Keeping Vigil

My congregation keeps a prayer vigil each Saturday for the Covid19 situation around the world.
These prayers are inspired by their love, care and commitment.

Opening

Source of Life, how do you weep?

In lonely rooms,
in crowded camps,
in anxious waiting zones,
in offices and assessment areas,
we join with the voices of those who try to find words...
What shall we say?

I ask for mercy...
Mercy for those who fear to sleep, in case there is no waking,
Mercy for those who lose hope, while life and possibility is put on hold.
Mercy for those who are turned away or left behind,
Mercy for those who long for touch or contact.

I ask for peace...
Peace for those whose hearts are hardening, as they try to cope with daily stress,
Peace for those whose anxieties have turned to anger and ugliness,
Peace for those whose terrors and tensions creep into physical outpourings of grief and horror,
Peace for those whose current trauma feels as if it will never end.

I ask for Hope...
Hope for those who are wounded - for healing, of bodies and hearts,
Hope for those who despair - for signs of light in our experiences of darkness,
Hope for those who face the loss of potential, loss of work, loss of wonder and delight,
Hope for those who long for love and connection in their isolation.



Meditation    

On this ANZAC Day, we remember those whose spirit remains.
We remember
- stories of humour
- stories of perseverance
- stories of parents, grandparents, heroic and ordinary...
- stories of far-distant places and stories from the backyard...
- stories of call-ups and enlistments, of service, of shattered lives,
Of sacrifice...

I pick up my piece or rosemary...
And remember...
I bring to mind those who are gone from us.
What would they say to us in this time of global concern?

I try to listen for their voices, whispering encouragements,
then shouting and cheering us on.
I contemplate images - faces, hands, smiles, twinkling eyes, warm breath.

For some, it is memory that must carry us through:
Memory of you,
Memory of better times,
Memory of past and memory of promise.

I wait upon you, lighting a candle that speaks of mystery...


Intercession

Tonight I pray for nurses and carers.

I pray for one who offers care by phone and online.
I pray for her patience and wisdom, for creativity and imagination.
I ask you to keep her healthy and energized.
I ask your blessing on her work and her home.

I pray for one who manages others.
Give her discernment as she nurtures her team and brings out the best in them.
Give her skills to translate and interpret as she liaises and enables and supports.
Keep her motivated and fit. Keep her safe.

I pray for one who coordinates clinic and cases, who supports specialist practice.
As she deals with professionals and amateurs, as she faces down the terrors of those around her,
Fill her will calm, compassion and the joy of knowing she is making life so much better for so many.
Watch over her family and may her home be a haven of love.

I pray for those who are training and mentoring nurses and carers and paramedics transitioning into new ways of doing things.
I pray that learning and understanding come together, woven into the best care possible and the knowledge that this is indeed vocation.
May such calling come with a deep sense of life purpose - the realization that we are interdependent - and this is a good thing!

Tonight, I pray for Emergency Workers and those who did not expect to be Emergency Worlers:
- for GPs and their staff
- for Clinicians and Pathologists
- for Ambos and Paramedics,
- for Posties and Pharmacists,
- for Triage and Testing Centre staff,
- for Parking Attendants and Security Personnel,
- for Nurses, Nursing Aides, Porters, Transport staff,
- for Phebotomists (clinical vampires!) who take blood and those who collect swabs.

I pray for those who are afraid to come to work, but come anyway.
I pray for those who are tired and anxious.
I pray for those who suffer hesitation or self-doubt.
I pray for those who are daily learning new ways.

Tonight, I pray for those who fight the battle of despair and depression.
I pray for those who mourn.


Thanksgiving

I give thanks.
Thanks for those who have served.
Thanks for those who serve now.
Thanks for the possibilities that call us all forth.
Thanks for memories that sustain and offer comfort.
Thanks for sunrise and sunset, for music and art and good food.
Thanks for laughter and tears.
Thanks for understanding.


Blessing

God bless us in the night and in the morning.
Gift us with your creative energy, as we seek your story to be written into our souls.
Gift us with your strange way of Humanity and Divinity... may we learn to follow your Way.
Draw forth your Spirit in all we are and all we do.

And so we pray, in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God.
Amen


More prayers for this season