Our Father in Heaven,

Today I come to you humbled and desiring more of You. You are holy, and I am not. Your glory fills the Temple and the universe. I pray Your Kingdom come as the world, and my home, faces a global coronavirus pandemic. 

I feel so small to come before You—to send up my petition for You to intercede with great mercy and healing from east to west, and north to south. As the Lord taught us to pray, may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

I offer these words to You in Heaven as your servant on earth. My prayers for everyone and everything under the sun feel stifled by the enormity of what has come, and what yet still might. My mind wanders, I confess, to how the numbers of people infected might grow exponentially beyond comprehension. I don’t want to think about how I might be one of those numbers, dear Lord. 

No, I just want more of You in this moment, trusting You for the moments that are to come. I can only handle this moment with You by my side.

I pray for my friends and family, my brothers and sisters, and all those whom Jesus came to love and save. For You loved the world so much You sent your one and only Son. I ask You to protect us and provide for our every need during this unimaginable time. I repent for taking daily bread for granted and know that if I have only a small slice it is gift from above. May manna from Heaven rain down on us as weary travelers in the desert this day.

My God, I long to be with my brothers and sisters, to share Your Word, and a simple meal of thanksgiving, but we are social distancing. I desire to be your under-shepherd amongst them. Yet, You make me lie down in this pasture and I will follow. Show me how much I can do while granting me wisdom to know my limitations.

Forgive me, my Shepherd. When all can be stripped away that which seemed to matter so much really matters not. And I too forgive those trespasses against me that felt so grievous not so long ago, but now seem so small. I drop them off at the foot of the Cross. I don’t want them anymore; thank you for taking those burdens, I don’t want to carry them another step.

Deliver me in my weakness, my Savior—You know how sometimes I fall into a deep hole of anxiety and fear. You see how I imagine not taking another breath into my lungs. I try to depend on myself, or what I think I possess, to survive. But my security is in You. My hope is in You. My needs can only be filled by You. Protect me from the lies that lead my mind to wander to dark places where I cannot see Your eternal light. 

Turn my eyes away from the news that seems so bleak and hopeless. Train my eyes to see how I can be Your servant and love my neighbor, wherever they might be. Indeed, anything I might do is to Your glory and power forever and ever. 

I want more of You today, Father. Less of me, and more of You. Protect us by Your loving and merciful hand; may your mercies be new tomorrow morning as they have been since the beginning of Creation.

Amen

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The Lord’s Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, 
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.