God.

It’s been a hard week.

I feel like we say that to you a lot, these days.

We used to be able to predict what would happen in a week. Now we are resigned to 2020 Bingo cards of disaster and disruption.

“Didn’t see that coming,” we say.
“I thought it couldn’t get worse, and then it did,” we say.

And I’m not sure what to say to help.

I can’t even settle down to ask you, it seems, because I might miss out on some new disaster or death or drama.

I confess.
I confess that we are captivated by our falsified memories of how things used to be.
I confess that we are distracted by our falsified understandings of how things are now.
I confess that we are terrified by our falsified anticipations of how things are going to turn out.
I confess that we are unaware of what it means that you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
I confess that we are more comfortable with the complaints of the Israelites than with the courage of Paul.

God. We still need you.
We need you to remind us that you have forgiven us already.
We need you to remind us that most of us aren’t suffering for our faith, we are suffering for our lack of faith.
We need you to remind us that you love us.
We need you to remind us that there us more ahead of us than behind us.
We need you to remind us that trusting you isn’t denying that we hurt, but is bringing our hurt to you.
We need you.

Amen.

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A prayer from God. We Still Need You: A Year of Pandemic Prayer and Practice From a Hospital Chaplain