Turning our hearts to God who is gracious and merciful, we pray for the church, the world, and all who are in need.
A brief silence.
God of love, unite your church in its commitment to humble service. Make us your faithful disciples. Speak words of truth and grace through us. Help us to learn to have the patience to think before we act. Encourage us in self-giving acts of kindness. Let us love one another as you have loved us.
God of love, tend to flocks, fields, and vineyards. Bring favorable weather for crops to grow. Guide the hands of those who cultivate, farm, and garden. Let the earth flourish so that all may eat and be satisfied.
God of love, you give us a new commandment, to have love for one another. We give thanks for organizations that respond to disasters and for agencies that offer relief and humanitarian aid to populations in need especially those who are aiding in combating the Coronavirus here and around the world.
God of love, 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.
God of love, give ear to all who call upon you for any need of body or spirit Peter, Laura, Kathy, Susan, Tom S., Maeve, Anita, Tracy, Justin, Judah, Catalina Ann, Jacqueline, Bob, Joe I., Tony, Joe W., Cliff, Jan, Kara, Diane, Jennifer, Ingke, Barney, Edwin, Diane and anyone we name silently in our hearts, aloud in our homes, or in the comments below. Provide for those who do not have enough to eat, those who are unemployed or underemployed, and those who rely on the generosity of others. Help us to focus on the blessings we do have.
God of love, glorify your servants who walked by faith in this life and who now feast with you. Inspire us by the sacrifice of those who were imprisoned, persecuted, or martyred for their faith
According to your steadfast love, O God, hear these and all our prayers as we commend them to you; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessing You Cannot Turn Back
For Holy Thursday
As if you could
stop this blessing
from washing
over you.
As if you could
turn it back,
could return it
from your body
to the bowl,
from the bowl
to the pitcher,
from the pitcher
to the hand
that set this blessing
on its way.
As if you could
change the course
by which this blessing
flows.
As if you could
control how it
pours over you—
unbidden,
unsought,
unasked,
yet startling
in the way
it matches the need
you did not know
you had.
As if you could
become undrenched.
As if you could
resist gathering it up
in your two hands
and letting your body
follow the arc
this blessing makes.
—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace
Used with permission from the author.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 