While written with labor day in mind, we hope that these prayers will help inform our corporate prayer throughout the year. Feel free to adapt them for your own context, including an appropriate attribution line if it is printed or projected. For those seeking employmentHeavenly Father, we pray for those among us who are currently seeking employment. We ask that you would supply opportunitiesfor your people to use their gifts and passions that you have put in each of their hearts. For those who are discouraged and who are struggling to find employment, we pray that you would supply their needs and that you would help them to trust you in this season of waiting. For each of those who are seeking work, we pray you would remind them that their worth is not found in what they do, their salaries, their positions, or their productivity, but in the fact that they belong to and are loved by you. Help this truth bring them peace in seasons of waiting and seeking employment, and use these truths to motivate the work that they do in the future. We pray this in your name. Amen.  For those newly employed Heavenly Father, we give you praise for those in this congregation who have recently found employment and entered into new jobs. Whether these be first jobs or new jobs, we pray that you would bless and guide these individuals in this new season of their lives. Grant them joy, wisdom, purpose, and strength as they engage in their labor. Wherever they may find themselves, empower them to be salt and light in their workplaces. Give these individuals with new jobs connection with coworkers and meaningful opportunities, and may the new enthusiasm they hold strengthen them in the days ahead. May each of them participate in your coming kingdom and glorify you through the work of their hands. We pray this in your name. Amen.  For those completing their employmentHeavenly Father, we lift up to you those who are reaching the end of their employment and careers. We thank you for the years of faithfulness that these individuals engaged in, as well as your constant presence and care through their journeys. As these individuals come to the end of their paid work and reflect on all that these years held, we pray that you would give them your grace and your presence as they look back and look ahead. As they enter a different season, we ask that you would provide them opportunities to use their gifts, to be in community, to love their neighbors, and to glorify you. As life brings changes in these individuals’ lives, remind them that you and your love stay the same, and that you are always with them. May this knowledge comfort and guide them in the transition ahead. We pray this in your name. Amen.  For faithful and consistent labor Heavenly Father, we recognize that while some in our midst may be excited to start new jobs and others may be finishing their work, there are those that may be feeling the weight of their work. To some, their work may feel mundane, futile, discouraging, or disheartening. We recognize these feelings are often appropriate responses to work in a broken and complicated world, but we pray that you would encourage their hearts and strengthen their hands in the work that they are doing. Please give your people the resilience and strength to do the work they are presently assigned. Remind them that you value the faithfulness and integrity that no one else sees. May this knowledge strengthen them in their day-to-day tasks. Honor the work that is unseen or undervalued, and receive the faithful work of your people as worship unto you. We pray this in your name. Amen.  You can find more resources in the Work and Worship Collection.

Creator, We bless you for the cycle of the earth:    for my kitchen scraps that became compost to nourish the soil,    for the soil that harbored the seed,    and the sun that awakened it, enticing a flower to burst into bloom,    which in turn nourishes the bee darting from plant to plant.    A necessary link in your created order.        (There are too few bees these days.) Creator, Forgive us for how we have poisoned the earth    and killed entire populations of bees. Forgive us that, because of our desire for beautiful yards,    we have filled the soil with pesticides    and killed off the very plants that bees have needed to thrive. Forgive us that, in the name of progress,   we have turned lifegiving land into lifeless concrete,   we have turned fresh water into cancer superspreaders,    and cut down swaths of forests and sides of mountains. Forgive us for not giving voice to the cries of the land   or amplifying the voice of those most affected by its pollution. Forgive us for thinking that since we are not farmers who care for large swaths of land   we have no responsibility for the land you have given us. Forgive us for thinking that what we do in our small yard    or apartment balcony does not matter,    or that you do not call us to be caretakers and stewards as well. Creator,Help us to set to right what we have broken,    to learn how to care for the soil and plants    so that bees may flourish. Then will these bees return to pollinate plants   that will become food for humans and other of your created beings. Then will the scraps of that food be returned to nourish the earth,    and that fertile soil will in turn produce plants that the bee needs to thrive.May we be attentive to every part of your creation    so that all may flourish. Creator, We bless you for the cycle of the earth,   and for the bee. In the name of Jesus Christ,    who came to redeem all things, Amen.