Litany for Labor
Note: I wrote this for our Labor Day Weekend liturgy at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. I hope it names you in some way.
We remember Cain the farmer and Abel the shepherd, the early emblems of work in our world.
We know you have called humanity to make, till and toil, cultivate, shape, manage, build, and tend.
Creator God,
Response: May our work be prayer
We remember Saint Joseph, the laboring carpenter, and those who share his trade,
The general contractors and whittlers, the fitters and joiners, the lumberjacks.
We remember Saint William of Pontoise, the college professor and patron saint of those with stressful jobs, the ones who are ready to quit but can’t, the ones for whom the burden of leadership is especially heavy, the ones who just want out, but whose skills and capacities are valuable beyond measure.
Creator God,
Response: May our work be prayer
We remember Priscilla and Aquila, the tentmakers.
The fishermen and tax collectors who would be your disciples.
Doctors and longshoremen.
Accountants and the hangers of drywall.
Creator God,
Response: May our work be prayer
Bless our parking lot attendants and spreadsheet wonks,
Our wiping down and sweeping up
Our carrying of goods and burdens
Our food growers and packers
The labor we notice and especially the labor we do not:
Creator God,
Response: May our work be prayer
Those whose hands and hearts have made floor joists and fashioned hinges
The grouters of tile floors
The laminators of wood
The installers of windows
The fashioners of sewage pipes
The staplers of crown molding
The tinkerers of engines
The flippers of burgers
The salespeople and customer support call center specialists
The folks in retail and foodservice
The artists and other first responders
Mental health counselors and nonprofit leaders
Administrative assistants
Landscapers
Mechanics
HVAC technicians
Cement specialists
Truck drivers
Teachers
Janitors and Housekeepers and Hotel Managers
The ones who hold doors open
Who wash clean our world
The baptizers of cars and trucks
The all-night clinicians and restless activists
The union shops
The gig workers
The deliverers
The soccer moms and dads whose labor at home is unnecessarily controversial
The people whose profession it is, somehow, to hold our hands when we die
And to those whose work puts them at great risk of death
Creator God,
Response: May our work be prayer
We ask that all work may be work of dignity.
Work with rights.
And boundaries.
And balance.
And safety.
Work without the taking of advantage.
Work that is free of resentment towards others.
Where the farmer and the cowman can be friends.
Work that is beneath no one.
Work that is never above our pay grade.
Work that is not about the love of money.
Work that is able to find deep, meaningful, rich, restorative rest.
We ask for your blessing and for your Holy Spirit to infuse our life and work so that it may be focused on the common good and to your great glory, for we know:
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They that build it labor in vain
Creator God,
Response: May our work be prayer