a pandemic blessing when it feels hard to be loving
God, we know that we should be loving,
but it feels like this pandemic
has made it so much harder.
o God, give us what we need
to able to love others well in this paradox,
this strange mixture of isolation and closeness,
despair and wanting.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
I do not understand myself.
I want to do what is right but I do not do it.
instead, I do the very thing I hate.
Romans 3:15 NLV
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
I call to You from the end of the earth
when my heart is weak.
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalm 61:2
blessed are we who say
God, we are tired.
this pandemic has worn us thin,
exposing the weak places, the old wounds,
the unspoken resentments,
the anger once hidden that now refuses to stay put.
God, things are getting real,
too real to handle amid pandemic pressures --
worries about money, jobs, health, politics, family, school,
and decisions that loom
although the facts we need are out of reach.
we are in an altered social landscape
where we are enclosed, yet apart.
there is new intensity, new opportunity, new danger.
God, blessed are we
who see the widened rifts between us
and feel it as sadness,
sadness that we have run out of love too soon,
that there just doesn’t seem to be enough,
that we fall short, and can’t meet in the middle.
God, blessed are we,
who know how much we want it--
love to give, and love to receive
as a one human to another,
limited, glorious, flawed,
irreplaceable, disappointing, desirable,
each of us creatures of Your own making,
on our way back to You.
blessed are we who ask You God,
to revive us, and feed us with Your love.
help us feel it, taste it, and metabolize it
so we have enough to be fully alive ourselves,
with lots left over to share.
God, grant us the real-time guidance we need,
that we might know if and how and when
to swing out over the dark gap
of mutual suspicion, enmity and fear,
trusting that Your wings will bear us up
all the way.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
virtue fails us, both ours and theirs.
love’s best friend is forgiveness.
And be sweet one toward another and affectionate,
and be forgiving one another,
just as God in The Messiah has forgiven us.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
o God these are darkening days,
with no hope in sight.
o God help us in our fear and desperation.
anchor us in hope!
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
“let not your heart be troubled;
you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
John 14:1
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
blessed are we with eyes open to see
the suffering from pandemic danger,
sickness and loneliness,
the injustice of racial oppression,
the unimpeded greed and misuse of power,
a blessing for the day we mourn our dead (All Saints’ Day)
o God, we have not been here before.
sorrows old and new envelop us
as we grieve in this new pandemic reality,
without hugs and funerals, shared jokes and fresh tears,
and graveside picnics to place flowers
for those long departed.
God, give us comfort that is bigger than all this,
and love that is stronger than all this.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
God, I don’t know how to say this any other way:
this is just too much.
i am in a body that needs healing,
in a world that needs healing,
and i am overwhelmed.
o God, please start it now,
the promised beautiful healing of the nations,
with me in it. i can’t wait any longer.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
blessed are we who pray like a child:
o God, please help me feel better soon.
take away the pain I suffer,
and let me see good days again.