Three Prayers for Workers in the Global Supply Chain

Tonight I had the opportunity to give a talk on ethical fashion and Christianity for the college group associated with my church. It was a good opportunity to hone my sense of why this type of advocacy matters within a Christian context, and how I can best relate it back to traditional Biblical texts and narratives. 

At the end of the discussion, we broke into three groups and wrote prayers inspired by traditional Anglican prayer forms as a way of engaging more deeply with the reality of our inter-connectedness with workers across the supply chain and to provide a starting point for daily meditations on conscious consumerism. I am really inspired by what they came up with, and I want to share these prayers in case they may be useful to you in your personal meditations and reflections. 

As I mentioned on Instagram earlier today, I think there’s an unnecessary divide between the “spiritual” folks (read: hippies) and the “religious” folks (read: fundamentalists) in the ethical living space. Instead of making negative assumptions about how people’s beliefs inform their ethical practice, or lack thereof, I’d rather jump right in and help inform interpretation so that all of our actions can be grounded in both compassion-oriented belief and our more tangible experiences of injustice in the world.

———

God of compassion and creation,

Bless the hands who have made

our jeans, shirts, and jackets,

Help us to remember that these

hands and these people are part of

the Body of Christ.

Be with the men, women, and children

who spend more of their lives

making our clothes than we spend

wearing them.

We lament those whose lives have been taken

For the sake of production.

May we be moved to action.

To spread awareness. To be thoughtful

in our purchases. To have compassion

for neighbors no matter how

far away.

Amen.

———-

God of justice,

You call us to be a neighbor to all,

Help us to acknowledge the toil that

laborers around the world face.

Watch over those who labor in unsafe

working conditions,

Help us remain aware of the realities

facing people who make our clothes

and be conscious of our consumption.

Be with policymakers as they make

decisions that impact these people’s lives.

We ask that you bless the hands that

come into contact with our clothes – production

to possession. Give us courage to

recognize our privilege and make

change in our own lives.

Remind us that we are all made in

your image.

Amen.

———-

O God,

Creator of all people and things,

Be with your people in the global supply chain,

who you created in your likeness and

whose work contributes to our comfort.

Give us the courage to fight against

systems of oppression,

and help us raise up the voices of

the oppressed, who already have

the right and the power to

speak for themselves.

Keep us ever mindful of

the inextricable link between us.

We ask these things
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,

whose first disciples were marginalized

wage workers,

Amen.