Each Act - A Prayer
ALL MY WORKS PRAISE YOU, O LORD
Excerpt from Unceasing Prayer:
A Beginner's Guide
by Debra K. Farrington

Prayers for the Day's Work, pgs. 27-43
Before the revival in interest in Celtic spirituality in the last decade or so, praying while working would probably have struck us as a bit odd. Thanks to those who have taught us in recent years about our Celtic heritage, we have discovered that the practice of noticing God's presence, even in our daily tasks, is an ancient and revered practice. The Celts had prayers for stoking the fire in the morning, for herding the animals, for blessing the kitchen before cooking, and many other ordinary activities of their day. God was found in the details of the mundane in their world, not just in churches on Sunday.

The theme of prayer in the midst of ordinary chores also found expression in some of the later Christian literature. The Practice of the Presence of God, written by Brother Lawrence at the end of the seven-teenth century, explored what it meant to be continually aware of God's presence. The Abbé of Beaufort wrote that Brother Lawrence "found no more excellent means of going to God than the ordinary actions prescribed to him by obedience. ... It is a grave error to believe that fixed prayer times are different from any other time, for we are as strictly obliged to be united to God through our duties in their appropriate time as by prayer in its time."3 And so Brother Lawrence practiced prayer and contemplation of God while working in the kitchen or in the shoe repair shop, just as he did in the chapel.

Noticing and giving thanks for God's presence while we work--whether that be work outside the home or work that we do at home--can take a bit of practice. We live in a culture that tells us that we should "be all you can be" and that worships accomplishment, not as the hand or gift of God, but as the unassisted success of an individual. Work spaces, more often than not, do not feel like worship spaces, but that is because we define worship spaces so narrowly. God fills our kitchens, bathrooms, offices, and all our work sites just as fully as God inhabits a sanctuary. Whatever work we are doing, be it paid or unpaid, we are acting as God's hands in the world, as this prayer from The Book of Common Prayer reminds us:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We can take many opportunities to pray for or about our work. If we commute to work, we can use that time to pray for guidance and to examine whether or not we are answering God's call for us with the work we do. At the beginning of our shift or task, we can ask God's blessing on what needs to be done. Throughout the day we can take time to be aware of God's presence in a meeting or an encounter at the grocery store, to seek God's will, or to thank God for what has been accomplished and for giving us work to do in the first place. Recognizing God's presence in our work and thanking God for what gets accomplished reminds us that we serve God and presents us from making work--rather than God--the center of our existence.

WHILE COMMUTING
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
PSALMS 25:4

BEFORE STARTING THE DAY'S WORK
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us
the work of our hands.
PSALMS 90:17

AS YOU FOCUS ON YOUR WORK
Whatever my task, I will put myself into it, as it is done for the Lord.
FROM COLOSSIANS 3:23

WHEN CLEANING
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean
from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
EZEKIEL 36:25

BEFORE BUILDING/MAKING/CONCEIVING OF SOMETHING
Unless the Lord builds the house, we who build it labor in vain.
PSALMS 127:1

WHEN ANSWERING THE PHONE OR AN E-MAIL
To make an apt answer is a joy to anyone, and a work in season,
how good it is.
PROVERBS 15:23

WHEN WORKING WITH CUSTOMERS/CLIENTS
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
PSALMS 19:14

WHEN EXPERIENCING A DELAY
O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
ISAIAH 33:2

WHEN SHOPPING
I brought nothing into the world, so that I can take nothing out of it;
but if I have food and clothing, I will be content with these.
FROM 1 TIMOTHY 6:7-8

WHEN WATERING PLANTS, LAWN, OR GARDEN
Lord, visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it.
PSALM 65:9

WHEN CHANGING A LIGHT BULB
May we, who walked in darkness, see a great light.
FROM ISAIAH 9:2A

WHEN THE WORKDAY IS COMPLETED
All your works praise you, O Lord, and your faithful servants bless you.
FROM PSALM 145:10

From Unceasing Prayer: A Beginner's Guide by Debra K. Farrington, Copyright ©2002 by Debra K. Farrington. Used by permission of Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts.

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