The title of today’s sermon is borrowed from a popular British television series that eventually made its way to American television. Set in the early 1900s, the show was based on the interaction between a family of wealthy Londoners, who were the “upstairs” characters, and the servants who worked for them, the “downstairs” characters.

            That show was interesting for Americans because few of us have any experience of household servants -- either having or being one -- so the show provided a glimpse into another world, one where there was a clear dichotomy between the lives of those upstairs and of those downstairs.

            Today, however, there is an American version of the upstairs-downstairs split, and it is in the job market. On the one hand, there are those of us who are making enough money to rent or own a home, eat balanced meals, pay for entertainment and even have some money in the bank. Though not all of us would consider ourselves rich, and though some of us are struggling financially, by most measures, many of us are part of the “upstairs” world.

            On the downstairs side, there is a whole cadre of people who labor at low-paying jobs, those that pay minimum wage or just a few dollars more, for whom such things as having a decent place to live, eating regular balanced meals, and having an entertainment budget are simply not possible -- let alone having some money in the bank. These are the working poor, and they include people who wait on us in restaurants, take our tickets at movie theaters, clean our houses when we use a maid service, and assist us in department stores. Some of those workers have spouses who earn higher wages and others are teenagers supported by their parents, but setting aside those people, the remaining workers are those trying to get by on a miserably low income.

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