On the Sunday before Labor Day, Pastor Donald Loeschen asks a question worth sitting with: if our works cannot save us, then why do we work at all? The answer runs through Luther’s teaching on vocation, that every honest calling is a godly one, from the pulpit to the nursery to the cab of a garbage truck. Along the way he offers a memorable picture of the hidden God, the One who heals through doctors, keeps order through the state trooper, and cared for a farm family through a grandmother in Iowa who labored her whole life long.
This episode draws from the sermon text in Ephesians 2:10, read alongside Ephesians 2:8-9, with the service readings including Ezekiel 33:7-9, Romans 13:1-10, and Matthew 18:1-20.
Key themes include vocation and calling, good works, salvation by grace through faith, the hidden God who works through ordinary people, service to your neighbor, and labor offered back to God out of gratitude.
