The parable of the workers in the vineyard is an appropriate text for meditation on Labor Day, not only because it speaks of labor and management but because it places everyday work in the perspective of the gospel of the kingdom of God. It helps us to bridge the gap that too often exists between Sunday and Monday, our worship and our work. The word of God is not limited to our Sunday worship. It is not confined within the four walls of the church and associated only with what we wear and what we eat on Sunday. As our Lord puts it, it is leaven which penetrates all of life, our ordinary daily activity. The hymn writer John Ellerton caught this emphasis and taught us to sing:

"Work shall be prayer, if all be wrought
As thou wouldst have it done;
And prayer, by thee inspired and taught,
Its…