Prayer Friday

Please pray with me...

God whose first language is silence,
We come to You after a month of staying home,
Social isolation and distancing,
Separated from those who love,
And unable to offer hugs.

God whose promise meets us in all times and places,
We know You heard Your people's cry in Egypt.
We know that You responded to Hannah's prayer in the temple.
We know that Your love could not be contained so crept into the world in a stable, of all places.
Meet us this day, once again surrounded by these same four walls.

God, whose truth can never be fully explored or exhausted,
Help us remain open when frustration starts to set in.
Help us keep reaching out when we are tired of phone calls or the technology doesn't work.
Help us be creative in times when we feel isolated, even alone.
Meet us this day as we move into the month of May.

We are aware now, more than ever,
That we are not in control or in charge or that all our clinging can't stop the coronavirus.
So, hear the prayers that pour forth from our hearts.
For health care workers...
For those still unemployed and afraid of how to pay their bills...
For the homeless...
Those in prison...
The least, lost, and lonely who are always the most vulnerable...
And our own vulnerability that we could not sweep neatly under the rugs of our souls...
Or hide from in the busyness of our days.

You, O God, are the One who sings to us.
You, O God, are the One who causes hope to stir even when all the evidence objects.
You, O God, weave threads, traces, of grace into our lives.
May we stay awake and aware that You are with us here and now.
For that is always enough.

amen.