Work as Shared Calling
Illustration★★★★Close by the careless worker’s side, Still patient stands The Carpenter of Nazareth, With pierced hands Outstretched to plead unceasingly, His Love’s demands. Longing to pick the hammer up And strike a blow, Longing to feel his plane swing out, Steady and slow, The fragrant shavings falling down, Silent as snow. Because this is my work, O Lord, It must be thine, Because it is a human task It is divine. Take me, and brand me with thy cross, Thy slave’s proud sign.
G. A. Studdert-Kennedy O22 LORD, MIGHT I BE BUT AS A SAW Lord, might I be but as a saw, A plane, a chisel in thy hand.
No, Lord, I take it back in awe; Such prayer for me is far too grand. I pray thee, rather let me lie As on thy bench the favored wood; Thy saw, thy plane, thy chisel ply And work me into something good. George Macdonald 427
The point
Two poems about work as divine calling; carpenter of Nazareth stands with all workers, transforming labor into worship through sacrifice.