september - Grand Encampment, Knights Templar

Prelate’s Chapel
by
Reverend Sir Knight William D. Hartman
Right Eminent Grand Prelate
of the
Grand Encampment
of the
United States of America
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for
that which does not satisfy?” Isaiah 55:2
“Do not labor for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to
eternal life which the Son of man will give to you.” John 6:27
W
e celebrate Labor Day in September and have for over a hundred years to
highlight the social and economic achievements of American workers. It
is a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the
strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. It is a recognition of how the vital
force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest
production the world has ever known. It is indeed appropriate that we pay tribute on
Labor Day to the creator of so much of this nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership
– the American worker.
I think that is the emphasis both Isaiah and Jesus were making in their comments on
matters of their day. We are to work, not for that which perishes, but for that which
will endure into future generations. We work, not just to make buttons, tee-shirts,
roads, and highways; we work, not just for a paycheck, or to stay off welfare, or to
receive benefits but rather to build a livelihood and a meaningful life, to build homes
and families, responsive governments, “one nation under God,” and hopefully, one
world under God.
We are taught this in the orders of the Knights Templar. We are to give untiring effort
to build a better life for our families, our friends, our brothers, and their families and
to teach the whole world the ideals of the Great Captain of our Salvation. As Anna L.
Walker in her hymn reminds us, “Work, for the night is coming, When man’s work is
done.” Then may we hear the words from our Lord and Savior, “Well done, good and
faithful servant; enter into your Master’s joy.”
6 september 2012