Petitions for Labor Day
2003
Meditation
The national liturgy always begins with the Memorial
Day Weekend. It climaxes with the Fourth of July and concludes on Labor Day with
the first signs of autumn. Here in
Back to work
For
those who are looking for a job in a very lean job market, especially for those
who have families to support. In peace, let us pray....
For
those who work too hard at making a living and don’t work hard enough at living—don’t
work hard enough at making prime time for important matters. In peace, let us pray.....
For
those who hate their jobs, that they might find a way out and have the courage
to choose it. In peace, let us pray....
For
a body politic that has a bias in favor of the blue collar worker, just as the New
Testament has a bias in favor of the poor--a bias for a family wage, for decent
working conditions and for equal pay for equal work. In peace, let us pray....
Meditation
At this time of the year the nation moves not only
back to work but also to school—to the task of educating. Education comes from
the Latin e-ducare—to lead or draw out. Good education
draws things out of kids rather than jams things into them. That’s quite a difficult mission in view of
the fact that the media has jammed so much junk into them.
Back to school
For
teachers, educators, who are to draw out the good that’s in our kids—that they might
appreciate the task before them. In peace, let us pray....
For
teachers, educators, that they might not lose heart in this difficult task, and
that we might encourage them with pay and praise. In peace, let us pray....
For
mothers and fathers, who are the first teachers, first educators of their sons
and daughters. That they might realize that they are called to safeguard them
from all the junk, as best they can, and to draw out the good that’s in them. In peace, let us pray....
For
a body politic that appreciates the fact that the best welfare is the money
spent on good school buildings, good salaries for good teachers, especially in
the hearts of our cities. For to be educated means to be empowered to stand on
your own two feet and to stay out of prison. In peace, let us pray....
For the nation
For
us, the nation, as we now gather in the harvest. That we might have a sense of
gratitude for this great country of ours, this land of plenty, and this home of
the Harley Davison. That we might have a sense of that simplicity we used to
have in times past when we used to be grateful for the basics of life, like
food enough to eat, a clean bed to sleep in
and a warm shelter to live in through the long winter months. In peace, let us pray....
For
us, the nation, now in agony as we strive to win the peace after having won the
war. In peace, let us pray....
For
us, the nation, now in painful remembrance of the second anniversary of that unspeakable,
never-to-be-forgotten disaster of 9/11, which brought down two towers and three thousand human
beings, and which changed our lives forever and has us now looking over both
shoulders and under every rock, 24/7. In
peace, let us pray....
For the dead
For
all the dead victims of Islamic terrorism at Ground Zero and everywhere else in
this world under siege. And for all the dead victims of the war in
P.S. A missing petition
The
Sunday assembly has received the following, sent through e-mail to Old St.
Mary’s:
Dear
Father,
I
was a visiting guest at the