The Hours of Work
Our Father,
We worship and praise You
As the Creator who worked for six days,
Using hours to build the world
In all of its beauty and brilliant majesty.
You rested and experienced joy in Your creation
Because it was good.
We pray for our neighbors
Who work by the hour
To build a better life—
In warehouses and on shop floors,
On construction sites and the unnoticed places
Throughout our city.
Give them eyes to see
How their labor matters,
And how their work displays love
Even in tasks that seem small.
We pray for our neighbors
Whose jobs lack meaning or
Whose hourly wages
Do not support their needs.
We ask for the gift of peace,
For continued hope,
And for the opportunity of a job
That leads to their flourishing.
For those learning to work—
We pray for caring teachers, kind managers, and innovative job creators.
May they give their talents to help others discover
The value and dignity of work.
May we see our labor as essential
To the future of the world
When we can no longer work ourselves.
Father, we pray that, like You,
We may all find rest
At the end of the workweek.
And experience joy
Because our work was good.
Amen.
Since 1999, James Reiner has led Belay Enterprises & Bud's Warehouse, a Denver-area home improvement thrift store that trains and employs people rebuilding lives from addiction, homelessness, and prison. He has lived with his family in the Westridge Knolls neighborhood of Highlands Ranch for nearly 30 years.
