Get Off Your Donkey: The Dignity of Work

Today, we are in our final week of our series Get Off Your Donkey 2.0. The first iteration of this series was back in January 2023, when we looked at ways people in our congregation were “getting off their donkeys” and putting their faith into action. The concept of “getting off your donkey” comes from Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan—a man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and he finds someone lying on the side of the road—robbed, beaten, and left for dead. Instead of continuing on his way (like those who came before him), he gets off his donkey, cleans up the man’s wounds, and takes him to an inn where he can recover. Jesus tells this parable to illustrate that our faith is not just about what we believe, but also about what we do—our faith calls us to get off our donkey and care for others, particularly those in need. This spring, we brought back this idea of “get off your donkey” as a way to acknowledge that sometimes, faith-in-action looks like meeting immediate needs—cleaning someone’s wounds or giving them food to eat. Other times, faith-in-action looks like doing the personal work—thinking critically about what we personally believe about a subject and how that impacts the world around us, as well as the systemic work—advocating so that all might have the things they need to thrive, working to change systems that cause harm. We’ve brought in a few of our United Methodist social principles to illustrate this personal and systemic work. The social principles are statements made by the greater church that call each of us to engage with the world around us—to compassionately work for justice for each and every one of God’s creations—just like Jesus. Today, as we celebrate our graduates, we are taking a look at how our faith calls us to advocate for worker justice.