A Case of the Mondays

Monday is my day off, so this blog was put together last week and just posted this morning. It is a group of prayers from the Church of England's Prayer page at their website. These are work-related prayers for those headed once more into the breach, rather than enjoying a day of rest (rest in the sense of the domestic bliss of cutting the grass and buying groceries that is). Enjoy!

Before work
Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,
my daily labour to pursue,
thee, only thee, resolved to know,
in all I think, or speak, or do.
—Charles Wesley

A Commuter’s Prayer
I failed to get a seat – again,
too many people on the train.
We’re stuck in a tunnel;
everybody’s sighing;
we’re not moving.
I breathe in –
‘Let me know your peace and grace.’
I breathe out –
‘And help me share it with the people here.’
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
For the sake of my sanity.
For the sake of your kingdom.
—Sheridan James

Inspiration needed
Great creator God,
maker of all things,
you called forth beauty
from emptiness
and order
from chaos.

Is it heretical to ask:
Was it so effortless for you?
Did you struggle, Lord,
to shape the mountain ranges?
Or did you just speak and it was so?

This work you’ve given me, Lord,
it’s supposed to be ‘creative’
but so often it is toil, and pain, and struggle.
Sometimes bringing something new to birth
is like trying to blow a boulder uphill
with a straw –
the effort is exhausting.

Lord, would you help me?
And would the same Spirit that hovered
over the face of the waters,
that breathed human life into being,
be with me in this work?
—Tracey Messenger

These prayers are taken from Pocket Prayers for Work, Church House Publishing (2004), compiled by Mark Greene.