Habits of Grace: Pray for the entire human family

May 29, 2020:

In the book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew scriptures, the text says,

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die . . .
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance

Jesus in Luke's gospel said, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall laugh." This coming weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the last weekend in May, we will join with people of all faiths, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and people of good will to observe a time of grieving. To mourn those who have died from COVID-19, to pray for them and for their loved ones, to pray for all who are sick of any disease or condition, to pray for the entire human family.

It is a weekend of grieving, of collective and national grieving ecumenical and interfaith. And we will join together with brothers and sisters and siblings, who pray to God in different ways, but who share with us all a common humanity created by one creator. This weekend we join with them, and as we do so I would invite you to join in that prayer in your congregations and personally. But I wanted to share with you a prayer that was composed for this weekend, jointly composed by Lutherans and Episcopalians, for the feast of Pentecost in the midst of pandemic.

God of all power and love,
we give thanks for your unfailing presence
and the hope you provide in times of uncertainty and loss.
Send your Holy Spirit to enkindle in us your holy fire.
Revive us to live as Christ’s body in the world:
a people who pray, worship, learn,
break bread, share life, heal neighbors,
bear good news, seek justice, rest and grow in the Spirit.
Wherever and however we gather,
unite us in common prayer and send us in common mission,
that we and the whole creation might be restored and renewed,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God love you. God bless you. And may God hold us all, the entire human family in those almighty hands of love. (PB Curry)