Prayer for a Pandemic, Again

So much of what we are experiencing with Covid right now feels like déjà-vu, with a handful of added stressors and a lot of compounded exhaustion. It’s been almost two years since I wrote “Prayer for a Pandemic,” when we were all bracing for the impact of something we thought would be terrifying but short-lived, something that would surely pass by summer. As the weeks and months drag on, I wanted to write an updated version of this prayer for us, in the hopes of turning our weary hearts, once again, toward each other. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

As always, if you’d like to use this prayer in your community, please feel free.

Prayer for a Pandemic, Again

May we who feel exhausted
Remember those who were exhausted long before this began.
May we who strap on N95s
Remember those who can’t afford them.
May we who await our test results
Remember those who cannot access tests at all.
May we who are weary of uncertainty
Remember those for whom it is a constant companion.
May we who face impossible choices
Remember those who have never had good choices.
May we who feel we are being let down by our leaders
Remember those who have been let down by them all along.
May we who struggle to see hope on the horizon
Remember those for whom there is no horizon.
Above all, as we gaze upon our frayed social fabric,
May we who have spare threads set to weaving
Until we have created something thick enough, strong enough
To warmly wrap around us all.
Amen.
—Cameron Bellm