Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration for Labor Day
For Labor Day Weekend
Blessed Jesus
The Carpenter, the Rabbi,
The Healer, the Good Shepherd,
The One who washes feet, the Ruler of all that is seen and unseen
We bless you and thank you for the good gift of you and the good gift of work
For entrusting us with responsibilities and purpose
For making a place for us and a place for us in your plan
Lead us as we labor, so all is done with integrity
Lead us as we labor, so all is done with honor
Lead us as we labor, so all is done for the common good
and for your glory. Amen.
Opening Prayer for Labor Day Weekend © 2023 by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
For Labor Day Weekend
In the midst of your striving
Your labor
Your responsibilities
Your hustle
Hear the invitation, “Come to the Feast!”
Come, eat and drink
Come, rest and rejoice
Come, dance in the presence of our Generous Host
Listen…
Listen……
Grace is calling
Come, the feast awaits
Call to Worship for Labor Day Weekend © 2023 by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
VOICE ONE: Almighty God, Maker of Heaven and Earth, you declared your work good and so do we. Empower us to continue your good work through the labor of our minds and hands.
VOICE TWO: This Labor Day Weekend, pour out again your blessing and strength on all who work. On those who make it possible for us to have food on our tables:
Farm workers, truckers, grocers, cooks, and restaurant employees
ALL: Bless and strengthen, O Lord
VOICE ONE: On those who work to keep us healthy:
Doctors, nurses, technicians, researchers, and medical manufacturers
ALL: Bless and strengthen, O Lord
VOICE TWO: On those who inspire us and lead us to greater good:
Inventors, explorers, religious leaders, teachers, writers, artists, and mentors
ALL: Bless and strengthen, O Lord
VOICE ONE: On those who facilitate needed products and services:
Office workers, managers, and administrators
Retail workers, bankers, lawyers, politicians, and accountants
ALL: Bless and strengthen, O Lord
VOICE TWO: On those who make our lives easier and safer by the sweat of their brow:
Warehouse workers, construction workers, janitors, and sanitation workers
Police officers, fire fighters, and those who serve in the armed forces
ALL: Bless and strengthen, O Lord
VOICE ONE: On those who work with the poor, the abused,
the dangerous and the dying
Social workers, counselors, and therapists
Hospice workers and corrections officers
Those who work in shelters, soup kitchens, and halfway houses
ALL: Bless and strengthen, O Lord
VOICE TWO: Gracious God, help all workers, especially those in authority over other workers, to carry themselves with honor and integrity. Keep them safe from harm, prejudice, and injustice. Provide the opportunities, benefits, and pay needed to sustain them and their loved ones.
Those who are looking for employment are invited to stand. Persons may also stand on behalf of a friend or loved one who is looking for employment. Those seated around them lay a hand of blessing and support on them for the remainder of the prayer.
VOICE ONE: Strong and Merciful One, we also commend to your blessing and care those who are unemployed or underemployed. Guard them against discouragement and discrimination. Relieve them of worry and anxiety. Meet their needs for hearth and home and health. Come quickly with a fulfilling job with a trustworthy employer.
VOICE TWO: God of Life, deliver us and all people from greed, corruption, and predatory business practices. Open eyes to sustainable and just solutions so workers of all nations will mutually prosper. Lead us as we work, so nothing we do is for self alone, but for the common good and for your glory.
VOICE ONE: We ask all this in the strong name of Jesus, the Carpenter of Nazareth, the Rabbi of Galilee, who taught us to pray
Close with all praying the Lord’s Prayer
Lisa Degrenia
Father God,
You introduce yourself to us in Genesis (1) as the God who works. Who created this beautiful world we are privileged to inhabit.
We thank you for your work
You created us to till the ground, to work the land, to become craftsmen and craftswomen.
We thank you for your work
But then we rebelled against you, and our work was tainted by “thorns and thistles”
We thank you for your work
You loved us nevertheless, and when the fullness of time came, you sent your son to redeem us, including our work.
We thank you for your work
As we enter worship today, we are grateful that work is part of your good creation, help us to serve with integrity, with diligence, and with grace.
Come, let us worship the God who labors.
Stuart Strachan Jr.
O Living Christ, carpenter of Nazareth, stand among us now. We come to your from our struggle with the world. We would hear you say as you did in your Word: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. For you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.
By the memory of the common life you did live in the home of Joseph and Mary, hallow our family life. By your tender voice as the Good Shepherd of our souls, call us yet again to that nobler life we have so often forsaken. By those strong hands which labored at the bench and which were pierced for our transgressions, forgive our sins. By the certain assurance of your resurrection, renew in us the undying hope that your kingdom shall come, on earth as it is in heaven.
O Christ, hear our prayers of intercession for all sorts and conditions of people by whose labor we are blessed. Relieve those for whom overwork has robbed life of its joy. Grant refreshment of spirit to those who by mental tasks add to life’s meaning. May those made idle by necessity not feel unwanted, but grant them a sense of being needed in your divine economy and ordering of life. May all leisure time be used in ways you can commend, and all work be honest as to the Lord.
O God, our Father, may we not expect an end to all work-life problems, but may we work for the end of strife, and discord, and unfair advantage. May there be a holy sense in the hearts of those who name you Lord when they sit at the conference table, or organize for power, or do their daily work in office, field, or factory.
For whatever else we are, O God, we are your, and we belong to one another because we belong to you.
We remember the word of your prophet: Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness as a mighty stream. We would pray with the Psalmist: Establish the work of our hands upon us, the work of our hands you establish it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Joseph E. McCabe, Service Book for Ministers, McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc, 1961. Language Modernized by Stuart Strachan Jr.