Litany for Texas Workers for Sunday, September 3, 2023

(Adapt for Your Faith Tradition)

God, we ask your presence and blessing upon workers, this Labor Day and every day. 

God of care, empower us to move and rest in your restorative justice for all.

God, we praise you for the labor of caring in your creation…

For the parents raising children,  

For the teachers inspiring curious minds, 

For the cooks feeding our hunger, 

For the farmers feeding the world, 

For the construction workers housing us,

For the healers keeping our health, 

For the animals helping and befriending us,

For the climate scientists listening to our planet,

For the trees breathing with us. 

Let us pray, 

God, we are grateful for the laborers among us

Protect and empower them in their daily work.

Make us ever mindful of their contributions to our lives and communities.

God of care, empower us to move and rest in your restorative justice for all.

God, send us shade from the sun and relief from the heat. 

You lovingly created humanity 60% water. Particularly now, our outdoor laborers need water breaks to live. Drinking water is sacred, and life is worthy of protection. 

God of care, empower us to move and rest in your restorative justice for all.

God, we lament laws that prioritize profit over safety. 

We lament laws that ignore cries for climate justice, that deny workers access to life-sustaining  water, that limit the ability of cities and towns to require just treatment of workers. 

God of care, empower us to move and rest in your restorative justice for all.

God, open the ears of those in power to hear our cries to love like you. 

Open the hearts of lawmakers, and fill them with your compassion, so that they might offer grace, justice, and compassion in all their words, decisions, and votes. Move leaders to prioritize the justice and dignity of every person above political gains.

God of care, empower us to move and rest in your restorative justice for all.

God, teach us to be there for our neighbors, to create workplaces and governing bodies and relationships based on your commandment to love. 

Teach us to not be afraid, but to embrace you and one another. 

Unite us in solidarity and love, to join you in your vision for a kin-dom where all can be refreshed, where all can find rest and wholeness. 

God of care, empower us to move and rest in your restorative justice for all.