Yellow are the official colors of Labor Day because brown represents working the earth here and now while yellow represents the glory of heavenly work.
The Season of Mercy
Character Focus
Labor Day is a wonderful time to thank the Lord for His mercy. God mercifully protected mankind from a life of meaningless and unproductively. He also graciously allows us to participate in His eternally satisfying work.
Salvation Focus
During the Season of Mercy we focus on mankind's Desperation. God created us in order to have a relationship with us, but there's a problem -- sin. Our Desperation refers to the fact that because we are all sinners we cannot have a relationship with God. However, since we won't observe the Fall of Man and the consequences for sin until after Creation Week, we can start our contemplation of Desperation with the fact that we desperately need to worship God just like He created us to.
But Labor Day is also a good day to recognize that whereas no amount of work can earn us a relationship with God, a relationship with God does require that we work.
But Labor Day is also a good day to recognize that whereas no amount of work can earn us a relationship with God, a relationship with God does require that we work.
