Marking an anniversary that no one sought to achieve, in prayer
Beloved community,
This past week we have been marking an anniversary that no one sought to achieve. On March 11, 2020, after several months of the emerging health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. Throughout those difficult days in mid-March of last year, I sought to consult with synod and congregational leaders to chart a way forward for our shared ministry at Trinity during the soon-to-be-announced pandemic. On March 12, the day after the WHO declaration, I issued a congregational communication that I had never imagined sending, asking the whole people of Trinity to stay home on Sunday, March 15. That Sunday morning a consultation group comprised of our congregation’s Executive Committee, music and worship staff, our Faith Community Nurse and a delegation of Trinity physicians gathered in a church building devoid of worshippers to determine next steps. After listening carefully to those with expertise, we agreed to observe the societal lockdown that was unfolding with a full retreat from worship and all programming at Trinity. In the days that followed, our staff was asked to work from home, nearly every activity was removed from the parish calendar and a small team began to lay the groundwork for live streaming of worship on Sundays. We hoped to resume our life together by Easter . . .
There are many stories of our community’s sojourn through this year of pandemic separation and there are many diverse sentiments to be shared, but I would like to invite you, my sisters and brothers, to simply mark this anniversary in prayer. I encountered this blog offering last week, a prayer entitled “A Prayer to Mark One Year of the Pandemic.” Please pray with me:
Good shepherd, thank you for walking with us through this valley of the shadow of death: through the suffering, the anxiety, the loneliness, the boredom, the longing for closeness and the longing for personal space, the confusion and fear, the impatience and hope, the good days and the bad.
Forgive us for our suspicions of each other, the ways this ordeal has made us more divided, as a country and a world. Help us bridge our differences and come together — even as we are physically distant.
Thank you for all the ways, large and small, that this ordeal has strengthened us as a community: the acts of kindness, the new ways of doing things, the support we’ve offered and received.
Forgive us for the inequities this pandemic has exposed. Kindle in our hearts a new commitment to justice as we build and rebuild our community together. Keep us ever mindful of those most in need.
We pray especially for those of us who have lost loved ones, lost jobs, lost hope.
Let us be good company, even from afar; good neighbors; and good friends.
We pray especially for those on the front lines of the pandemic, for all who are in harm’s way.
Gentle God, we ask that you continue to keep watch with those who work, or watch, or weep this day. Walk with those whose bodies are holding memories of sickness, of trauma, of pain, of confusion, of chaos, of isolation.
Give your angels charge over those who still cannot sleep because of anxiety or grief.
Tend the sick, give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; all for your love’s sake.
God of life and hope, lift our spirits as we dare to look ahead, dare to hope and dream about the new world to come. Strengthen our efforts, deepen our wisdom, so we might hasten that day.
And until that day, keep our eyes and hearts open to the signs of hope and life all around us.
For new ways to connect with each other, we give you thanks and praise!
For teachers and nurses and doctors and agricultural workers and grocery clerks and small business owners and frontline workers of all kinds, we give you thanks and praise!
For the beautiful hope of being together again in person one day, lifting our voices in song, passing the peace, sharing cups of coffee, being able to hug one another again — for that day that is surely coming, we give you thanks and praise!
For the ways in which our eyes have been opened by this ordeal, for the ways in which our hearts have been broken and put back together differently, softer and more attuned to the needs of the most vulnerable, we give you thanks and praise!
For all of these things and more, gentle God, we give you thanks and praise in the name of Jesus,
our crucified and risen Jesus,
Amen.
It is Lent again, a year later, but Easter is coming. Small congregations are gathering for worship on Sunday mornings, small groups are meeting onsite, youth are envisioning local service projects this summer, quilters are a-quilting again in the Sunday School Commons and we are planning First Communion and Confirmation celebrations with our young people and their families. Spring arrives in a few days, and this spring feels different in its arrival than the spring of 2020.
It is Lent again, a year later, but Easter is coming. The darkness of this long journey will be illuminated by the dawn of new possibility, new hope, new life.
God of life and hope, lift our spirits as we dare to look ahead, dare to hope and dream about the new world to come. Strengthen our efforts, deepen our wisdom, so we might hasten that day.
And until that day, keep our eyes and hearts open to the signs of hope and life all around us.
Blessings to you, O people of Trinity. May you be safe, may you be well, and may you be held in love.
It remains a privilege to serve as one of your pastors.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Robert Linstrom