WORKER GOD WHO PLANNED CREATION
(suitable for an unemployment service)

Worker God, who planned creation -
complex splendour held in one:
spoke out threads of light and matter
weaving what your word has spun.
Then, with proper satisfaction,
rested when the work was done.

Who are we to spoil the pattern,
make redundant hands and minds,
tarnish pleasure in achievement
which your pleasure undersigned,
crushing lives, and wasting talent,
uncreating humankind?

Many see the sudden ending
of their deeply cherished plans
through the failure of a system
which no longer meets demands,
and the fruit of years of effort
slips away from helpless hands.

Helplessness fuels bitter anger -
friends and loved ones bear the cost.
Voices raised create a Babel,
countermanding Pentecost,
and by this disintegration,
whole communities are lost.

Worker God within creation
weaving what our hands have spun,
give to us consistent strength
to speak your word and see it done.
So though humble human triumphs
may your victory be won.

(Janet Wootton (1952- ). Suggested tune: Oriel or Rhuddlan)