O Heavenly Father:
In this hour of trial
for our nation
and for mankind,
when vicious men
seek to promote the arts of war
in remote corners
of this earth’s scarred surface,
we gather here
in our quiet community
to further the arts of peace,
to seek the road
toward lives of greater abundance
and usefulness
for our citizenry.

O, Thou,
who hast been the inspiration of our fathers
in ages past,
when they sought to establish
upon this continent
a nation
conceived in liberty
and dedicated
to the freedom of each individual human being,
guide us
also
aright,
that we be not overawed
by the black countenance of evil,
nor affrighted
by its malignant might.

Our fathers faced greater odds
in their day,
with fewer allies
at their side,
and more meager resources
at their disposal–
yet,
sustained by Thee,
they were not dismayed,
and victory
perched upon their banners.

Aid us,
then,
to preserve our American way of life–
a way
that has been a beacon
and a blessing
to the downtrodden peoples of the earth
that we be not humbled
by forces from without,
nor
in our anxiety to meet their challenge
succumb
to the regimen of the totalitarian outlook,
that would rob us
from within
of the crowning glory of American citizenship:
the independence of the individual
in thought and action.

May it be Thy will
that we continue
to march forward
with courage
and self-confidence
that all men may see
in our free commonwealth,
the handiwork
of Him
who bringeth forth
food
from the earth.
Amen.

“Unless the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it.” (Psalms 127:1)

O Creator of the Universe
by whose will the world is renewed day by day,
Thou hast implanted in us
a spark of Thy creative spirit.^[1] Possibly a reference to the tselem elohim — the divine likeness in Genesis 1:26-27. The scholar Rabbi Louis Jacobs (1920-2006), on the history of the popular belief in innate divine sparks within all of us: “The belief that there is a special mystical ‘spark’ in every human breast can be traced back, in western mysticism, at least to Jerome in the fourth century. Both Bonaventura and Bernard of Clairvaux speak of this mystical organ; the latter, calling it scintillula, a small spark of the soul, and speaking of the nearness of God, said: ‘Angels and archangels are within us, but He is more truly our own who is not only with us but in us.’ However, both these mystics are anxious to prevent an identification of this mystical spark with the divine. Eckhart, on the other hand, embraces the identification, calling the spark, among other endearing names, das Kleidhaus Gottes, ‘the house in which God attires Himself ’. This and other pantheistic tendencies in Eckhart’s thought were condemned in the papal Bull of 1529…” (in “The Doctrine of the ‘Divine Spark’ in Man in Jewish Sources” Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism, ed. Raphael Loewe (Humanities: 1966) 87-114.) Belief in this innate divine spark in each person is important in the theology of George Fox (1624-1691) and presents an important point of connection underscoring social justice movements among both Jews and Friends (i.e., Quakers). 
Thou dost arouse us from lethargy
and dost send us forth to work and to achieve.
Thus are we impelled to seek improvement,
to make new plans, to organize and to build.
For this creative impulse,
for the desire to progress,
for the urge towards greater achievement,
we thank Thee, O Creator.
Thou hast made us partners of Thee
in the building of the world.

Often we cannot tell whether what we build
is in harmony with Thy larger plans.
It may, alas, happen
that our structures are morally ugly
and mar the landscape of Thy creation.
We need Thy guidance day by day.
Therefore I pray to Thee:—
Guard Thou my steps in the new enterprise which I am about to begin.
Grant that its success be not built upon the ruins of another’s failure;
that no added prosperity which may come to me
will increase the misery of my fellowman.

Thine earth is bountiful.
Thou openest Thy hand
and satisfiest all with Thy favor.
May, therefore, the achievement which I hope to attain
for myself and my dear ones
add also to the contentment of others.
Let my work be done in harmony with Thy laws
of justice, goodness and truth.

Strengthen me, O Lord,
in the enterprise which I am now beginning.
Make clear to my vision
that I may discern the outlines of the future.
Make strong my will
that I may not falter when the tasks grow heavy.
Make wise my judgment
that I be not led into folly.

More than for all these blessings, I pray, O Lord,
that the strains of new work shall not injure my health,
nor so absorb my energies that I neglect my dear ones,
or become estranged from the worship of Thee.
Let me walk in the light of Thy presence
so that success will add to my spiritual strength
and my achievement be a source of encouragement and blessing.
Amen.

Our God and Creator:
 
On this day we consecrate to you
the labor of muscle and mind.
We thank you for the gifts of life
and for the wherewithal to sustain it.
Yours is the earth and all it holds,^[1] Cf. Psalms 24:1. 
and you have unlocked its resources
for the service of humanity.
Yours is the energy pent in the seed,
and yours is the strength and skill of humanity,
whereby they cause the fields to yield to them
food in abundance.

When men and women bring forth
that which satisfies their needs,
it is you who instruct them.
When they exchange with one another
what they can best do and make,
it is you who guides them.
You desire that all people have at their disposal
what each most needs for health and comfort
and for the full use of the gifts
wherewith you have endowed them.

Bless our toil, O God,
that no one in this land of ours
or in any other land
need ever lack bread to eat,
or raiment to wear,
the shelter of a home,
or whatever else he may require
for health of body and mind.

Restrain our hungers
from becoming extravagant,
and hold back our desires
from exceeding the bounds
of reason and justice.

Withhold us from selling our labor
to the service of greed and of hate,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to devote it to your service,
to banish poverty,
disease,
and war,
and to establish your rule
of freedom,
brotherhood,
and peace.
Amen.

O Heavenly Father,
as we behold
the abundant display
of this splendid merchandise mart,
our hearts rise up to thank Thee
for the fulness of Thy bounty
which burgeons forth
from this promised land
toward which
Thou didst guide
our fathers’ steps.

We thank Thee for this goodly earth,
its shimmering wheat and sturdy corn,
its snowy cotton and its golden flax;
we thank Thee
for its hills of iron and its mountains of brass,
its mines of coal and its wells of oil;
we thank Thee
for its roaring rivers that sing with power,
and its lapping seas
that bring the wide world to our doorstep.

We thank Thee,
too,
O Lord,
that Thou hast given us
men
to match our mountains,
men
whose wisdom
has endowed us with the freedom
to use Thy blessings
men
for the greatest good
of the greatest number
in mankind’s history;
whose energy and ingenuity
have made them true partners
with Thee, O Lord,
in the divine process of creation.

We thank Thee,
O Father,
for the farmer at his plow
and the miner at his drill,
for the mechanic at his lathe
and the printer at his press,
for the shoemaker at his bench
and the steelworker at his furnace,
for the merchandiser at his desk
and the salesgirl at the counter.

May this great enterprise,
whose open shelves
and abundant displays
symbolize
the fruitage
of the noble partnership
of freemen
working together
under God,
receive Thy blessing,
O Lord,
that it may move forward
in peace and prosperity.

May those
who labour beneath its roof,
and those
who enter its portals
to share in its abundance,
be ever mindful
of how great
is this simple privilege,
how rich
is the reward
of those who serve each other
and Thee
in honesty and truth
in friendship and in peace.
Amen.