Sunday, September 6, 2009
Offered by Adam H. Fronczek, Associate Pastor

God, you are the master craftsman; you have created us. You brought us up out of the dust of the earth, and somehow you made us miraculous. Each of us is a human life. We experience joy and sadness, faith and fear, and we are precious to you. We pray that you would prosper our lives and help us to consider carefully the works of our hands, that your will might be done in the world.

On this Labor Day weekend, we pray for those who labor in the most desperate of situations. We pray for soldiers and sailors, for those who serve the military in our own nation and in every land. We pray for the families and loved ones from whom they are separated; we pray for those who have lost loved ones in acts of war; and we pray for homes and lives where war has brought anger, illness, or abuse. In places where war must exist, we pray that our struggle may be just. Where peace is possible, may we do our utmost to achieve it.

Let the favor of the Lord be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands.

In all our vocations, Lord, we ask for your care. We pray for all who make possible the life and health of the home, who form human beings and care for others: husbands, wives, partners, mothers, fathers, caretakers. Grant them strength and patience. We pray for persons who work in our marketplace, even the faces we may never see: the one who plants and harvests and fishes, the one who packages the food, the one who names its price, the one who sells it. We pray for those who teach and those who learn so that we may continue to provide for one another. We pray for nurses who care for our bodies and counselors who care for our minds. We pray for laborers who give us a clean place to live and work, who bring the U.S. mail and make the coffee and drive the bus. We pray that in the midst of our consumption, we would not miss the connectedness of it all, our need for each other, our need to care for all those from whose work we benefit and who benefit from our work when we do it well and justly. We pray for your blessing upon us that we might love one another.

Let the favor of the Lord be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands.

We pray for people who struggle to find satisfying work or struggle to find what they are supposed to do, and we pray for those who struggle to find any work at all. We pray for those who have lost their jobs or who work in difficult situations. We pray for a sense of your calm in the midst of long days at work or looking for work. We pray for people who live in corners of the world where there is never enough work. And in the midst of all this work, remind us, God, that our calling, above all, is not to earn and produce but to love and serve. May we seek to be signs of your grace to others in the work that we have, whatever it may be. May we be more attentive to our essential roles as parents, as partners, as friends, as Christians. May we find work that is pleasing and belong to you, O God.

As we carry out our most sacred vocations, let the favor of the Lord be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands. As we gaze at our folded hands, we offer to you the prayer taught to us by your very Son, Jesus Christ: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church