David Adam is vicar of Holy Island, Lindisfarne, on the coast of Northumberland where he ministers to pilgrims and other visitors. He is the author of The Open Gate and other devotional works. Adam's prayers about work derive from his familiarity with Celtic spirituality when men and women spoke to God in the midst of fishing, farming, and housekeeping.
At one point Adam writes of the context for these prayers: "It is not that God has left the city, it is that it offers so many places to escape and to hide ourselves from Him. There are more layers in the city to peel away in order to discover the Divine Milieu. Yet this is a great adventure in itself. This is for us our pilgrimage of love."
A short and snappy prayer for work is "In all I do this day, / In all that I think or say, / Father, be with me all the way." I relish Adam's use of riding an escalator as a cue for him to take to God the burdens of the dismayed and the depressed. Or, "Lord, I have watched a crane lift a heavy load. Lift me Lord." There are also prayers on achievement, disappointment, and the working day. God's power lines provide the juice to keep us going. They are the catalysts for all our days and our deeds.
