Sirach 38:17-34: a reflection

17Make bitter weeping and make passionate wailing. Let your mourning be according to his merit, for one day or two, lest you be spoken evil of; and so be comforted for your sorrow. 18For from sorrow comes death. Sorrow of heart saps one’s strength. 19In calamity, sorrow also remains. A poor man’s life is grievous to the heart. 20Don’t give your heart to sorrow. Put it away, remembering the end. 21Don’t forget it, for there is no returning again. You do him no good, and you would harm yourself. 22Remember his end, for so also will yours be: yesterday for him, and today for you. 23When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest. Be comforted for him when his spirit departs from him. 24The wisdom of the scribe comes by the opportunity of leisure. He who has little business can become wise. 25How could he become wise who holds the plow, who glories in the shaft of the goad, who drives oxen and is occupied in their labors, and who mostly talks about bulls? 26He will set his heart upon turning his furrows. His lack of sleep is to give his heifers their fodder. 27So is every craftsman and master artisan who passes his time by night as by day, those who cut engravings of signets. His diligence is to make great variety. He sets his heart to preserve likeness in his portraiture, and is careful to finish his work. 28So too is the smith sitting by the anvil and considering the unwrought iron. The smoke of the fire will waste his flesh. He toils in the heat of the furnace. The noise of the hammer deafens his ear. His eyes are upon the pattern of the object. He will set his heart upon perfecting his works. He will be careful to adorn them perfectly. 29So is the potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel around with his feet, who is always anxiously set at his work. He produces his handiwork in quantity. 30He will fashion the clay with his arm and will bend its strength in front of his feet. He will apply his heart to finish the glazing. He will be careful to clean the kiln. 31All these put their trust in their hands. Each becomes skillful in his own work. 32Without these no city would be inhabited. Men wouldn’t reside as foreigners or walk up and down there. 33They won’t be sought for in the council of the people. They won’t mount on high in the assembly. They won’t sit on the seat of the judge. They won’t understand the covenant of judgment. Neither will they declare instruction and judgment. They won’t be found where parables are. 34But they will maintain the fabric of the age. Their prayer is in the handiwork of their craft.

Sirach turns his attention to the ordinary workers of the world, the farmer, the craftsman, the smith, the potter, and honors the dignity of their skilled labor. Each of these bends his whole attention to his craft, the smith by his anvil in the heat of the furnace, the potter turning his wheel with his feet, careful to finish and perfect his work. They will not sit among the councils of the people or the seats of judgment; yet, Sirach says, they maintain the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the handiwork of their craft. Their ordinary skilled work, done well and with care, sustains the life of the world, and is itself a kind of devotion, a prayer offered in the doing of their craft. Ordinary work, skillfully and faithfully done, has real dignity and worth; it holds the world together and can be a form of devotion to God.

Notice how Sirach honors ordinary skilled work: it maintains the fabric of the world, and is a kind of prayer. These workers are not the celebrated of the world; they do not sit in the councils or judge in the assemblies. Yet their work is not therefore small. By their skilled and careful labor, the smith at his anvil, the potter at his wheel, the farmer in his field, they sustain the life of the world; without them, Sirach says, no city could be inhabited. And their diligent work, done with care and devotion, is itself a kind of prayer, offered in the doing of their craft. Ordinary work, faithfully and skillfully done, has real dignity; it holds the world together, and can be offered to God as devotion. The one who does ordinary work well, with care, is doing something of real worth, a service to the world and, in its way, to God. Honest, skilled work is not beneath devotion; it can be devotion.

That is worth taking to heart, for ordinary skilled work, faithfully done, has real dignity and can be a form of devotion. We can think our ordinary work small, unworthy of notice, far from anything sacred; but Sirach honors the ordinary workers whose skilled labor maintains the fabric of the world, and calls their diligent work a kind of prayer. Ordinary work, done well and with care, has real dignity; it sustains the world, and can be offered to God as devotion. Do not despise your ordinary work as small or unworthy; done faithfully and with care, it has real dignity and can be a devotion offered to God. Honor your ordinary work as a thing of real dignity, doing it faithfully and with care as a form of devotion, as Sirach honored the craftsmen whose labor maintains the fabric of the world and whose prayer is in the handiwork of their craft; for ordinary skilled work, done well, sustains the life of the world and is not beneath devotion but can itself be offered to God, so that the faithful doing of our daily work is a service and a kind of prayer.

Lord, Sirach turns his attention to the ordinary workers of the world, the farmer, the craftsman, the smith, the potter, and honors the dignity of their skilled labor. Each of these bends his whole attention to his craft, the smith by his anvil in the heat of the furnace, the potter turning his wheel with his feet, careful to finish and perfect his work. They will not sit among the councils of the people; yet, Sirach says, they maintain the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the handiwork of their craft. Their ordinary skilled work, done well and with care, sustains the life of the world, and is itself a kind of devotion. Show me how Sirach honors ordinary skilled work: it maintains the fabric of the world, and is a kind of prayer. These workers are not the celebrated of the world; yet their work is not therefore small. By their skilled and careful labor, they sustain the life of the world; without them, Sirach says, no city could be inhabited. And their diligent work, done with care and devotion, is itself a kind of prayer. Ordinary work, faithfully and skillfully done, has real dignity; it holds the world together, and can be offered to you as devotion. Take that to my heart, for ordinary skilled work, faithfully done, has real dignity and can be a form of devotion. I can think my ordinary work small, unworthy of notice, far from anything sacred; but Sirach honors the ordinary workers whose skilled labor maintains the fabric of the world, and calls their diligent work a kind of prayer. Ordinary work, done well and with care, has real dignity. Keep me from despising my ordinary work as small or unworthy; help me do it faithfully and with care, Lord, as a form of devotion offered to you, as Sirach honored the craftsmen whose prayer is in the handiwork of their craft.