We Labor in Love

One: On Labor Day we honor our work, physical and mental, paid and unpaid, joyous and heartbreaking.

Many: We give thanks for work’s gifts, suffer its difficulties, and strive to make labor just and joyous for all.

One: Our work can build our society, provide for our material needs, and give our life meaning.

Many: We labor in gratitude.

One: Our work can damage our society and the planet, fail to sustain our material needs, and be meaningless.

Many: We join together to create work that supports the well-being of all.

One: Our work can heal the world, help us understand who we are, and keep us safe.

Many: We labor in joy.

One: Our work can harm the world, demean us, and expose us to danger.

Many: We join together to create work that is safe and humane.

One: Our work can fill our days with accomplishments and our lives with stories.

Many: We labor in love.

One: Our work can dissatisfy and alienate us; we may not be able to find enough work or any work.

Many: We join together to create work that blesses us, all people, and the planet.

One: This Labor Day and all Labor Days to come,

All: May our work, and all work, serve humanity and all living beings.

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Opening Words for Labor Day

By Megan Visser

From WorshipWeb

We enter this meeting house for kindness and comfort. May rough-worn hands and aching backs be healed. We enter this meeting house of hope for equality. May those who labor to survive live to know justice. We enter this meeting house of love and vocation. May our bonds of solidarity be strengthened.

Opening Words for Labor Day

a person's hands grasp the handle of a shovel, a green lawn in the background