Daily Prayer for Monday, September 7, 2020-- Labor Day

“Lord, you give the great commision:  ‘Heal the sick and preach the word.’”        
                                    —-Jeffrey W. Rowthorn, 1978

Preparation for worship
Sit in a relaxed position. Take a slow, deep breath (or 2 or 3 or as many as needed) until you feel your body, mind, and soul begin to relax and rest in the Spirit.  Take time to reflect as you move through this time of worship…

Opening Sentences                                                              Romans 14: 8-9
Whether we live or die, we belong to God.
Christ is Lord of the dead and the living.

Prayer                                                St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre, NY 
     Loving Father, on this weekend, when we rest from our usual labors, we pray for all who shoulder the tasks of human labor— in the marketplace, in factories and offices, in the professions, and in family living.
    We thank you, Lord, for the gift and opportunity of work; may our efforts always be pure of heart, for the good of others and the glory of your name.
    We lift up to you all who long for just employment and those who work to defend the rights and needs of workers everywhere.
    May those of us who are now retired always remember the valuable contribution we make to our Church and our world by our prayers and deeds of charity.
    May our working and our resting give you praise until the day we share together in eternal rest with all our departed in your kingdom as you live and reign Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

Hymn of the Day
Acappella Amazing Grace Jam, by the Acappella Company.  Listen and give thanks to God. 

Reading of the Day                                                             1 Peter 1: 13-25
13 Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. 14 Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For
“All flesh is like grass
    and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
    and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
That word is the good news that was announced to you.

Prayers for self and others
Please pray today for those who are being affected by COVID 19 and by its side effects in our world. Please pray for Mark Sabala, working with Covid patients as a nurse, Marcy Szeliga, working as a case investigator and contact tracer, for Sylvia Washer, for Jeanette and her family who’ve been heavily impacted, and for all who have been recently diagnosed with- or are recovering from- the virus.  Pray for your next door neighbors— whether they are good friends or strangers— that they would be well.  As we hear of more friends who are directly affected, or who are working in high risk places, we will list them here.  Use this time to lift your joys, concerns, and hopes to God.

Benediction 
May grace and peace be yours in abundance
in the knowledge and God and Jesus our Lord. Alleluia!