God, you are the great Physician, we gather together online tonight in a world that is beset by uncertainty everywhere we turn and so we come to you in prayer. We pray for the world as we battle the Coronavirus and we ask your help to overcome it as we do our part here to prevent the spread.
Healing God, we pray for all essential workers in New York City and around the country who continue to work and put their own wellbeing on the line to help us face this crisis. We pray for doctors, nurses, first responders, researchers, law enforcement, caregivers, and all working to combat COVID-19. Be with those who work in service and restaurant professions, those keeping stores stocked and making at home deliveries, for teachers both at home and online working tirelessly to give our children an education in the midst of crisis. We pray for those who transport goods to the places that need them, provide them with what they need along the journey. Keep them safe, keep them healthy, and help us to find ways to provide them with the supplies that they need to do their jobs well. We ask that you continue to be with employers and employees who are struggling to figure out how to keep things going during this time.
Sheltering God, we pray for those who are particularly vulnerable in this time. For people experiencing homelessness, the immunocompromised, for the elderly and those seeking treatments for other conditions. Be with those who are struggling with isolation from loved ones, all who are struggling with mental illness, those who find themselves in abusive systems, or have emotional and psychological disorders. Additionally, we ask you to be with those who have been exposed to the Coronavirus and are seeking testing or medical help.
Comforting God, As we continue to shelter-in-place this week we pray for local, state, and federal officials to listen to the advice of medical experts and to make decisions that keep your people safe. We pray for strength, patience, and perseverance and an ease to our anxieties and fears.
Loving God, we know the power of community. Help us to continue to find creative ways of connecting with one another while we remain physically distant in order to best keep all around us safe.
Discerning God, we lift up those in the Holy Trinity community and beyond who are in need of your all present embrace tonight. We pray especially for Laura, Kathy, Peter, Susan, Dorothy, Loraine, Diane, Harry, Cheryl, Vala, Maeve, Anita, Tracy & Riley, Justin & Judah, Jacqueline, Robert, Linda, Bob, Tom, Kara, Joe, and all who we name silently in our hearts, aloud in our homes, or post in the comments below.
A Brief Silence.
Trusting in the promise that you hear us, all knowing God, we lift up these prayers before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This Day We Say Grateful
A Sending Blessing
It is a strange thing
to be so bound
and so released
all in the same moment,
to feel the heart
open wide
and wider still
even as it turns
to take its leave.
On this day,
let us say
this is simply the way
love moves
in its ceaseless spiraling,
turning us toward
one another,
then sending us
into what waits for us
with arms open wide to us
in welcome
and in hope.
On this day,
in this place
where you have
poured yourself out,
where you have been
emptied
and filled
and emptied again,
may you be aware
more than ever
of what your heart
has opened to
here,
what it has tended
and welcomed
here,
where it has broken
in love and in grief,
where it has given
and received blessing
in the unfathomable mystery
that moves us,
undoes us,
and remakes us
finally
for joy.
This day
may you know
this joy
in full measure.
This day
may you know
this blessing
that gathers you in
and sends you forth
but will not
forget you.
O hear us
as this day
we say
grace;
this day
we say
grateful;
this day
we say
blessing;
this day
we release you
in God’s keeping
and hold you
in gladness
and love.
—Jan Richardson
Used with permission from the author.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 