Labour Day Edition of the Prayer Bench
Spirituality of work, Autumn Rambles, & New Advent Resources
You can read this email or listen while I read it to you.
Read Last Prayer Bench Newsletter: The Summer Edition
Hello Prayer Bench friends,
It is Labour Day in Canada - and perhaps where you live?
We wistfully say good-bye to the leisure some associate with summer. Children return to school, and students to university and programs of study. Routines resume.
Labour Day honours working peoples and recognizes achievements established over the years to protect the safety and integrity of workers while continuing to advocate for current concerns.
Today we reflect on our work.
Now you might say – “Oh, but I’m retired now – I don’t work.”
You might say, “I work at home and I don’t get a paycheque, so this isn’t about me.”
Wait.
Every one of us, to the day we die,
will spend an enormous amount of time working - paid and unpaid -
giving of our time and talents by volunteering,
playing with grandchildren or playing the piano (play is our work)
and doing the chores that living life requires.
We all work.
A creating, making, working God challenges us to think about the work we do, the paid and unpaid work; the work within and beyond are homes, even the hard work of finding work sometimes.
What spirit do we bring to this part of our living?
How might we be more conscious of the power of our creating and making and working?
In what ways this fall (or summer for our southern friends) can our work and our time become a sacred practice where God's presence shapes the choices we make and connects us with other people and their work?
During this coming week, I’ll offer quotes on the practice of work on the Prayer Bench Facebook Page and open the space for your words and comments if you feel moved. (It’s public and you can visit even if you aren’t on facebook.)
Autumn Rambles
Now that we are in September I remind you that Autumn Rambles begins September 25. You can sign up for an individual subscription or get a group subscription and share it with an unlimited number of friends or people in your community of faith.
Join Caroline (Kereru Publishing) and myself as we walk the streets, beaches, woods, and bush and collect our favourite autumn signs and sightings, and share where we see hope in such a time as this.
The best way to get a sense of this unique collaborative resource is to take a look at a sample scrapbook page from last year’s edition. Take a look here.
Autumn Rambles begins on September 25.
This resource is included in all 2022 paid Prayer Bench packages.
New Advent Resources
If you are getting an early start on Advent planning, I invite you to browse two new Advent resources: a small group study called Navigating Mystery and a series of prayers for our Advent spiritual practice called Wake/Sleep Prayers.
You’ll find these and other Advent resources at the Prayer Bench.
Thanks for reading and now we get back to our work. Blessed be the work of your hands and heart.
Janice
Host of the Prayer Bench.