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| In the pulpit at an earlier Labor Day Sunday service. |
Almost every year for the last five years I have led a service on Labor Day weekend at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Woodstock. I have crammed two hours worth of labor history into a one hour service that galloped along so fast that I nearly fell off my high horse. I have celebrated the rebel music of Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplain, and Utah Phillips. I have traced the working class virtue of solidarity from the Stone Age through biblical times down to last week’s picket line.
A dedicated and hearty band has shown up every year on a holiday weekend. Some folks have reported liking what they heard. A good portion of the Congregation stays home. Some of them would rather have their toe nails extracted by white hot pincers than listen to another of my “political” services. I understand.
That’s why last year, I gave Labor Day a pass and did another service over the summer that had nothing at all to do with hectoring the congregation about the working class or social justice.
But I’m back. The times demand it.
If you are in or around McHenry County on Sunday, I invite you to come the UUCW, 221 Dean Street in Woodstock at 10:45 in the morning to hear my service, If This is a Depression Where are the Bread Lines? I will be issuing a challenge to face economic reality and find the spiritual strength to get mad and get moving.
There will also be some rousing labor songs, at least one caterwauled by yours truly. And, of course, no captive audience can get away without having one of my poems inflected upon them.
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