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There are better times to sing that fabulous hymn than a holiday weekend when it doesn't relate to the lectionary.

Furthermore, there are other hymns in the Hymnal 1982 that mention “labor.”

So here's a sort of tongue-in-cheek list of replacements for the Labor Day weekend “Come, labor on” selection.

• Hymn 226/227: ”Come, thou Holy Spirit bright”
  Did I just write about this recently? You betcha. The relevant verse is in the second stanza:

  In our labor, be our aid

• Hymn 228: “Holy Spirit, font of light”
  Unsurprisingly, the above verse also gets translated in this version of ”Veni Sancte Spiritus.”

  On our journey grant us aid,
  freshening breeze and cooling shade,
        in our labor inward rest.

• Hymn 278: “For all the saints, who from their labors rest”
  Why not set our human labor in contrast with those who have been set free?
• Hymn 424: “For the fruit of all creation”
  The second stanza of this hymn, by F. Pratt Green, might genuinely be perfect for Labor Day.

  In the just reward of labor,
     God’s will be done.
  In the help we give our neighbor,
     God’s will be done.
  In our world-wide task of caring
  for the hungry and despairing,
  in the harvests we are sharing,
     God’s will be done.

• Hymn 482: “Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy”
  Here, again, we need look no further than stanza two:

  Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
  whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
  be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,
  your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

• Hymn 564/565: “He who would valiant be”
  The end of this Percy Dearmer hymn has something to say about the direction in which we should labor.

  Then fancies flee away;
  I’ll fear not what men say,
  I’ll labor night and day
     to be a pilgrim.

• Hymn 586: “Jesus, thou divine Companion”
  The second stanza of Henry Van Dyke's hymn speaks to Jesus' presence among those who work:

  Where the many toil together,
     there art thou among thine own;
  where the solitary labor,
     thou art there with them alone;
  thou, the peace that passeth knowledge,
     dwellest in the daily strife;
  thou, the Bread of heaven, art broken
     in the sacrament of life.

  The third stanza, too — just perfect for Labor Day. We don't sing this hymn enough.

• Hymn 705: “As those of old their first fruits brought”
  Another brilliant summation of the work of the Christian life is found here in the second stanza.

  A world in need now summons us
     to labor, love, and give;
  to make our life an offering
     to God that all may live;

Labels: Hymn 226, Hymn 227, Hymn 228, Hymn 278, Hymn 424, Hymn 482, Hymn 564/565, Hymn 586, Hymn 705, hymns, Percy Dearmer