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Pastoral Prayer for
Sunday, March 22, 2020
From a distance the world looks blue and green
And the snowcapped mountains white
From a distance the ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight*
Holy One, during this time of social distancing and sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
remind us that we are still connected to one another. We pray for those impacted by travel bans, those
unable to connect with loved ones, those who have insurance, those who do not, those who are getting
treatment, and all those who cannot get a hospital bed. God of all, to you we pray. . .
We pray for all of us, who are anxious and afraid. Remind us that we are infinitely connected to you, and
we can come to you in prayer at any time, in any setting. And we pray for those who think this is all a
hoax, or those who for what ever reason just think this is a big joke. God of all, to you we pray. . .
From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It’s the voice of hope
It’s the voice of peace
It’s the voice of every soul
Help us to be the Body of Christ that you call us to be in this moment. May we be your hands and feet
right now, in neighborhoods, farms and small towns, hospitals and clinics, tribes and large cities as we
work to safely feed each other, heal each other, look out for each other, and act as your instruments in
this ailing world. Be with the very young, the school-age children as they watch this world around them.
Guide the healers on each continent, in each country, in each city around the globe, and be with them
and each of us as we struggle to navigate new things in new ways. Sustain the researchers, virologists,
laboratories and medical transport teams. God of all, to you we pray. . .
From a distance we all have enough
And no one is in need
And there are no guns, no bombs and no disease
No hungry mouths to feed
All economies around the world have been terribly affected over these past months. We pray for each
of the ways it is impacting the small business owners, investors, our elderly, our homeless, the middle
class, all of us in vastly varied ways. May we rebuild together without rank of who is worthiest, but,
instead, guided by your light and filled with your love, stronger than we can imagine. God of all, to you
we pray. . .
From a distance we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They are the songs of every soul
May we hear your songs of hope ringing from the balconies of Italy. May we hear your songs of a
common band like the Lummi Nation in the US Pacific Northwest as they have planned for months to
protect their members. May we hear your songs of peace in the “caremongers” of Canada who out of
kindness, not fear, have created online groups searching out need (#iso) and/or providing help (#offer).
May we know that these are the songs of all of us, your beloved children. God of all, to you we pray. . .
God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us from a distance
May God watch over us, and may we watch over one another, from a distance.
Amen.
*Excerpts taken from From a Distance (Written by Julie Gold, sung by Bette Midler)
Source: World News this Week in Prayer
Seeing and Believing
Read: John 9:1-41 (Our Lectionary New Testament Passage for Sunday, March 22nd )
It is an amazing story we encounter this week about a person who was born blind and who gains his sight. One of the disciples suggests that the blindness is the result of sin. Jesus says absolutely not!
Let’s focus on the experience of blindness and then miraculous sight and their parallels: unbelief and belief. Indeed, this story explores the question of how faith and understanding take root in us. I find
myself wondering about the Pharisees in our narrative whom Jesus points out are still blind at the end of the story. I understand those Pharisees, I do. I understand they were not open to new ways of seeing things. Yup, I have found myself unable or unwilling to consider new ways of thinking or being or doing. I like things to remain the way they are most of the time.
The Pharisees saw the world in one way and were not open to other understandings. Indeed, they had a sense of what healing was and where it came from and they certainly couldn't figure out how it came
from Jesus. 'What sort of 'healing’ was this, after all?' More than that they had no sense that there might be other kinds of healing needed (even by themselves) for they had no idea that they, too, were in fact, blind. Like me, perhaps like you, when along with those Pharisees we don't even recognize our own blindness then we also don't begin to have a clue that we may just need something more.
My prayer is that we might overcome the Pharisee in us, that we might be open to the surprise of what we do not yet know or even think we need to know, particularly at this time of COVID-19!
How much richer would our understanding be if we didn't always try to figure out why things happened, especially the hard things, but instead kept our eyes and ears and heart open to how God is working in and through it?
How much broader and deeper would our world be if when we encountered healing, and approached it not with skepticism, but with hope and thanksgiving?
How much surer would our faith be if we were only a little more open to the possibility that Jesus might be able to bring wholeness in places the world can't touch?
And we wonder how much more we might be able to 'see' if only we would acknowledge that often we can't see at all? That there is so very much we simply do not know?
Indeed, may we know and recognize our own blindness so that we might, in fact, begin to see.
What do you think? Are there places in our lives where like the Pharisees, we are blind and don't even know it? How do we understand the parallel between belief and sight?
In this reflection we have only explored one way of thinking about the meaning of this story. What else are we blind to here? Would another understanding, another avenue, another entry point make more