Author: Pastor Vicki

A Prayer a Day: Good morning again, Lord, and thank you for another day to love you, our people, and to enjoy our lives. Celebrating life is important, those special days like birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, baptisms, and funerals, allow us to enjoy life, mark special events, and to be close to families and friends. Everything is different now with quarantines and physical distancing mandates. Phone calls, sending cards, smiling and waving from a distance, are how we now say I love you. It is only your presence, Lord, that gives us the right attitude to navigate this situation. When we feel fearful, we remind ourselves of the 365 times in scripture, that we are told to “Fear not!” When we are grumpy and out of sorts, we remind ourselves of Proverbs 15:13, “A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance, but sorrow of heart crushes the spirit.” Lord, we count  on you to fill us with your kindness, mercy, love, compassion, and humor. We know you have a sense of humor, because when we look around, beginning with ourselves, we see irony and wit in all your creation. Today, Heavenly Father, I am going to try to emulate you by treating everyone with patience and good cheer. Everyone needs good cheer, more than ever, during the challenge of this pandemic. Come Holy Spirit and make us more  like Jesus in whose name we pray: amen.

A Prayer a Day: Good morning, Lord. This morning I saw that in New York at 7:00 P.M. each evening thousands of quarantined people are opening their windows or stepping outside onto their balconies or sidewalks to chap, whistle, and yell thanks to the doctors, nurses, medical support staff, and first responders working to save the lives of Coronavirus victims. Since I saw that news clip, I have been thinking of 1 John 3:18, “Let us not love with words and tongue, but with actions and in truth.” It’s another way to say, “Talk is cheap,” or “It’s easier said than done.” The kind of love spoken about in 1 John is agape love: it is love that seeks the best for another without expecting a return. This kind of love mirrors the love Jesus had for humanity, that took him to Calvary’s cross. The real basis for this kind of divine love is an identification with the loved one. We know Jesus identified with us; he left the heavenly realm to be incarnated as a baby, so he could grow and learn what it means to be a human being. This kind of selfless, sacrificing love should be celebrated. The sacrificial love of the medical professionals should also be celebrated. Lord, please help those serving in the medical field, across our country and the whole world, to have the strength to continue to serve as long as the infected continue to stream into the hospitals.Holy God, help us to support those under pressure with prayer. Today, Lord, we count on you, to inspire every person in authority to be filled with your wisdom to make decisions for your glory, and the good health and safety of our nation. Come Holy Spirit and make it so: amen.