O God, on this Labor Day weekend, we thank you for people whose work makes our lives so much easier. Remind us to be even more appreciative of their work, their abilities, their time, and their service.
We also are thankful for students who are being preparing for a particular job or career path. We pray that their education, their training, and their credentialing will be used to help make this world a better place, a place that is filled with your justice and peace.
On this Labor Day weekend, we are also thankful for those who are retired or semi-retired and who offer their time and resources through volunteer work in our community and through the life of the church. Thank you for blessing us through their willing hands and hearts.
Help all of us to remember the Sabbath and to take time to rest from our work and enjoy your creation.
O Lord, we also lift up to you those on our church’s prayer list as well as the joys and concerns that we offer to you from our hearts this day. Surround each of these persons and situations with your healing, guiding, and comforting presence. May they know of our prayers for them this day.
As we reflect on the meaning of this holiday weekend and quickly approach the fall season, may this John Wesley prayer be one that centers us, offers us guidance and discernment, and leads us to be your faithful disciples…
“I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.”
We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus who we seek to faithfully and joyfully follow, and who taught us all to pray together…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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