Prayers for Sunday April 26th, 2020
Intercessions and praise.
(Dj Dnice’s Club Quarantine on Instagram)
Prayers for Sunday April 26th, 2020
Holy God hear my intercessions,
For those who are giving birth alone; for those who are grieving without their people; for the beleaguered parents who ran out of creative ideas two weeks ago; for those who don't know where this week’s grocery money will come from; for everyone who has watched the date of their wedding, or their graduation, or their birthday, or their dissertation defense, or their long hoped for vacation, or their family reunion, or the “non-essential” medical procedure they hoped would change their life, come and go; for the exhausted and the despairing, I ask that your comfort, your presence, and your peace be felt. And if that’s not possible, could you just nudge the right person to reach out and call them? Just that Lord. Just that?
Holy God hear my praise:
For the animals who get to have their people home all day; for a slow enough life that allows for baking and a garden and the use of cloth napkins; for the comfort of sweat pants; for the bursts of creativity that keeping coming from artists and musicians and writers; for the people on Instagram who are getting us through this: DJ DNice’s Club Quarantine who keeps us dancing, for “fellow hunker-downer” Leslie Jordon who keeps us laughing, for Jen Pastilof and her beautiful, crazy campaign to get grocery cards to those who need them who keeps us loving; for the journalists who just keep going so we can be informed; for the gratitude shown for health workers and grocery store cashiers and delivery folks; for the 2 rolls of toilet paper my downstairs neighbors left as a gift for me; for the things I no longer take for granted - I give you thanks.
Amen.
For what or for whom do the people of God pray? Comments are open. But don’t be an asshole.
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Nadia, in the Episcopal tradition, we would have gathered around you today and given thanks for you, your life and your continuing years with this prayer. “O God, our times are in your hands. Look with favor, we pray, on your daughter, Nadia, as she begins another year. Grant that she may grow in wisdom and grace, and strengthen her trust in your goodness all the days of her life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”
So, I pray that, for you and for anybody else who celebrated a birthday in the past bit.
I also pray, mothering God, that you hold my kiddo in the shelter of you. He is so far from home and struggling so hard. Please make yourself known to him in tangible ways. And, for my wife and me, his mothers, that we may trust you and staff to wholly care for and heal this dear child of ours.
Creator God, thank you for mornings like this one. The sky is blue for miles and the sun high in the east side of our valley kisses the mountains high on the west side of our valley. Thank you for fresh cold spring air coming in my window and for fuzzy warm blankets on my bed, and for the big floofy white cat who snuggles with me there. Thank you for coffee and that we have enough food. Thank you for the folks at our local school who know our family is struggling, who send gifts and trinkets on the bus for me to send to my son, who deliver a grocery card for the local grocery store, who sometimes place bagged meals outside for us, even though they know our child is not here and supposedly the food is only for children, for those few minutes on week days when the bus slows down to wave or even stops to check in and I get to see kind eyes smiling at me above the mask.
For these things, and so much more, I pray, hoping I remember to trust you. Thank you for not abandoning us during this difficult time. Amen.
Holy God, hear my praise for my best friend's long awaited and successful heart surgery that has saved her life, for having enough toilet paper to share, for the presence of the Eurasian collared doves outside my window that sound like pterodactyls, for Hubby who faithfully drives city buses and is kind to his passengers, for my garden that offers up food and beauty, for my kid who is 58 years younger than me but has an unmatched bounty of love and wisdom, for chocolate and homemade cookies, for Your constant presence in this grim and soul crushing time. Amen.