To Bless Our Callings: Prayers, Poems, and Hymns to Celebrate Vocation

Book, 2017, 206 pp
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To Bless Our Callings: Prayers, Poems, and Hymns to Celebrate Vocation is an ecumenical collection that supports the callings of everyone within the Christian community. This valuable resource of over two hundred prayers, blessings, poems, and sacred songs from diverse Christian traditions speaks to the heart of vocation’s richness.

Part I (Ages and Stages) gathers prayers for children, teens, young adults, and adults in mid-life, later, and older adulthood.

Part II (Work and Profession) offers blessings for traditional professions and overlooked occupations—from nurses to truck drivers, janitors to lawyers, salespeople to stay-at-home parents.

Part III (A Year of Blessing) highlights times to preach and pray about vocation throughout the church year and cultural calendar.

Drawing from research with hundreds of Christians in congregations across the country about their sense of God’s call in their lives, the book fills the gap between Christianity’s rich theologies of vocation and people’s pastoral needs in living out their callings.

Contents include:

Part 1: Ages and Stages

Prayers for Childhood

  • Blessings for Moments and Milestones (for the callings of children, for the child in the womb, after birth, at baptism, for welcoming children to the Lord's Supper, for a new school year for elementary students)
  • Prayers for Times and Places of Welcome (for the nursery, for Sunday School or religious education classes, for vacation Bible school or summer camp)
  • Petitions for the Callings of Children
  • 3 Poems to Speak to the Callings of Children
  • 2 Hymns to Celebrate the Callings of Children

Prayers for Adolescence

  • Blessings for Moments and Milestones (for the callings of youth, for a big decision, for the new school year for Junior High and High School students, for new drivers, for the end of the school year, for graduation, for beginning college, for joining the workforce)
  • Prayers for Times and Place of Welcome (for confirmation preparation, for youth retureats or church camps, for youth going on mission trips)
  • Petitions for the Callings of Adolescents
  • 2 Poems to Speak to Adolescents
  • 3 Hymns to Celebrate the Calling Adolescents

Prayers for Young Adulthood

  • Blessings for Moments and Milestones (for the callings of young adults, for discernment, at college graduation, before starting a new job, for moving from the family home, for those who are single, for an engaged couple, for new parents)
  • Prayers for Times and Places of Wlecome (for young adulty ministry, for homecoming)
  • Petitions for the Callings of Young Adults
  • 2 Poems to Speak to Young Adulthood
  • 3 Hymns to Celebrate the Callings of Young Adults

Prayers for Middle Adulthood

  • Blessings for Moments and Milestones (for the callings of midlife, for discernment in adulthood, for stewardship, for family life, for caregiving, for work-life balance, after losing a job, for a new job, for those who are separated and divorced, for a time of crisis, for those who are separated or divorced)
  • Prayers for Times and Places of Welcome (for church committees)
  • Petitions for the Callings of Midlife
  • 2 Poems to Speak to Adulthood in Midlife
  • 2 Hymns to Celebrate Middle Adulthood

Prayers for Later Adulthood

  • Blessings for Moments and Milestones (for the callings of later adulthood, for discernment, in time of change, for retirement, for a n empty nest, for new grandparents, of calling through suffering, for caregivers, for loss in later adulthood)
  • Prayers for Times and Places of Welcome (for congregational leadership, for social groups)
  • Petitions for the Callings of Later Adulthood
  • 2 Poems to Speak to Later Adulthood
  • 2 Hymns to Celebrate the Callings of Later Adulthood

Prayers for Older Adulthood

  • Blessings for Moments and Milestones (for the calling of older adults, for life review, for transitions in older adulthood, for moving, for comfort in suffering, for loss in older adulthood, to accompany dying)
  • Prayers for Times and Places of Welcome (for a wedding anniversary, for a milestone birthday, for senior groups)
  • Petitions for the Callings of Older Adulthood
  • 1 Poem that Speaks to Older Adulthood
  • 2 Hymns that Celebrate the Callngs of Older Adulthood

Prayers Across the Livespan

  • Prayers for Worship (2 calls to worship, a prayer of Thanksgiving, a litany of Thanksgiving, a communal prayer for discernment)
  • Prayers for Special Occasions (for weddings, for funerals)
  • 6 Hymns on Vocation across the Lifespan

Part 2: Work and Profession

Prayers for Work

  • 6 Prayers for Work
  • 7 Hymns about Work and Professions

Prayers for Particular Professions

  • Health Care (petitions, prayer, blessing)
  • Science and Technology (petitions, 2 prayers)
  • Social Services (petitions, 2 prayers)
  • Business (petitions, 2 prayers, blessing)
  • Law and Public Service (petitions, blessing, 2 prayers)
  • Education (petitions, 2 prayers)
  • Personal Care (petitions, 3 prayers)
  • Manufacturing and Construction (petitions, 2 prayers)
  • Transportation Industry (petitions, 2 prayers)
  • Arts and Communications (petitions, 3 prayers)
  • Customer Service (petitions, 2 prayers)
  • Retail (petitions, 2 prayers)

Rite of Blessing for Workers

Part 3: A Year of Blessing

Celebrations of the Calendar Year

  • Fall (Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving)
  • Winter (New Year's Day, Martin Luther's King Jr. Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day)
  • Spring (Earth Day, Mother's Day, Memorial Day)
  • Summer (Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day)

Seasons of the Church Year

  • Ordinary Time
  • Advent
  • Christmas
  • Epiphany or Ordinary Time
  • Lent
  • Easter
  • Season after Pentecost

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